Super Chief Coast Daylight California Zephyr
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- čas přidán 11. 04. 2021
- This compendium covers a "grand tour" of the US West in the general timeframe of the late 1940's into the early 1960's, a time when streamliners run by the railroads (and not Amtrak) plied the mountains and deserts of the West. Trains with on board footage include the Santa Fe Super Chief, the SP Coast Daylight, and the WP/DRGW/CB&Q California Zephyr. While EMD F and E units abound, there are several cameos of Alco PA's and FM Erie Builts. Also during this period, cities were served by a variety of electric traction lines in the era before the automobile became dominant. I tried to put the scenes in rough geographical order, if there are any errors please let me know in the comments section. Film sources are mostly public domain with a few clips from some old VHS tapes. Sounds are from my video and audio library. Enjoy!
- Auta a dopravní prostředky
In the late seventies a friend of mine and I would watch trains we were up at Union station one day and we walked around and back past mission Tower to the old coach yard of the Santa Fe. That's where Amtrak had put all the cars that were out of service. We walked through the cars and everything that at one time was luxurious and so beautiful was destroyed. Anything that was porcelain was smashed to pieces every mirror it was it was the most tragic trade of vandalism that made you want to throw up
I wandered the same path as you but in the mid 60's. The employees allowed me to walk through the cars as they were being serviced at the 6th St. yard & I took Polaroid pics. I lost them through the years. I'll never forget that experience. I ventured over there again in the late 70's & was stopped by Amtrak security. It would hurt me to see what you saw. Railroads were losing business to jetsetters and were in a hurry to lose their passengers & rolling stock to Amtrak, so everything rotted. Sad.
Old coaches were stored for a week (1981)next to Bryn Mawr meadow in Minneapolis(already vandalized)
It's embarrassing that our passenger trains were nicer 70 yrs ago than they are today !
It boggles my mind how America can fall apart in front of our faces, and some people still ooh and aah at all the "progress" we are making.
Canada bought hundreds of the coaches from us when the railroads were switching to Am track. They kept them in use full shape, and still use them on there coast to coast trains! Its like it was 60 years ago! Today Amtrack passenger coaches are taller, larger, double decked, and actually much better! There improving there food menues, and have private sleeper rooms, if you want to spend the money! Its a fun adventure to go.
The whole country was better 70 years ago.
@@wolfhawg you've certainly got that right sir!!!👍
@@louisharper1471 I'll second that sir, How can a Country fall so far in as little as 50 odd years!!!🤔😒😒😔😞
Old as I am now; I still just barely caught sundown of the real streamliners. Another reminder of just how fast time passes for both you and me. It wasn't just the passing of passenger train travel. It also marked a fundamental change for the worse for smaller cities, small towns, and really small towns too. A national way of life became obsolete and went away at the same time.
But I miss what little fading piece of the rail travel glory days did see. I wish I could have ridden more. Amtrak just isn't the same, and probably can't ever be with all of the track that has been taken up and abandoned.
But I miss the way it was.
You have racism and white flight and the expansion of the highway to open up suburban life to thank for both the nail in the coffin for mass transit as a well as foundation that could have been laid for high speed rail in this country. We still have little HSR because of the preference for more expensive air travel and costly highways both in terms of deaths pollution, as well as normalizing mass migration into and out of cities for 50 or less mile commutes.
It’s cool you caught a pic of Santa Fe’s only set of Erie Built FM passenger units.
I was born too late. I would like to go back to that time!
Gone, but not forgotten!
I loved it all. Anything with wheels on rails fascinated me-even the trolley cars & Angel's Flight on 3rd St. When I was old enough to venture out alone, I went to L.A. Union Station & hung out weekends on the platforms or trackside past the control tower as trains came & went in the 60's. Too bad I didn't have a camera then. The most impressive daytime consist was UP's City of L.A. with 17+cars & 3 domes. The yellow color stood out. The only time I would get to see the Super Chief leave was when I was going to Chicago once. It left L.A. at night. It knocked me out to see how light reflected off the stainless steel cars at night. There was a short uptick in ridership in Aug. '66 due to an airline strike. Everything was booked up. It was my last trip on ATSF's El Capitan that year. I will never forget those years. Thanks for the memories.
Fantastic memories sir, you're very lucky to have experienced those times!👍😊
WHEN TRAINS ACTUALLY LOOKED AND SOUNDED GOOD
I rode that train from Chicago to Denver. I believe it started out with a CB&Q engine. Then went to D&RG. This was about '61. I remember all those domes.
