The
Southern Pacific ran commuter trains along the peninsula route (San Francisco
to San Jose) from the early 1900’s until the service was taken over by Caltrain
in 1982. In 1982, Caltrain took over management of the commute service but
contracted with SP to provide service using the old SP equipment until the
Caltrain Nippon Sharyo gallery cars and F40PH locomotives arrived in 1985.
SP
bought ten 145-seat double-deck gallery cars from Pullman Standard in
1955. These were followed by 21 more
ACF-built cars in 1956-7, and 15 more PS cars in 1968. The 1955-57 gallery cars were delivered in
dignified two-tone gray paint, but during the 60’s were gradually repainted
solid gray with gray-painted doors. The
1968 gallery cars were painted solid gray with unpainted aluminum doors. It was very common to see cars of both paint
schemes mixed together. Consists had 1-8
cars depending on the traffic demands and the platform length of the stations
in the trip. In the early pre-freeway
years, trains had more cars: rush hour trains also had more cars. Many of the rush hour trains used the old
Harriman-roofed standard coaches (in 1969 SP had 55 standard coaches and 46
gallery cars). The SP gallery cars were
retired by Caltrain in 1985 and replaced with stainless steel push-pull Nippon
Sharyo cars.
Fairbanks-Morse
trainmasters were the favorite commute power because of their ability to
rapidly accelerate between the frequent commuter stops. Initially the trainmasters were in the black
widow paint, but in the 60’s they were repainted in the scarlet and gray bloody
nose scheme before their retirement in 1972. EMD GP-9’s were also used and
eventually replaced the Trainmasters. They had dual controls so the locomotive
did not have to be turned. None of these
SP gallery passenger cars had engineer controls, and the locomotive was always
in the lead. The later Caltrain cars
with an engineer’s cab greatly simplified operations with push-pull running and
no reversal of the locomotive.
A
commute train of the 1970s led by a GP9, followed by a 78’ Harriman coach from
the 1920s and two gallery commute cars of 1956 vintage.
Commute
train #147 in Palo Alto powered by a Trainmaster in gray and “bloody nose” red
paint. Two of the 1955-57 gallery cars in solid grey paint are followed by a
single-level Harriman type coach. From page 188 of Signor’s Southern Pacific’s Coast Line.
Commute
train #147 (the same train number as the photo above but on a different
locomotive) in Millbrae in June of 1975. The locomotive is a GP9 with
torpedo-tube air reservoirs on the roof. There are three different car types in
the train. The first gallery car is from the 1955-57 Pullman Standard order and
has 12 pairs of windows per side. The second car is from the 1968 PS order and
has 10 pairs of windows per side. The conductor is standing by the 1968 car
which has unpainted aluminum doors. The third car is an old 78’ Harriman style
coach from the 1920s.
The beauty
of this train is that most of a prototype train can be purchased off the shelf
without modification. The GP9 diesel is
from Atlas, and has torpedo-tube air reservoirs on the roof just like the 1975
photo above. The gallery cars (prototypes made by ACF and PS in 1956-7) were
made by Wheels-of-Time in both two-tone gray and solid gray. The prototype cars
were repainted solid gray in the mid 1960s.
The cars include a lavatory window at one end. Unlike many other passenger cars, the gallery
cars are prototypical as modeled and painted.
The single
level coach is an attempt to model a 78’ Harriman commuter coach. It uses a Microtrains 78’ “paired window” coach (the SP prototype had
single windows). I replaced the 6-wheel Pullman trucks with 4-wheel trucks. I
replaced the clerestory roof supplied by Microtrains
with a resin arc roof and vents made by prr-parts.com. I painted the coach
solid grey as they were after the mid-1960s
The first of these three cars is an old (1970’s?) Rapido model. The other two cars are from Con-cor. The middle car is a regular gallery car, and the last has a control cab (for push-pull operation) and red jewel for side visibility. SP never owned any of the gallery cars with engineer’s cabs. I added road number decals to the Con-cor cars. These Rapido and Con-cor cars with 8 pairs of windows are models of the 161- to 168-seat gallery car Pullman Standard made from 1958-1970 for CNW.
The Southern Pacific gallery cars of the 1968 order from Pullman Standard had 10 pairs of windows per side (with the end window being half-size). The Con-cor/Rapido models thus more closely resemble the Pullman CNW gallery cars of 1958-70, which had 8 pairs of windows per side (see my streamlined smooth-side car web page). The 1968 SP cars were painted solid gray with unpainted aluminum doors, unlike the 1955-57 gallery cars. The Rapido and Con-cor cars are reasonably close to prototype, but are only suitable for post-1967 trains.
Photo of SP gallery car from the 1968 PS order. Note there are 20 windows per side in this 1968 car, but 24 windows per side in the 1955-57 cars. From page 160 of Dorin’s Commuter Railroads.
REFERENCES
Dorin, Patrick, Commuter Railroads, A pictorial review of the most traveled trains, Superior Publishing Co., 1970.
McGovern, Janet, Caltrain and the Peninsula Commute Service, Arcadia Publishing, 128 pages, 2012.
Ryan, Dennis, and Joseph Shine, Southern Pacific Passenger Trains, vol. 2, Day trains of the coast line, Four Ways West publications, 2000.
Signor, John, Southern Pacific’s Coast Line, Signature Press, 1995.
