1966, View of Southern Pacific Taylor Yard, looking south. Elysian Heights is visible on the right side of the photo and San Fernando Road is at the extreme left. The Purina Chow checkered mill is visible on the left side of the image. (William Reagh Collection) https://buff.ly/4eZYJUa. Thanks to the LAPL.
Compare the Taylor Yard pic above to this shot of the Cornfield Yard closer to Chinatown.
1964, Southern Pacific's Los Angeles freight yard, adjacent to Chinatown, N. Broadway, and the Civic Center. Workers can be seen in the foreground, unloading lumber onto a truck. (William Reagh Collection) https://buff.ly/4cWmU4k.
The photos along with the captions come from Water and Power.
1936, View showing a locomotive wheel change in the shop.
Photograph caption dated January 27, 1936, reads,
Passenger Engine No. 7856 of the Union Pacific rolled into the Los Angeles shops for a new set of tires. Workmen at the shops lifted the 200-ton locomotive from its wheels. August C. Roepke, mechanical supervisor, second from right, signals crane operator while J. H. Sinnar, foreman of the shop, extreme right, oversees operations and makes certain that workmen are careful and in the clear in case of accident.
1953, View of the roundhouse in operation at the Southern Pacific Taylor Yard, Los Angeles, CA.
The photograph caption, dated April 18, 1953, reads, This is the Southern Pacific's old roundhouse near the Los Angeles River. It's a far cry from Dieselvill, which is a sprawling yard. In the roundhouse, locomotives are stacked in stalls like silver stallions. On the turntable is the Dinky, a snubnosed beetle on an engine which pushes the "biggies" hither and yon. 'There still is romance in steam,' said one veteran railroader.
1940, View of Railroad men on top of a boxcar learning hand signals at the Southern Pacific Yard.
1937, Southern Pacific Coast Daylight, engine number 4410, engine type 4-8-4, Photographed by Otto Perry on July 27, 1937.
The Coast Daylight was a passenger train run by the Southern Pacific Railroad between Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. The train ran on SP's coastline tracks which were considered to be the most beautiful route of all their passenger trains. The passenger cars and locomotive were painted red, orange, and black. The colors were so striking against the California coastline that the train was often called the "Most Beautiful Train in the World."
The streamlined daylight began running on March 21, 1937. Initially, 12 Pullman passenger cars were hauled by GS-2 steam locomotives. Later, more passenger cars and newer steam engines were added as ridership increased. A southbound train in San Francisco (Train 98n and a northbound train Los Angeles (Train 99) would leave at the same time. Both would depart at 8:15 a.m. and arrive at their destination at 6:00 p.m. traveling 471 miles in 9 hours and 45 minutes.
After the inaugural run, the Coast Daylight became very popular and ridership skyrocketed. Within a few years, the Coast Daylight had the highest ridership numbers in the country. Almost every day the trains operated at full capacity. SP placed in order for more streamlined cars, and when they received the new equipment in 1940 they turned the Coast Daylight into the Morning Daylight, which ran with 14 cars. The older 1937 cars from the Coast Daylight became the mid-day train called the Noon Daylight. Also, streamlined was the Sunbeam (Texas Daylight), the San Joaquin Daylight which ran through California Central Valley between Oakland and Los Angeles, and the Lark, which ran between San Francisco and Los Angeles at night.
1940, Southern Pacific Noon Daylight, engine number 4428, engine type 4-8-4. Photographed in Los Angeles, CA on August 1, 1940.
The Noon Daylight was introduced on March 30, 1940, due to demand for travel on the morning Coast Daylight (San Francisco to Los Angeles), however, people preferred the earlier arrival times of the Morning Coast Daylight and patronage did not meet expectations. The Noon Daylight was discontinued for the World War years, and not reinstated until April 14, 1946.
In the 1950s, train ridership started to decline. More people were driving cars, flying with the airlines, or even riding rival passenger trains like the Santa Fe. On January 7, 1955, the steam era ended for the Coast Daylight, and all trains were pulled by diesel engines though the diesels were more efficient, popular opinion felt they just did not have the appeal of a steam engine.
As ticket sales continued their downward spiral, the Daylight trains became shadows of what they had once been, giving way to shrinking and consistently Spartan amenities whenever possible. The trains were discontinued by the SP.
1940, Southern Pacific Sunset Limited, engine number 4414, engine type 4-8-4, photographed in Los Angeles by Otto Perry on August 1, 1940.
In 1940, the Sunset was an overnight train SF to LA that continued to New Orleans. The SF to LA part ended 1942.
The Daylight, Southern Pacific’s original train that later became an entire fleet, was one of the most successful and recognized streamliners of all time even, rivaling the Santa Fe’s legendary Super Chief. Interestingly, however, only one was a long distance train as the rest were regional runs which served several different Californian cities. The popularity of the train remained incredibly high for many years even through the early 1960s. However, by the latter half of that decade the Southern Pacific began greatly reducing services and amenities on its fleet as patronage declined. By that time the railroad grew increasingly disinterested in operating passenger trains resulting in its fabled Daylight fleet coming to an unceremonious end in the early 1970s. Today, a version of this successful fleet of trains remains under Amtrak as the popular Coast Starlight.^
1955, View of the shop at Southern Pacific's Taylor Yard with two SP power units and a Union Pacific car on the left.
1950, View of Taylor Yard showing cars speeding by as the humpmaster [here (5 mins) and here] watches from his tower.
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