No. 10432 Lima GS-2 Class 4-8-4 "Northern" Type Steam Locomotive, heading up the "Daylight" Streamlined Passenger Train

 Southern Pacific Railroad

Faced with declining revenues from passenger traffic as a result of the Depression, the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1933 launched an all-out effort to revitalize its passenger service. Working with car builder Pullman-Standard and locomotive manufacturer Lima (Ohio) Locomotive Works, Southern Pacific set extremely high standards for design. The result was often called "The Most Beautiful Train in the World." Inaugurated on March 21, 1937, Southern Pacific's new streamlined "Daylight" sets replaced two heavyweight trains of the same name (service established in 1922) operating on the scenic 470-mile Coast Line between Los Angeles and San Francisco on a swift schedule of 9 hours 45 minutes. Wearing Southern Pacific designer Charles Eggleston's dramatic red, orange, and black color scheme, the two luxurious 12-car trains featured state-of-the-art interior accommodations. Up front on each train was a new streamlined GS-2 Class 4-8-4 "Northern"-type steam locomotive, a design so good it would spawn an entire family of dependable motive power to haul other Southern Pacific prestige trains. Six GS-2 Class "Northerns" (Nos. 4410-4415) were delivered to Southern Pacific from Lima for the new "Daylights." Within days of the "Daylight's" introduction, Southern Pacific knew it had a winner. Demand for a seat on the new trains was so high that the railroad was obligated to run second sections, using older non-streamlined equipment, to handle as many as 400 overflow passengers per day. By 1939, the "Daylights" were the most heavily traveled intercity trains in the country, averaging 370 passengers per trip.

It was obvious a second streamliner set was needed, and in January, 1940, two new and similar 14-car trains replaced the first two "Daylight" equipment sets as the "Morning Daylights." Newly refurbished, the original 1937 streamliners became the "Noon Daylights." Then in July, 1941, came the "Night Daylights," all-Pullman trains offering the most modern sleeping accommodations on Southern Pacific's fleet.

Soon there were more "Daylight" day trains - the "San Joaquin Daylight" (1941, Oakland-Los Angeles) and the "Sacramento Daylight" (1946, Sacramento- Lathrop).

In 1949, the day train "Shasta Daylight" (see No. 10729) became the only truly long- distance "Daylight," linking Oakland with Portland, Oregon, with two consists offering daily service over the 714-mile route in 16 1/2 hours. Homebuilt dome lounge cars were added to the trains in 1955.

Alas, the late 1950s and 1960s was the time of the new interstate highway system and the revolutionary jet airliner, and the Southern Pacific began to lose money on its handsome fleet of streamliners as the traveling public transferred its allegiance to the automobile and jetliner.

The "Night Daylight," also known as the "Lark"(see No. 10335), made its last run in April, 1968. The "Morning Daylight" was renamed the "Coast Daylight" in 1952 (see No. 10095) and upgraded with new lightweight streamlined coaches in 1954, when handsome Electro-Motive E-8 ABA diesel locomotives were introduced, along with the dome lounge cars in 1955. But, as we've said, ridership was declining after 1955, and the "Coast Daylight" was retired when Amtrak took over Southern Pacific's passenger operations in early 1971. In late 1971, Amtrak brought back the "Coast" name to introduce "Coast Starlight" service between Los Angeles and Seattle, now considered to be Amtrak's finest long-distance sleeper-equipped luxury train (see No. 10359).

No. 10432 represents an accurate scale model of Southern Pacific's GS-2 class 4-8-4 "Northern"-type steam locomotive in "O" gauge by MTH, complemented by its 7-car streamlined passenger train (Nos. 10433 and 10434), as the "Daylight" would have been seen on its run between Los Angeles and San Francisco 1937- 1941. GS-2 Class locomotive #4412 heading up this model train represents the third GS-2 delivered to the Southern Pacific in early 1937.

As a footnote, the "Daylight Limited" started out in 1922 as a Friday and Saturday summer-season-only heavyweight coach train, on a fast 13-hour schedule with no stops. It was so popular that by the following year it was a daily year-round train. By 1936, there were two heavyweight coach "Daylights" on 11-hour trips, ushering in the "Daylight" streamliner era on the Southern Pacific, with trip time reduced to 9 hours and 45 minutes after 1937.