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I think if the Santa Fe had merged/acquired the Rio Grande and had its second transcon to Northern California, I can't really see a BNSF merger going. Burlington Northern would still have merged as James J Hill intended - perhaps earlier. UP and SP would have merged - also earlier. And Santa Fe would control Rio Grande and Western Pacific - giving three main western railroads - with decent competition on the routes into california, since from say Oakland you could ship on either UP or SF etc. I do wonder how a truly transcontinental merger would have gone eg. A Southern and Pacific Merger between SP and Southern Railway - I wonder if this would have triggered various other mergers between western and eastern railroads?

Your pronunciation was so poor we aren't 100% what town you were trying to talk about.

It's really sad that the US doesn't believe in investing in passenger rail but adding 1 more lane is the best use of money. We need bi-daily long distance trains, on upgraded tracks 110/125mph.

You speak too fast.

Great video. I am a retired SP engineer . Brings back great memories of not only running freight and passenger trains but also riding as a passenger throughout the system. Looking forward to more videos from you.

I don't think the Peninsula ever operated Steel cars, as they were always a stepchild to SP. Whatever "modern" car were sent off to the Pacific Electric by the Depression. However, the San Jose Railroads did buy steel Birney one-man cars...

I don't agree that the 1964 flood was the start of the end. There were still ample carloads being shipped. It was actually built back better than it was, but by the mid 1960's, highway 101 had already been expanded to four lanes for a good deal of the mileage to the Humboldt Bay area and there was also the beginning of a large downturn of the timber industry. The expansion of Redwood National Park and a bad 1970's economy were what had the SP looking to abandon the line on top of it being so costly to maintain even in average wet seasons plus the tunnel fires. That was also a period that all railroads were having difficulty, resulting in many mergers and the purging of less profitable portions of their rail systems.

The coolest thing on the rocky mt rocket was the switch in limon and the B units they had for the trip to the springs

I think amtrak needs to connect to Sioux Falls

They were separate trains because of the mail.

Slow down, you speak too fast !!!

My great grandfather was a conducter for the Rock island out of Arkansas ? It eventually went to California. His last name was Culver but I can’t find him. Marion Culver was his name. Anyway I can find him and it a picture ? Thank you 😊

You talk too fast.

Great video, thanks!

Actually the Katy Flyer wasn't discontinued until 1957. Last time I was in West Houston in 2008,I saw that the rails were pulled up to Katy Ironically the former Katy Line was supposed to be turned into another highway.😮😅😊

Why is this "drongo" [Aussie colloqualism for a dumb person] commenting? Slow down, "seppo", so we can try and figure out what it is you are trying to say.

In the very early 1960s, before I relocated from Houston TX to Chicago IL in 1965, I frequently traveled [either by day or night] between Houston and Dallas on the Santa Fe [Houston to Temple] and the MKT [Temple to Dallas]. The morning trip included the "Texas Chief" [Houston-Temple} and the "Texas Special" [Temple-Dallas]. A change of stations was required at Temple. The "Texas Special" dining service was excellent insofar as the quality of the meals and the choices available. I was particularly fond of their strawberry shortcake. The overnight trip included the "California Special" [Houston-Temple] and what was left of the original "Katy Flyer" [a single streamlined chair car behind a dozen or so heavyweight baggage cars and single RPO car]. The MKT track was in poor condition, which resulted in a very bumpy ride as far as Waxahatchie [better track onwards to Dallas thanks to funding from the Burlington and Rock Island, both of whom had trackage rights]. Those days are but a distant memory, never to be seen again. I read somewhere that a connecting track has been installed in Temple, so that Amtrak's "Texas Eagle" can transfer from the UP [ex MKT] to the BNSF [ex Santa Fe] before arriving at the ex-Santa Fe station in Temple.

Absolute rubbish insofar as the commentary goes.

This commentator is a complete waste of time. He knows next to nothing about the subjects he is discussing. It would have been great if he had taken the time to do some proper research beforehand.

