Southern Pacific Daylight Passenger Train [4K]

The Southern Pacific Railroad produced a company film to introduce the new Southern Pacific Daylight Passenger Train. If you enjoyed this video please hit that LIKE and SUBSCRIBE button. I really appreciate & value all of the LIKES and SUBSCRIBERS to my Videos & Channel!!

[@BackshopRailProductions]

Subscriptions are a big help for keeping the channel going long term so please help out. Receive notifications of latest uploads by clicking the bell next to the subscribe logo. Leave a comment and feel free to video share. Regards from Backshop Rail Productions.

[@1958]

This is my favorite film produced by a railroad. You can’t top the padre dropping dead in the first 15 seconds.

[@doanster]

"Just a million dollars worth of fur coats swimming in the sun." Oh what a different era it was. Thanks for the great video! Keep up the good work.

[@PowerTrain611]

Mmm, and at 17:35 "A gay metropolis..." Welp, good to know that hasn't changed. XD

[@BadWolf762]

And all the staff and porters appear to be black, while all the passengers are white.

[@HSMiyamoto]

ICYMI: The "Golden State Route" ran most of the way to Kansas City and St. Louis over the Rock Island via Tucumcari, NM. The Southern Pacific reached Chicago from Oakland, of course, mostly via the Union Pacific through Ogden, UT, leaving Union Pacific rails at Council Bluffs, IA and running over either the Chicago & Northwestern or the Milwaukee Road (the change was in 1955)

[@normansilver905]

We rode the Coast Daylight twice a year from LAUPT to Townsend St for family visits. Great train, excellent food (plus free ice cream for kids after lunch) and the seating was very comfortable.

[@Toledo1940]

I have read that the reason the GS (and other steam locomotives that ran along the coast) had both a steam whistle and an air horn lies in the fact that the sound of a steam whistle doesn't carry as far as an air horn in the heavy fog frequently encountered in coastal California.

[@kiwitrainguy]

Air/steam horns were also on East Coast steam locos as well like the NYC Niagara's, the Milwaukee F6's and the PRR S1. I wonder if it's for the same reason.

[@Toledo1940]

@@kiwitrainguy Here is the explanation I have been given for the NYC Niagara engines being retrofitted with air horns: engineers complained that they could not hear the steam whistles, which were installed near the smoke stack.

[@kiwitrainguy]

@@Toledo1940 OK, thanks for that. Another one is that the SP Cab Forwards were given horns as well because as they were facing the other way round and they felt that the whistle was too far back on the loco to be heard properly.

[@brax2364]

Well that triggered a memory. Years ago I was an Air Force Officer stationed at Vandenberg AFB performing duties as a Range Control Officer (RCO) for what was then the Western Test Range (WTR). The Atlas missile was notoriously famous for difficulty to launch. Depending on the configuration it can be very susceptible to atmospheric wind sheer. We had something like 12 scrubs for this one launch. We were in a built-in hold and picked up the count with only a few scant minutes left in our launch window or we’d have to scrub again. There was this train track that ran right through Vandenberg and a passenger train was moving through but then stopped inexplicably. We had to hold the count until they got clear. Damn! What’s up with the train - as the clock was tricking. Security police responded and reported that the engineer stopped the train so the passengers could see the launch. Needless to say they told the engineer to open the damn throttle wide and get the hell out of there.

[@bboomer1948]

The Fabulous 1930's ! Art Deco, Lovely Women, Sharp Automobiles. Thanks for the video.

[@JETZcorp]

Not enough people are talking about those seats that swivel towards the windows. That's pure luxury, right there.

[@josephf-p9668]

Holy cow the last sequence of trains of the southern pacific is amazing :)

[@charlestuma2336]

The narrator is a good shouter.

[@normansilver905]

Thanks from a guy raised on the SP mainline north of Glendale. 1940-1957

[@Jimmyzb36]

What! An unusual whistle!

[@adamdonnelly3912]

Jimmyzb36 airhorn* and at that time yes it was

[@transportfanaticsshorts]

Very cool old film of the Southern Pacific Coast Daylight.