When I was 11, I was fortunate enough to ride the original California Zephyr all the way from Chicago to Oakland. It was the only train I ever rode west of Chicago before Amtrak. After all the reading I've done on the subject since then, that would still be the the one train I'd want to take if I could only ride one. One of many highlights was when the train got to the top of the front range and made the left turn into the mountains. From the dome, it felt like the train was flying, even though it couldn't have been going more than 30 mph. 13 1/2 years later, I got the same sensation on the Rio Grande Zephyr.
I never rode the Santa Fe Super Chief, but I have been across the country on the El Capitan more times than i cn remember. (And the Southwest Chief as well. I rode the Daylight between Los Angeles and Salinas frequently on school vacations. Great memory footage. Must confess that the trolley car scenes from Los Angeles brought back just as many memories. A sad day when they approved taking away the light rail system. Can't even imagine what it cost to acquire the right away for Metrolink. Serves them right
What an astonishing journey I've just been on. That was tip-top tea-time entertainment and once again, hat's off to the sound effects boys.
Seeing Angel's Flight in color and in-service is truly amazing!
Excellent! It just like Amtrak Southwest Chief, Coast Starlight,& California Zephyr Odyssey for 50 years.
Excellent video! Love to watch it while my model train Santa Fe Warbonnetts circle the train table! Thank you!
Excellent footage. The Zepher looked really fine with the Burlington Route F Units pulling it.
The yellow Union Pacific passenger train brought back memories for me. Where I lived in central Iowa, yellow painted passenger trains stopped in my town to let passengers on and off. I don’t remember if they were Union Pacific or not. I was more interested in the engines. I like the way they look and I was always impressed with how they sounded. They seemed powerful and had a cool sound I liked. It seemed like it required almost no effort for them to get the cars rolling again.Man, what I’d do to be able to go back for a while to see and hear it all again!
WOW! Just WOW! The peak of streamlined railway passenger trains! Brought back many pleasant memories riding these trains before Halftrack. Thank you!
Truly a great video! !t is amazing to realize that at one time our Nation had such a magnificent rail system. A couple of railroads, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe operated their own tracks for 2000 plus miles across the United States from Chicago to the West Coast (Los Angeles and Seattle/Tacoma)! All done without government help, though with significant government interference that some would pass off as "necessary regulation." Three railroads, carefully threading government regulation regarding a antitrust laws, were able to run transcontinental service on a regular schedule changing railroads and motive power to run the California Zephyr on a daily except Wednesday basis for twenty-one years from 1949 to 1970 all on agreements that did not violate Federal law or regulations! In all cases the service was prompt, luxurious, usually friendly, all weather, and most importantly, safe. An amazing accomplishment of the private sector at it's best! It was thrown away believing that automobiles and airliners were the wave of the future. They are now reviled in some places as contributing to the demise of the Planet due to Global Warming.
What we once had and did not half appreciate!
Don’t forget the a Great Northern!
OMG... Those Buick Roadmasters... Cars had style
Everything was stylish back then
Excellent job on adding the sounds.
Comfort food for the soul!
Key system too!!
Did every one see out that trolly turned that corner whhaaaattt hahahaha nice good video great work
Love the A B A lash ups
Very enjoyable video!!
ALCo taught GE how to build diesel locomotives. Despite a little issues, ALCo C636 series has been the prototype of today's American standard diesel locomotive.
Very cool video. Thanks for sharing
Sure brings back good old memories. I rode the Super Chief, California Zephyr and the Coast Daylight. All were good rides but the Zephyr in my opinion was a bit above the others. Thank you for posting.
Hermosas imágenes!! Desde Argentina!! Muchas gracias..
My Grandfather was a Pullman Conductor for 25 years until they shut off the lights sometime near 1970. He was on the super Chief all those years and he loved it.
What a wonderful video! Thanks so much for posting this.
I enjoyed watching this video. Thank you for sharing. Excellent video.
Great video, such memories.
A fantastic video...of a time before I was born for the most part. Thank you for all the work you did to upload this video!
Thank you This brought back o many memories.
I can’t imagine how thrilling it must have been to climb out of Denver through the big ten curves on a Super Chief with 10-11 cars and 4 engine leader….Oh man!!
Climbing out of Denver would have been on the Cal Zephyr. The Super Chief did Raton Pass. I've done both in the pre- and post-Amtrak eras. Still a thrill, but F units and dome cars were the best!
An excellent compilation. Thanks for much for putting this together and the added sound effects were spot on.