Get your facts correct! The "Owl" was the last of the SP trains between Houston and Dallas to be cancelled. The "Hustler" was to first to go, followed by the "Sunbeam".

Rambling and overlong; however, a fascinating look at the SP's passenger trains between Houston and Dallas. In 1954 on a return home from El Paso to Houston, SP number 2 "Sunset Limited" was diverted over the T & P between El Paso and Dallas. We crossed the northbound "Sunbeam" somewhere near College Station. By that time the train had lost its' observation car.

Now, of course, rumor has it that another train will begin Amtrak service from St. Paul to the Toddlin" Town (Chicago) in 2024 on the former CMStP & P. I first read about this in the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1985. Thirty-nine years later it may happen. What is interesting is the Milwaukee depot in Mpls. is part a historic and in part an ice-skating rink attraction. The Great Northern Depot off Hennepin Avenue was demolished to make way for a new HQ for the Ninth Federal Reserve District. There is apparently no connecting point in Minneapolis to start the train there before arrival at Union Depot St. Paul and on to Chicago.

Very interesting video. I like the concept. It’s so disappointing that it’s abandoned. The passenger possibilities would be amazing these days! But the Eel River won, unfortunately. And the state decided to waste their money on the HSR system.

The Alco PA-1 number 50 is the locomotive number. The MoP didn’t put the train # on the engine. That train and the facing sun makes me think it was the afternoon mail train, No. 15. There is a NYC mail storeage car behind the engine typical on No. 15. As to the Dome cars the so-called lounge was a restroom. The Budd domes had a large restroom lounge for Men and Women to freshen up after an all night ride. The P-S domes had two normal size toilets and a sitting area separate from those. No food or alcohol service was served on the Dome cars.

Slow down a little and maybe your mind will catch up with your tongue.

It takes modern trains longer due to station stop times and ADA requirements. Track speeds in the 50s were more of a suggestion than a requirement. Before PTC we could run a couple mph over track speed, but not anymore.

Urrrrrg! It was frustrating listening to your video that I had to comment again. Slow down!!! You talk too fast. Again, great info. But it gets somewhat ruin because of the urgency in the cadence of your voice

Great historic video. Only one thing, that you're speaking too fast. Otherwise as I said, this is a wonderful video. It takes me back. I was a kid in the 60's. My parents and I rode the beautiful Lark many times to LA. And also rode the Coast Daylight. We also rode SP trains out of Oakland's 16th street station. But there was nothing like leaving on the Lark out of San Francisco at night. Thank you

Thanks for sharing.

I hope the desert wind on Amtrak makes a come back Hopefully also the Amtrak pioneer route

Great video, enjoyed alot

Anxiously awaiting the story of Great Northern’s Empire Builder.

The monotone narration is almost insulting.

My first train trip was with my aunt who came to El Paso from Memphis when my mother had surgery during the summer of 1959. We took the T&P to Dallas, and then the MoPac to Memphis thru Little Rock. Texas is its own thing, part west and part south. The dividing line is basically along I-35. While Houston and Dallas maybe more south than west, San Antonio, Austin, and Fort Worth is definitely west. More trees east of I-35, fewer smaller trees and shrubs west of I-35. Prickly pear cactus of the ranch country west of I-35, with more farms and fields to the east of I-35...

I grew up in Klamath Falls and took Amtrak to visit family in Sacramento twice a year back in the late 70’s up to 1983. The train obviously didn’t go to Sacramento so I got on and off at Davis. I had great memories of the rides, the seats were wide and comfortable, very little exterior noise was heard inside aside from the gentle crickets-clack and gate crossing bells. I remember lots of legroom and the seats reclined quite a ways back. They had small pillows and blankets for us to use in coach seating which made it a nice ride. During the later hours I would go to the dome cars and look around but the glass was tinted which didn’t help for night viewing but it was quiet and interesting. Then back in 2002 I decided to take my family for a train trip from Hanford to K-Falls and found things were very different, the seat comfort sucked and it was noisier and people were stuffed in like cordwood. Those double deck cars are unique but a pain to navigate especially when people have luggage, backpacks and anything else they brought along.