[@General-Eclectic]

Good grief. That music.

[@TrainTracker911]

Times have changed. LA and SF are no longer what they once were. Gone from good to very bad.

[@VincesArtDesigns]

Ahhh yes... the golden age of traveling!

[@christophers.o622]

Backshop Rail Productions I agree with you comment about the N&W J Class 4-8-4 number 611 & the SP GS-4 Lima Built 4-8-4 streamlined locomotive number 4449. Both are my most favorite streamlined steam locomotives that were ever built. Norfolk & Western built nearly all of their own steam locomotives. I have the book The Last Steam Railroad in America which is about the steam locomotives that ran on the N&W. O. Winston Link took all of the photos. The last steam railroad in America is a must have book for the railroad buffs. I travel long distance by Amtrak trains & also travel on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner between San Diego, Los Angeles & Oxnard when I’m home in the San Diego area for visits up to a week alternating my visits between Los Angeles & Oxnard for day visits. Train travel beats driving, beats the bus & beats flying on those sardine cans called airplanes & the airport hassles. My late father hated airports.

[@CarminesRCTipsandTricks]

Excellent Program!!! I've always loved the GS Daylights. A bit anticlimactic though, to see her pull out of "Los Angeleees" in BLACK AND WHITE. 😞

[@jayyoung4534]

Time was when the Daylight needed more water on its Los Angeles to San Francisco run, it refueled under a giant spigot located in Santa Barbara's Union Station. I don't know if the night train, The Lark, a Pullman train, did the same. Anyone?

[@Jones3DModelingClub]

I would like to know that too! And what was the reason that the proposed two-tone gray livery designed for the Lark engine was not adopted? I prefer the single headlight smokebox design to the one on the GS4/5, thus GS3 is my favorite Daylight engine. If I were the person who designed the GS4, I would probably add the mars light above the pilot or on the other side of the horn! : )

[@LexiThenintendogamerandRailFan]

RIP Marge Shaw 1933-2023

[@Keasmcxz]

The True Golden Age of Southern California.

[@503railfan]

A little bit humorous that they advertise the train's smoothness but the wheels are slipping when it departs lol.

[@JETZcorp]

I think they wanted to show off the unstoppable power. Lol

[@DevonMopiedmont1143]

Would love to see the 4449 Daylight with the N&W J 611 together so we can finally vote on who is the better looking streamliner. Its already known that the Js where better functioning because of their valve gears and shear speed but feul types in modern times is what kills the Js availibility to the West. But on shear looks who really is better the partial streamlined Daylight or the Bullet nosed J.

[@BackshopRailProductions]

I would love to see the 611 and 4449 run side by side. The west coast has the 4449 and the east coast has 611.....I'm a diehard N&W man and I bleed Tuscan and gold. but, the SP 4449 is a beautiful locomotive

[@jeffdemition2308]

in the movie its a gs-2 it was built in 1937 and the gs-4 arrived in 1941

[@johannmckraken9399]

Of all the streamlined steam locomotives in North America the SP's GS series and the N&W's J's are at the top of my list of favorites. The colors of the Daylight engines just worked so well and the whole train was beautiful. N&W styling is just as good and very tasteful. What impresses me most about the J's is how fast they could be run despite having relatively small diameter driving wheels. N&W's motive power department was second to none, they kept developing great steam locomotives while other railroads were making the switch to internal combustion. I just wish I'd been born early enough to be around these great machines.

[@cple1]

What does "fuel types in modern times" have to do with a J going west? Maybe some EPA laws in California, but they can send car loads of choice coal ahead or pull them with 611. 765 generally takes a car or two along with it. Walschaerts and Baker valve gear pretty much function the same. The difference being the Bakers removal of the expansion link. The J's were a little heavier, with smaller drivers, and had a higher tractive effort, but that's about it. Only real thing stopping it from going west is the logistics of getting it there over class one railroads.

[@KCSRailstudios]

The streamlined Daylight obviously. (I do like 611 too)

[@pressstart1490]

What happened to the Daylight original passenger wagons?

