No. 10265 Electro-Motive E-6 ABA Diesel Locomotive, heading up the "City of San Francisco" Streamlined Passenger Train

 Union Pacific Railroad

In June, 1936, twin twelve-car (two power cars and ten passenger cars) “City of Denver” fast daily streamliner service (see No. 10029) commenced between Chicago and Denver (1048 miles), competition for Burlington Railroad’s “Denver Zephyrs” (see No. 10239) between the same cities, established only 18 days before the “City of Denver’s” first run. Power was furnished by custom-built 2400 horsepower General Motors Electro-Motive AB diesel locomotives. The Armour yellow and golden brown trainsets were designated M-10005 and M-10006, and were partially articulated.
 
Pullman-Standard supplied the streamlined lightweight aluminum cars, accommodating 182 coach and Pullman passengers. The public areas of the train were painted in pastel colors, handsomely accented with aluminum. Interior decorating was done with the assistance of GM’s Detroit-based automotive styling department, in this case in conjunction with Chicago-based designer Sterling McDonald, who also helped with Santa Fe’s “Super Chief” interiors (see No. 10168).
 
Travel between the East and Midwest to California has always been particularly heavy, so the May, 1936, introduction of the M-10002 eleven-car “City of Los Angeles” (see No. 10352) and the June, 1936, launching of the eleven-car M-10004 “City of San Francisco,” the latter Union Pacific streamliner similar to the “City of Denver,” were met with great enthusiasm by the  traveling public. These two new articulated trains furnished speedy deluxe service between Chicago and the West Coast on a once-a-week basis for each train in each direction.  The extra-fare “City of San Francisco” made the trip in 39 hours and 45 minutes (2260 miles), considerably faster than traditional steam-powered heavyweight trains.
 
The M-10004 “City of San Francisco,” like the M-10005 and M-10006 “City of Denver” trainsets, featured a 2400 horsepower locomotive set with styling of a radically new design, appearing somewhat like an automobile front, with a raised cab set back high above a grilled nose with lots of chrome trim (Detroit’s influence, as we’ve seen). One hundred seventy coach and Pullman passengers could ride in the Pullman-Standard lightweight aluminum cars.
 
It soon became apparent that more streamliners would be needed to satisfy demand, so late in 1937 Union Pacific took delivery of two additional “City of Los Angeles” and “City of San Francisco” trainsets, thereby doubling  “City” departures from Chicago to the West Coast destinations to every third day.  The two new “City” trains represented a departure from the “M” series sets in that the motive power, rather than being custom-built for Union Pacific, comprised locomotives from the Electro-Motive “catalog” of standard production types. Union Pacific chose the new “E” series line, with two three-unit sets of E-2 diesel locomotives (5400 horsepower). The original M-10004 trainset was removed from Chicago-San Francisco service in January, 1938, only to resurface as a 13-car consist in August, 1938, on the Chicago-Los Angeles run, until July, 1941. It operated Chicago-Portland July, 1941, to Feburary, 1947, then Chicago-Denver to February, 1948, after which M-10004 went into storage, to be scrapped in 1951.
 
The two new “City” trains were similar. Each had 14-car consists, semi-articulated, built by Pullman-Standard. The two “City of San Francisco” trainsets were augmented by another new Union Pacific Chicago-San Francisco train in 1937, the “Forty-Niner” (see No. 10016), in anticipation of traffic to San Francisco for the Golden Gate Exposition World’s Fair staged in 1938-1940.
 
Just before restrictions on new car and locomotive deliveries went into effect as the U.S. became involved in World War II, Union Pacific took delivery of 145 new lightweight streamlined cars from Pullman-Standard, enough for two more non-articulated “City of Los Angeles”(see No 10590)  and “City of San Francisco” trainsets. Six new Electro-Motive E-6 diesels (2000 horsepower per unit) supplied the motive power for these new trains in 1946. The new cars and locomotives had a  new color scheme: Armour yellow with Harbor Mist gray with red lettering and striping, which became Union Pacific’s standard color scheme until Amtrak’s takeover in 1971.  These two newest 14-car trainsets were the most luxurious yet, sporting barber shops and shower baths. Now that the trains were non-articulated, they could be lengthened or shortened according to demand; so it was not unusual for the 3-unit E-6 locomotive set to be pulling as many as 18 “City of San Francisco” cars.

Union Pacific continued to enjoy a strong passenger allegiance postwar; accordingly the railroad ordered new equipment for its “City” fleet. There were daily departures of the “City of San Francisco” in 1947, which was now also the case with the entire “City” fleet. Trip time Chicago-San Francisco in 1947 was 40 hours with four trainsets.

The pinnacle of “City” popularity was reached in the 1950s, before the jet airliner and interstate highway system. Other railroads started to use the popular “dome” cars in the early 1950s, but the “City of San Francisco” remained domeless until combined with the “City of Los Angeles” in 1960, except for the Ogden-Oakland segment of the trip, when the Southern Pacific Railroad supplied its own home built dome cars from about 1955. The combined 1960 train carried the “City of Los Angeles” name.

Traffic and revenues declined in the 1960s, and by 1970 the “City of Los Angeles” was on a thrice-per-week schedule, combined with other “City” trains— literally a “City of Everywhere” arrangement. Amtrak took over Union Pacific’s passenger operations in 1971, with the revived “City of San Francisco” the only “City” train to survive into the Amtrak era, renamed the “San Francisco Zephyr” in June, 1972.

No. 10265 represents an accurate scale model of the Union Pacific Electro-Motive E-6 ABA diesel locomotive, heading up the streamlined 7-car “City of San Francisco” (Nos. 10266 & 10267) in Armour yellow and Harbor Mist gray as it would have been seen domeless, in the late 1940s and 1950s between Chicago and San Francisco. The train is in “O” gauge by MTH.