I grew up in the 1960's when the passenger trains were being cut. It was interesting how they cut these trains. They wouldn't cut the train all out. First the diner would go. Then the lounge car. Then the sleepers were eliminated until you had only one or two coaches. I watched Santa Fe do this to the Grand Canyon Limited until they sheared the name of the Grand Canyon Limited and only referred to the train as number 23 or 24 with two coaches and baggage car only. It managed to keep a thru sleeper between LA and Barstow only which got transferred to the San Francisco Chief in Barstow. Not even a cafe car was left on the Grand Canyon Limited. So by 1969, the once spectacular Grand Canyon Limited was known only as #23 or 24 with two lonely coaches, a baggage car but no sleeper or cafe or lounge. Southern Pacific took away the sleepers and diner to the Sunset Limited in 1966 and by 1970 had reduced it from a daily to a three times a week train. Amtrak has kept the Sunset Limited running as a three day a week train. By 1968, Southern Pacific removed their silverware from whatever dining cars they still operated offering only paper plates and plastic utensils or actually informing customers to bring their own utensils. I think the reason the railroads slowly dismantled the trains rather than cut them all out was because the ICC had strict rules about which trains could be cut and the ICC had to approve any cuts in service made by the passenger railroads. The ICC got so many complaints about Southern Pacific's drastic cuts that Southern Pacific was ordered to restore the sleepers on the Sunset Limited in 1970 and to keep the Lark between LA and SF running despite Southern Pacific's determination to cancel it in 1966. The Lark finally got approval for cancellation in 1968. I watched in dismay as all of this happened under my very nose as we rode trains quite frequently in the 1960's.

3:14 the image of this engine reassembles or looks like UP's old steam turbine engine.

Mu great grandfather came to rock islandabout 1900 and he worked for rock island line abd retired from there he lived until 1978 at 93 he passrd

Did the Texas special run to California

I saw my only Soo Line passenger train I was 6 in Mundelein with my dad it was dark and westbound.

A interesting video well done

Tuchumcari to kc was signaled

Watch the video he linked, not this one.

The politics at the end was stupid. You don’t know anything, it’s like you didn’t do any research.

All Amtrak routes need to be 110 MPH Operations, so to remove cars off Interstates and service should be designed when people travel....Daylight Service....Stops should also be linked to College and industrial business travel spots.

I've alway been interested in passenger trains, especially before Amtrak. In the early 1960s my future wife and I would ride the various trains between St Paul and Minneapolis. The one way ticket was only 35 cents. Sometimes we would take the Greyhound which was 50 cents. As I recall the city bus was 25 cents. There were so many railroads and color schemes before the red, white, blue and silver Amtrak trains. Of all the pre-Amtrak passenger trains we road, the Chicago Great Western cars were the oldest. The interiors looked and smelled like they were from the 1930s or 1940s and there was even wood paneling. As I recall the upholstery was maroon.

Around 1960 I road with my stepfather when he drove from St Paul to Des Moines on a business trip. I decided to see a movie and return to St Paul on the Twin Star Rocket (or maybe it was called the Kansas City Rocket at the time). The coaches were gleaming stainless steel but no dome cars like the CB&Q Zephyrs. After leaving the theater I noticed my wallet was missing as I was walking to the train depot. I returned to the theater and fortunately the usher found my wallet on the floor where I had been seated. Several years later my wife and I took the same train to Kansas City roundtrip.

Very entertaining.

Thank you so much for this. We just purchased an old late 1800s depot from along the Great Northern Railway track and are turning it into a bakery.... so much fun to hear about how it came to be!

Dispatched most of that territory