[@sarjim4381]

While most cars were scrapped, about 20 were preserved and have been restored or are undergoing restoration. Several are in use with excursion trains and touring companies.

[@K-Effect]

Back when the bay area was a very nice place

[@edwinsinclair9853]

Imagine 471 Miles in 9 Hrs. 45 min. Average speed of 48.31 mph.

[@kimparish6461]

Black and white that was long time ago!

[@spdaylight1]

Would It be alright if I used some of this footage for a history on the daylight?

[@christopherlucy1772]

Such a nice B&W FILM. PLEASE DONT COLORIZE IT⚠️

[@503railfan]

did anyone else notice that they used the same horn sample sound like 5 times?

[@JungleYT]

WHAT station did it depart from? Union Station was completed in 1938... Was the shot *before* 1938???

[@sarjim4381]

Yes, this film was made shortly after the inauguration of the streamlined Daylight on March 21, 1937. From the appearance of the scenery I'd guess the film was shot sometime in June. Central Station wasn't replaced by Union Station until May, 1939 , not 1938. The Daylights, Coast and San Joaquin, operated from Central Station for about two years.

[@JungleYT]

@@sarjim4381 Thank you for the information... Appreciate it!

[@PFR1]

@@sarjim4381 "this film was made shortly after the inauguration of the streamlined Daylight on March 21, 1937." Thank you, I was wondering and had hoped that info would have been included in the description. Great video thought, thanks to the original person who posted it.

[@macmedic892]

13:16 I ♣️ seals!

[@sarjim4381]

Santa Barbara is in a lovely location but geographically, it's literally a disaster. It has seen earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, mudflows, mudslides, huge wildfires, Santa Ana winds of over 100 mph on a semi-regular basis, and blazing heat away from the ocean. Just not a place I'd choose live unless I had a ton of money and could carefully chose a homesite away from most of those hazards.

[@jayyoung4534]

@Sar...I haven't read of any natural disasters striking Hope Ranch Park, a rival wealthy community to Santa Barbara's Montecito.

[@Rand0m27]

“Just a million dollars worth of fur coats…” Yikes!

[@model-man7802]

Anyone notice the Diesel Airhorn on the GS4 at the beginning?

[@BackshopRailProductions]

Yes, The GS4's were equipped with the steam whistle and an air horn.

[@sarjim4381]

@@BackshopRailProductions As did the GS-2, the model of locomotive in this film. The spotting feature between the two is the large single headlight casing in original GS-2s.

[@christopherorourke6543]

Many of the Southenr Pacific engineers who operated the GS-2, GS-3,GS-4, even the GS-5s used the air horns more than the whistles, the air horns sound better than the whistles and it was easier than the whistles, air horns were louder as well.

[@model-man7802]

@@christopherorourke6543 sound better?I'll take a whistle over an air horn any day but yes,safety wise? They are louder and better in these times.Lay there at night and listen to a class J pulling passengers through the mountains then tell me an air horn sounds better.

[@christopherorourke6543]

@@model-man7802I have seen on different occasions various short videos on the Norfolk & Western J class steam locomotives which is one of my three favorite steam locomotives, the whistles on the J class are along with the other Norfolk & Western steam locomotive whistles are the best steam locomotive whistles & the Norfolk & Western was the King of Steam.

[@kc4cvh]

385 miles in 9 hours, 45 minutes is an average speed of 39 mph. Whether it was the most beautiful is purely subjective, but the Daylight may have been America's slowest streamlined train.

[@UncleKenable]

If you've ever been down the former SP Coast Line, you know it has mountain grades and lots of curves ... and in 1930s thru 50s there was no Interstate so the train was a lot faster than driving

[@andyharman3022]

Where did you get the 385 miles number? In the video, the narration said 471 miles, which would make the average speed more like 50 mph. If there were any stops on the way, that would also decrease average speed.

[@christopherlucy1772]

I saw 471 miles avg 50 w 75 in places?it had grades and was senic..I don't think high speed was a priority...cars then probably went @lower avg speeds..if u are in a hurry just fly..$$

[@derekdunn7562]

Werid how she doesn't cray her own passger cars now