Adapted from Wikipedia. The Coast Daylight, originally known as the Daylight Limited, was a passenger train on the Southern Pacific Railroad between Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, via Southern Pacific's Coast Line. It was advertised as the "most beautiful passenger train in the world," carrying a particular red, orange, and black color scheme. The train operated from 1937 until 1974.
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| The parlor/observation car. (Three images.) |
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| The tavern car. (Two images.) |
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| The staff of the coffee shop car. |
Southern Pacific had introduced the Daylight Limited on 28 April 1922. The train operated on a thirteen hour schedule between the Third and Townsend Depot in San Francisco and Central Station in Los Angeles, running on Fridays and Saturdays only. In 1922 and 1923 the train ran seasonally, beginning in April and ending in November. Daily operation began in July 1923. Southern Pacific shortened the running time to twelve hours for the 1924 season. Until the late 1920s it made no intermediate stops other than for servicing, making it the longest nonstop run in the world at that time. Its twelve hour schedule was two hours better than any other train on its route.
The new streamlined Daylight began service on 21 March 1937, pulled by GS-2 steam locomotives on a nine and three-quarters hour schedule. It was the first of the Daylight series that later included the San Joaquin Daylight, Shasta Daylight, Sacramento Daylight, and Sunbeam.
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| The Los Angeles ticket counter. |
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| The coffee shop car. (Two images.) |
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| The coffee shop car menu., circa 1940s. |
By 30 June 1939, the streamlined Daylights had carried 268.6 million passenger miles on 781,141 train miles for an average occupancy of 344 passengers. A second train, the Noon Daylight, ran the same route 1940-42 and, after a suspension during World War II, 1946-49. The original Coast Daylight became the Morning Daylight during this time.
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| The tavern car. (Three images.) |
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| The original dining car menu. (Two images.) |
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| Informational pamphlet, circa 1940s. (Two images.) |
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| Advertisement, circa 1940s. |
The Coast Daylight ran behind steam until 7 January 1955, long after most streamliners had been powered by diesel.
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For a truly comprehensive history of the this train line - with amazing images - please visit this website:
Love the train feature. I just learned that the Black stewards carried messages and letters from and to African Americans in the years beginning with the great migration out of the South. The train would pull in, the passengers would disembark, and people would gather around the open doors where the stewards were standing to ask them for, or to give them messages for people in the other cities where the train would stop. I find this really beautiful. And I love your site.
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe I've heard something of that.
DeleteAnd thank you!
The Deco decorations and images suited perfectly, both because the inter-war timing was right and because Deco was inspired by train movement.
ReplyDeleteThe tavern and coffee cars were open and sociable. Is that still possible today?
I don't know - it's been years since I've been on a train. Sadly. And I really wonder what it's like right now, during the pandemic...?
DeleteI hace a friend who takes one mammoth traing trip every year, zig-zagging in all four directions. She just got back from a coast-to-coast trip, and she said there were fewer passengers (although more than she'd espected) and that everyone wore maske, but otherwise it was the same as ever, which is to say great. I took one fron Los Angeles to Boston a few years back and all the way East I debated turning in my airplane ticket for the return trip, but in the end it turned out that I had to get home earlier than expected, which meant air. Am thinking about taking a really long trip sometime in the coming year.
DeleteFantastic information and images! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletePrestige and service bar-none ! How well you dressed was everything. A rich mans ride.
ReplyDeleteThe Daylight, The Super Chief, The Zephyr, The Empire Builder, The Hiawatha, the Limited, now all gone.
Sad to say that era of passenger train service is over. Too much competition from the automobile, the Greyhounds on the Interstates and the airlines. Not to mention maintenance, taxes and the vast payroll, they took their toll. The railroads cut their losses for the real money , freight service.
Next time you approach the tracks of a lone railway crossing, listen very carefully, you can almost hear the cacophony of the horns, whistles and woosh of the great passenger trains of the past go by to their final destination and destiny itself.
-Rj in the IE