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"What's a "Daylight"?"

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johninchicago (93 posts)
Sep-15-01, 05:10 PM (EST) "What's a "Daylight"?" I've seen this term used in conjunction with passenger trains, perhaps the most famous being the SP Coast Daylight in that unmistakable red, orange and silver paint scheme. Can someone please tell me the origin of the term or to what the term refers? Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
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Subject Author Message Date ID RE: What's a "Daylight"? tryagin Sep-16-01 1 RE: What's a "Daylight"? johninchicago Sep-16-01 2 RE: What's a "Daylight"? tryagin Sep-16-01 3 RE: What's a "Daylight"? johninchicago Sep-16-01 4 RE: What's a "Daylight"? jim_henry Sep-20-01 5 RE: What's a "Daylight"? SD40T_2 Sep-21-01 6 RE: What's a "Daylight"? ac4270 Sep-21-01 7

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tryagin (255 posts)
Sep-16-01, 00:22 AM (EST) 1. "RE: What's a "Daylight"?" Johnin "My Kind of Town",
The Daylight is in reference to Southern Pacific's Premier Passenger Trains that ran between Los Angeles and San Fransisco.
The 4-8-4 Northern type steam loco #4449 that is based in Portland, Oregon (USA)has made the name "Daylight" famous again, and many people associate that name to that engine. However, it was the TRAIN that was famous for being a high-class means of travel between the two afore-mentioned centers.

Cover from 1938 "Daylight" brochure.The Southern Pacific Daylight trains go back before the streamline era, but not sure when. However I've seen a black and white movie "California Limiteds" made in the late ' 20's that makes referance to the early Daylight with White Cars! They were pulled by the 4300-class 4-8-2's, a very hansom class.Hope this helps,Tim
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johninchicago (93 posts)
Sep-16-01, 10:37 AM (EST) 2. "RE: What's a "Daylight"?" Tim - thanks for the reply. Yes, I'm aware of 4449. As you I'm sure know, it and its consist got a lot of exposure as the "Freedom Train" when we celebrated out bicentennial back in 1976. I've also seen a few Pentrex videos which feature it. It truly is a beautiful train!I was wondering if you happen to know the origin of the term "daylight". I think I have heard the term used to describe other trains as well, making me wonder if it refers to a class of trains. Do you know if that's true? Then if it is, what do trains of that class have in common? Is it just that they make their runs during daylight hours?? Hope I'm being a little clearer with my question, and thanks again for your earlier information. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
tryagin (255 posts)
Sep-16-01, 12:23 PM (EST) 3. "RE: What's a "Daylight"?" In that light, John, I'm not sure. With the SP, the Daylight was the daytime counterpart to their "LarK" which ran at night. My resource here is "The Trains We Rode" by Lusciuos Beebe and Charles Clegg, but it doesn't go too deep into the text, but excellent pics. It's a 2 vol. set and I just have Vol 2. The first would have info on Illinois Central's and Monon's Daylight trains which are mentioned in the index of vol.2. Sorry I couldn't be much help! TIM Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
johninchicago (93 posts)
Sep-16-01, 10:02 PM (EST) 4. "RE: What's a "Daylight"?" Tim - many thanks... Perhaps someone else who is steeped in RR History will come to our rescue and have an answer to this question. I'm more curious now than ever.Best,
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jim_henry (12 posts)
Sep-20-01, 01:16 PM (EST) 5. "RE: What's a "Daylight"?" Hopefully someone who really knows the whole story will set us all straight. This is what I can remember from my childhood growing up in San Francisco when the Daylight and Lark were still running with diesel power.I seem to recall that SP had some predilection for naming trains based on diurnal conditions. There was also a Sunset Limited and I think I have seen an SP logo that shows the sun setting behind tracks running into the sunset. The SP was very oriented toward its role of opening up the West, the land where the sun sets in the United States (before Hawaii was a state of course!). A lot of their early promotions featured California as the land of sunshine. I can easily imagine that the used the colors red and orange in a lot of their livery to reinforce the theme of being the railroad serving sunny California and the west. The Daylight was the epitome of that marketing effort.As I recall, the Lark was silver. So did SP limit the use of the Daylight and Lark equipment to one trip a day? I suppose in those days there was not the same drive for efficiency and they wouldn't really have been able to get a train from SF to LA and back so that the same equipment could depart from the same terminal every 24 hours. Also a night train probably ran substantially different equipment than a day train. So for a heavily used under a full day trip, it probably made sense to have a day train, the Daylight, and a night train, the Lark, and then have about 12 hours to prepare them for the return journey. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
SD40T_2 (60 posts)
Sep-21-01, 00:31 AM (EST) 6. "RE: What's a "Daylight"?" i've aslo heard that they called it the Daylight since it ran during the day.And "The Lark" (An all pullman train) only ran at night hints the name "The Lark", which is a night bird incase you didn't know. Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
ac4270 (34 posts)
Sep-21-01, 01:24 AM (EST) 7. "RE: What's a "Daylight"?" LAST EDITED ON Sep-21-01 AT 01:26 AM (EST)LAST EDITED ON Sep-21-01 AT 01:25 AM (EST)OK, my research on the SP's passenger trains show that the Daylights (Shasta, Coast, and San Joaquin) were originally premier trains that ran on the coastline. The original train was the Coastline Limited and began service at the end of 1901 with a schedule of 14 hours. It was advertised as a "daytime" or "daylight" train because it ran the 471 miles between LA and SF in one day. In 1922, the Daylight Limited started operation and its running time was cut to 12 hours. The train was painted a VERY light gray, drift panel (color chip) SP Lettering Gray. The Daylight at that point was all chair cars with diner and lounge service. After the depression, in 1937, the SP wanted to show the country that they were ready for business. The Daylight was totally rebuilt with a new trainset, and 6 streamlined 4-8-4s, the GS-2s, $2 million per trainset, and took on the now-famous red, orange and black paint scheme and the famous Daylight script and winged-ball herald. This train was built as a 12 car set, complete with diner, tavern/coffee shop and first class parlor cars. The 1937 Project was so successful that the SP ordered more 4-8-4s, the GS-3s, and a new batch of cars. These cars formed the San Joaquin and Noon Daylights. After WW2 the SP formed a new train the Shasta Daylight easily recognizable by the taller windows the chair cars had and that train was delivered with sets of Alco PA-1s for power. The T&NO had a version of the Daylight known as the Sunbeam that ran in Texas with rebuilt 4-6-2's between Houston and Dallas. It also had the red, orange and black color scheme. The Lark was the overnight, first-class, all Pullman train until around 1960-65. It was painted two-tone gray (Light gray with a dark gray windowboard) with silver pinstripes. The Starlight ran "Daylight pool" equipment as an overnight chair car train on the coastline. It was the overnight version of the Daylight. Some of these cars might be substituted if the Coast Daylight need one, usually the San Joaquin Daylight would be the train that would be sacrificed to keep the other trains looking pretty. In 1947 the San Joaquin Daylight hit a gasoline tanker and most of the trainset was burned to the trucks. No new cars were ordered so the Pool was used to replace the trainset, thus the SP was extremely short on streamlined cars, some receiving as many as six paint schemes per year trying to keep up with traffic changes. After the crash the San Joaquin's observation cars were permanently removed from service.
Hope this answers the questions in this threadGod Bless,
AC4270 Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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