San Joaquin Daylight

An EMD SDP45 leads the San Joaquin Daylight at Martinez, California in 1971.

v t Southern Pacific San Joaquin Daylight
Legend
San Francisco Bay ferry to San Francisco 0mi Oakland Pier 2 mi 3 km Oakland (16th Street) 5 mi 8 km Berkeley 11 mi 18 km Richmond 25 mi 40 km Crockett 31 mi 50 km Martinez Shasta Daylight & City of San Francisco 45 mi 72 km Pittsburgh 78 mi 126 km Tracy Sacramento Daylight 89 mi 143 km Lathrop 113 mi 182 km Modesto 126 mi 203 km Turlock 151 mi 243 km Merced 184 mi 296 km Madera San Joaquin River 206 mi 332 km Fresno 250 mi 402 km Tulare 281 mi 452 km Delano 313 mi 504 km Bakersfield Tehachapi Loop 361 mi 581 km Tehachapi 381 mi 613 km Mojave 406 mi 653 km Lancaster 450 mi 724 km Saugus Newhall Pass Coast Daylight, Lark & Sunset Limited 477 mi 768 km Glendale 483 mi 777 km Los Angeles

The San Joaquin Daylight was a Southern Pacific passenger train (train numbers 51 and 52) inaugurated between Los Angeles and San Francisco's Oakland Pier by way of the San Joaquin Valley and Tehachapi Pass on July 4, 1941. Travel times were between 12 hours (1970^[1]) and 14 hours (1944^[2]). It operated until the advent of Amtrak in 1971.

History[]

Train numbers 51 and 52 were named the San Joaquin Flyer on 20 March 1927. The name was changed to the San Joaquin on the January 1928 timetable. All streamlined lightweight equipment brought the name change to San Joaquin Daylight on 4 July 1941.^[3]

Passenger cars[]

Pullman-Standard built coaches were assigned to the two train sets, both articulated pairs and singles. The 40-seat dining car and parlor-observation car had been built for the original 1937 Daylight. Each train set had ten cars painted in SP's Daylight colors (red and orange, with black roofs and white striping and lettering), and included two head-end cars rebuilt from heavyweights by the SP Sacramento shops repainted Daylight colors to match the rest of the train.

Locomotives[]

SP initially assigned three P-10 class Pacific steam locomotives 2383-2385 after semi-streamlining them and painting them in Daylight colors at the Sacramento shops. A single Pacific ran between Oakland Pier and Bakersfield; a pair of those Pacifics was assigned between Los Angeles and Bakersfield. The helper P-10 that led the northbound San Joaquin Daylight from Los Angeles to Bakersfield returned on the southbound San Joaquin Daylight from Bakersfield.

Diesel power included EMD F-units and Alco PAs, later supplemented by GP9s and SDP45s.

Inaugural runs[]

The inaugural runs were as follows:

First consist[]

2383 P-10 class 4-6-2 Streamlined Pacific Locomotive & Tender

5069 Heavyweight Modernized Baggage 30’ Railway Post Office Car

6091 Heavyweight Modernized Baggage Car

2492 44 Revenue seat Coach

2478 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach 2477 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach

10200 40 seat Dining Car

2480 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach 2479 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach

2487 44 Revenue seat Coach

2950 23 Revenue seat Parlor 10 seat Lounge Observation

Second consist[]

2385 P-10 Class 4-6-2 Streamlined Pacific Locomotive and Tender (Helper) (Los Angeles – Bakersfield)

2384 P-10 Class 4-6-2 Streamlined Pacific Locomotive and Tender

5017 Heavyweight Modernized Baggage 30’ Railway Post Office Car

6092 Heavyweight Modernized Baggage Car

2493 44 Revenue seat Coach

2482 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach 2481 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach

10201 40 seat Dining Car

2484 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach 2483 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach

2488 44 Revenue seat Coach

2951 23 Revenue seat Parlor 10 seat Lounge Observation

Later history[]

In 1946 a Sacramento section of the San Joaquin Daylight was introduced, named the Sacramento Daylight, trains 53-54. The two trains ran together from Los Angeles to Lathrop, where they split. In 1970 the split moved from Lathrop to Tracy.

The San Joaquin Daylight in March 1971, one month before Amtrak took over nationwide rail passenger service in the United States.

The San Joaquin Daylight's dining car was replaced by a coffee-shop car by the 1950s. The parlor-observation car was also removed, though it immediately gained a second life. In 1954 SP placed two of its seven homebuilt dome-lounge cars in the consists; one of the cars was rebuilt from the train's own parlor-observation car.^[4] The dome car was discontinued in the late 1960s.

In 1961 the coffee-shop car was replaced by SP's automat cars which had vended meals and non-alcoholic beverages, a self-service microwave oven, and a table area. This lasted to the end of service.

The San Joaquin Daylight ran until April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak took over nationwide rail passenger service in the United States. In March 1974 Amtrak's San Joaquin began running between the Bay Area and Fresno and Bakersfield on Santa Fe track in the San Joaquin Valley.

Overnight: The Owl and the West Coast[]

The overnight counterpart to the San Joaquin Daylight was the Owl, trains 57-58, between Oakland and Los Angeles, with sleeping cars and meal and beverage service. It was discontinued in 1965, three years before the Lark (direct to San Francisco itself) on the Coast Line ended. The West Coast (trains 59-60) carried overnight Sacramento-LA passengers until about 1960, though unlike the Sacramento Daylight it was a separate train all the way.^[5]

See also[]

• Coast Daylight
• San Joaquin, Amtrak California's service to the Central Valley
• Sacramento Daylight
• Southern Pacific 4449 locomotive in "Daylight" paint scheme

References[]