THE COAST DAYLIGHT – THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TRAIN IN THE WORLD – Southern Pacific’s famous streamliner between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Train Town Video Productions Presents a railroad video featuring Southern Pacific’s Daylight 1937-1957. Considered the most beautiful train in the world – covering some of the most spectacular scenery in America.  The down home music in the video hardly represents this sophisticated train.  It was anything but “country”!

The Daylight had its inaugural run on March 1, 1937 and was hauled by GS-2 steam locomotives. It was the first of the Daylight series that also included the San Joaquin Daylight, Shasta Daylight, Sacramento Daylight, and Sunbeam. The Coast Daylight ran behind steam from March 1937 until it was dieselized on January 7, 1955. After dieselization, the train continued to run until May 1, 1971 when Amtrak took over service and rerouted their Coast Daylight to Oakland.

A second train known as the Noon Daylight ran on the same route between 1940 and 1949, with a suspension during World War II. The original Coast Daylight was informally known as the Morning Daylight during this time.

In 1949, the Noon Daylight was replaced by an overnight train known as the Starlight using the same equipment. In 1956, coaches from the Starlight were added to the all-Pullman Lark and the Starlight was discontinued in 1957. Amtrak later revived the train name for its Los Angeles to Seattle service known as the Coast Starlight.

A chair car porter loads baggage aboard the Daylight in new elevated storage areas – a major innovation for passenger travel in the 1930s.

The Daylight ready to depart from Los Angles Union Station during the 1940s.

A dome car was added in the late 1950s.

On August 26, 1999: The United States Postal Service issued 33-cent All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains commemorative stamps featuring five celebrated American passenger trains from the 1930s and 1940s. One of the five stamps featured an image of a GS-4 steam locomotive pulling the red-and-orange train along the California Pacific Coast.

The train is also the subject of the railroad documentary, “Daylight: The Most Beautiful Train in the World.” hosted by Michael Gross.

Click here to order the video.

The documentary features early color images and color films from within the train and as it travels along its route. Passengers fondly reminisce about their travels aboard the train, about the striking coastal scenery, and about the fine amenities available at the height of rail passenger era. The narrative is accompanied by large collection of contemporaneous photographs and films, including personal black-and-white films showing life aboard the train.

The documentary covers the time period from 1937 to 1971. This is the time period when the route and equipment were owned and operated as a business venture of the Southern Pacific Railroad. It begins with the train being ordered in 1935 in spite of the ongoing depression, entering service in 1937, operating through World War II, replacing locomotives with diesel power in the 1950s, and finally the demise of the train due to the declining rail passenger traffic. After World War II, declining revenues forced SP to cut costs through a series of austerity measures.

One significant change was that the train’s layout was reconfigured to eliminate the dining cars. These were replaced in favor of Automat cars. The Automat cars offered prepared food from vending machines instead of fresh, made-to-order meals in the dining cars. These cars saved money by eliminating all of the train’s culinary personnel. This was a utilitarian configuration which allowed for seating, for baggage, and for the Automat car. This configuration was used until the train was discontinued.

In 1971, Amtrak took over operation of the route along the Pacific coast, expanding the route northward to Portland and Seattle.

In 2008 it was announced that the “Coast Daylight” will resume service, allowing a flexible passenger itinerary, in 2011.

For complete information on the SP Daylight – and all of the Southern Pacific trains – check out the SOUTHERN PACIFIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY website by clicking her.

Amtrak being allowed to ues the name CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR is an insult to one of the great streamliners in American history (pictured to the left).

The slogan for the Pullman Company was “next time take the train.”  You would be able to travel in Pullman comfort and safety.  No longer possible with the totally inept Amtrak.

If only it were realistically possible to travel in the safety and comfort of Pullman accommodations today.   That of course is over.  Deluxe first class reliable train travel in the tradition of the Pullman Company is now history.  Amtrak is the blight that replaced the great American trains with another third-rate US government institution.

The Pullman Company carried millions of passengers and had a great safety record.

Amtrak can barely move 95 percent less people and has accidents monthly.  More passenger fatalities than the history of the Pullman Company. Now, the USA has the equivalent of “Third World” rail passenger travel.  The California Zephyr (a name Amtrak should never have been allowed to desecrate) arrived 24 hours late this week after a five day hell ride from San Francisco to Chicago. Rail travel under our inept government is now evident in the the dreadful money wasting Amtrak. Let private enterprise take over this Washington joke!

Looking back at when passenger trains were great:

Today – “the boss” would have to take the night off to fly anywhere – with delays, weather problems and endless third rate security efforts. He would never take the shoddy Amtrak.

You would never dine like this aboard Amtrak.

Today, you would never relax with a drink like this on Amtrak.  And of course no one be dressed like this.

Today, you would never enjoy a private drawing room such as Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint enjoyed in Alfred Hitchcock’s NORTH BY NORTHWEST aboard the 20th Century Ltd.

As for departure – you would never have the freedom of boardings like these – as passengers head for the all-Pullman SUPER CHIEF for its 39 hour trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.  Amtrak’s train from hell last week took over 100 hours to make it from San Francisco Chicago.  More American progress.

Happy New Year from Amtrak: Watch video of outraged passengers arriving from Amtrak’s Train from Hell in Chicago. 24 Hours Late. Are times worse than the past?   Decide for yourself.

THIS IS HOW WE TRAVEL BY TRAIN TODAY IN THE USA ON THE DREADFUL AMTRAK-

HAPPY NEW YEAR: Amtrak Passengers Stuck On ‘Train From Hell’ For Five Days.(SEE ABOVE VIDEO) – JAN 10, 2010

Passengers aboard the California Zephyr train that arrived in Chicago from San Francisco yesterday were expecting a long trip. But not this long. The ride arrived over 24 hours late to Union Station due to the inclement weather and other ill fate.  Over 100 hours of hell.

The train struck a pickup truck in Iowa, according to the NBC Chicago report. But the snowstorm, which left snow drifts “two stories high” in parts of Nebraska, caused most of the slowdown.

Youtube video on the change from private rail service to Amtrak.

Privately run intercity passenger service in Milwaukee was a thing of the past by early 1971. The Federal government had formed Amtrak to remove the burden of passenger service from the railroads and insure that core passenger routes remained active.

By May 1st, when Amtrak rolled into Milwaukee, things had changed. Milwaukee Road’s Hiawatha and C&NW’s bi-level Streamliners were out, but Amtrak’s Empire Builder was in. Direct rail service was now available all the way to Seattle, but one could no longer travel to Green Bay!