Southern Pacific Morning Daylight, 1940-1954

Fred Klein, 2010, 2016

Southern Pacific’s daylight trains were known as “the most beautiful trains in the world”.  The bright colors and streamlined styling of the late 1930’s were like bright sun compared to the gloom of the older black locomotives and Pullman green passenger cars.  The morning daylights left San Francisco (#98) and Los Angeles (#99) in the morning and reached the opposite city after a day on Southern Pacific’s 400 mile coast route.  Scenery along the coast route through California’s coast range mountains is spectacular.  The train was often sold out.  The cars had large picture windows and corrugated sides above and below the windows.  When other railroad’s streamliners were fully articulated (UP, CB&Q, IC), Southern Pacific (along with Santa Fe) wisely opted for individual cars that could be added or subtracted from the consist as use required.  Most of the coaches and the coffee shop-diner cars were articulated to save weight. The GS4 locomotive was made by Lima, the cars by Pullman.

The morning daylight began daily service in 1937.  In 1940, the train was re-equipped with new cars and a GS-4 locomotive, and is the train modeled here.  A noon daylight was also added in 1940, which used the 1937 daylight consist.  The noon daylight was cancelled during the war, and cancelled for good in 1949.

After WWII in 1946, the lettering on the tender was changed from “Southern Pacific Lines” to “Southern Pacific”, and the lettering on the cars was subsequently changed too.  The model cars and tender shown here are lettered with “Southern Pacific”, and strictly speaking, the train only appeared this way after 1946.  During 1947-49 and after 1953, E7 diesels began powering some of the daylight trains, and Alco PA’s were added in 1953.  The morning daylight was renamed the coast daylight in 1952.  New, non-articulated coaches were added in 1954. From the early 1950s when the GS4 steam locomotives were relegated to lesser trains, diesels would have been appropriate for the daylight.

 

The Southern Pacific Morning Daylight circa 1940. Photo from the Kato USA website.

 

The Southern Pacific Morning Daylight circa 1938 with a GS3 locomotive, before the twin headlight GS4’s were completed in 1940.

 

Postcard showing the new Coast Daylight about 1938 with a GS3 locomotive, before the twin headlight GS4’s were completed in 1940. From page 104, The American Streamliner: Prewar Years, by Donald Heimberger and Carl Byron, Heimberger House Publishing, 1996.

 

The Coast Daylight at Chatsworth on October 29, 1941. Richard Kinding photo from Ryan and Shine’s Southern Pacific Passenger Trains volume 2: Day trains of the coast line, Four Ways West, 2000.

The morning daylight is easy to model with Kato’s boxed passenger set and GS4 locomotive. The consist matches Ryan and Shine’s Southern Pacific Passenger Trains vol. 2, Day trains of the coast line, page 127.  The cars are prototypical to this morning daylight train. This model train (including Kato’s 4 add-on articulated coaches) has 18 cars. The daylight had 12 cars in 1940, 20 cars during WWII (the lounge cars were omitted and more coaches added), and 18 cars (as pictured) in 1946.  The number of articulated coaches varied between two and six as traffic demanded.  In later years the arrangement varied somewhat, for example an articulated chair car could be placed between the tavern and parlor cars.

 

Steam locomotive and baggage-chair car

 

As Southern Pacific’s premier train, the morning daylight received the new Lima GS-4, 4-8-4 locomotives.  They could generally handle the train over the hilly coast route by themselves, but expanded consists required helper power over steep sections like the Cuesta grade.  The Kato model is well made and is a good puller.  The first car was always a baggage-chair car, but in 1946 it was replaced by a stream-styled Harriman baggage car. 

 

First coach section

 

 

The train had two coach sections separated by an articulated coffee shop-diner car in the middle, and a tavern car and two parlor cars at the end.  Then came three pair of articulated coaches, and I show one coach in expanded view.  The restrooms (one in each car) were near the joint between the cars.  A single 44-seat chair car usually followed.

 

Articulated food car

 

 

The articulated coffee shop /kitchen /dining car was distinctive to Southern Pacific.  The articulation not only saved on weight, but made carrying food through the car much easier.  The coffee shop car is easy to spot because the wide gap between the windows in the center of the car concealed the waiter’s station.

Second coach section

 

Another articulated chair car or two followed.

Parlor section

 

The train terminated with a tavern car (the bar was in the windowless center of the car), a 38-seat parlor lounge, and a parlor observation.  During the war, these “luxury” cars were dropped from the train to save money, fuel and staffing. The front of the GS4 and the rear including the tailsign are just as beautiful as the rest of the train.

 

    

REFERENCES

Randall, David, From Zephyr to Amtrak, Prototype Publications, 1972.

Ryan, Dennis and Joseph Shine, Southern Pacific Passenger Trains vol. 2, Day trains of the coast line, Four Ways West, 2000.

Wayner, Robert, Car Names, Numbers and Consists, Wayner Publications, 1972.

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