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| SP Daylight baggage sticker, 1937. |
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| Postcard showing the SP Daylight on the Pacific Coast route, circa 1938. Click to enlarge. |
The California State Railroad Museum sponsored this 2005 documentary about the fabled Daylight streamliners of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which plied the rails between Los Angeles and San Francisco from 1937 until the formation of Amtrak in 1971. This video is a treat for the eyes and ears, and a must-see for all railfans.
You could eat plain or fancy fare, as you pleased, aboard the Daylight - from sardines to caviar. Multiply the prices by a factor of 20 to get a rough approximation in today's dollars. (Yes, it was and still is expensive to eat in the dining car - go look up Amtrak prices.)
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| SP Daylight lunch menu, 1937. Click to enlarge. |
The SP and its subsidiaries formed a gigantic enterprise with over 16,000 miles of track, stretching from Portland, Oregon, down through California and over to New Orleans, as well as eastward to Ogden, Utah, and Tucumcari, New Mexico. There was also a Mexican subsidiary as well as a steamship line from New Orleans to New York.
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| Southern Pacific system map at its greatest extent in 1929. Thicker lines are SP routes; thinner lines are other railroads. Click to enlarge. |
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| SP's famous "Sunset Route" herald, used for decades in publications and on billboards and railroad cars. |
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