Awesome video. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent 32:30 no Rio Grande passenger video complete without F9A 5771, the face of the Road for many years until Amtrak took over in 1983 (5771 is in the Colorado Railroad Museum today)
I saw a former DRGW F7A too.
But the thing was painted in PC black and dirty as !@#$.
PC bought 4 F units from them on the second hand market.
They were unique because the DRGW units had the headlight/mars light dual lights. PC/PRR/NYC units had the single opening for the headlight.
Funny scene at the 20:00 mark - a Muni PCC care going backwards. The car must have been out of service, as they never operated that way in normally.
If you watch the clips before and after, you can see it was only a short reverse move to turn the car on a wye move.
It turned like a city bus hahaha but no tires
It's amazing how much seniority one had to have back then to hold a passenger job. A guy could work 50 years and, 15 minutes before retirement, he gets awarded his bid on a passenger job that he's had standing for like 27 years. lol
dear fm. i lived in glendora ca before i moved up here where i live now . i remember at and sf train # 4 and 3 going through town. #4 would run around 8 - 9 oclock. miss them . the pasadina sub second district is now part of metrolink and soon metro rail.
Gorgeous video, absolutely gorgeous!😉
Wonderful video! I rode the CZ from Denver to Sacramento, and the Coast Starlight between LA and Oakland within the past several years. Two of the finest stretches of railroad the American west has to offer. I highly recommend either trip! Not really an error, but at 33:19 you can see the Burlington E units were lettered for BN, some of the last video of the CZ before Amtrak came along.
Those street scenes with the streetcars and the traffic are absolutely priceless. 19:22 that car driver cut it a bit fine...
I was thinking the same thing while I was editing that clip.
Very Nice!
At 22:54 that is the old Sacramento Waterfront that was once served by the CCT, SP, and SN. Today this section now contains only 1 track out of the many seen in the pavement that is operated by the California State Railroad Museum.
No idea, perhaps another viewer can help.
She was a beautiful girl, Super Chief’s spirit lives on
A+B+B+A units and 10 passenger cars.
Rear observation lounge gone from the Super Chief.
Timeline: Chicago 40's early 50's? Denver (?) early 50's. Got lost at where the big platform was after Denver but it was early 50's. Los Angeles it's starts as early 50's but moves up to 1959 at departure to San Francisco where it's also 1959 and 1961. At Salt Lake City it's the early 40's or during the War. Back to Chicago or Denver into the Moffitt Tunnel. Their at first is no snow out of it the first time. Then a huge snow storm! Then out on the other side of it again the snow has melted. When the train backs up into Chicago? Denver? Station the film is in reverse! Notice the car on the bridge going backwards!!!
Well all this time traveling was fun. The the Daylight was an elegant way to travel from it's conception to it's unfortunate end. Today's Amtrak (as much as I appreciate rail travel) is a pale shadow of how much private rail company's invested in their rail travel. I has hopes the car would become less but with electric cars in the immediate future i don't think the poor train has anymore of a future than it had in 1946 than it has today. 😢
I skimmed through most of the footage and I must say it looks great! What city is shown starting at 27:55? Is that Salt Pake City, UT?
Yes, that's Salt Lake City. The opening scene is the Mormon Temple, followed by a rare scene of a trolley bus downtown. I believe the last run was in 1946 which put it a bit outside my nominal timeframe, but I felt it was significant enough to include.
Bamberger's passenger service ended on September 6, 1952.
Grand Trunk Western U-3-b #6323 (I think) with a farewell to steam excursion at 3:30.
Yes, I have more film of that trip I will work into another project.
@@fmnut Alright. Thanks!
I wonder if they're taking reservations for the torquay room?
The video would benefit from narration. It's not always possible to know where a video is taken from, even for someone who knows the West's geography quite well, as I do. I found the Super Chief route, as presented here, to be rather dull, especially by comparison with the Coast Daylight & California Zephyr segments. The urban video segments, especially those of San Francisco, are quite precious! Note that the California Zephyr appears to be taking the Feather River route (the WP route), though the engines, when shown, are SP. Doubtless the videos are from different sources.
I don't do narration.
@@fmnut Understood. I found it to be a great video anyway, and I watched every second to the very end.
@@jchris5210 beside the fact that my voice is crap for narration, I spent a lot of time and effort to add correct sounds to the silent film. It would ruin my efforts to talk over it. A certain video producer does that and it annoys me to no end. I want to hear the locomotives, not yakking.
35:17 is that somebody on the roof?
No. Vent for the kitchen stove in the dining car.
Amtrak will never close to those trains
После первой секции что это за дополнительные вагоны это дизельные дополнительные?
это дизельные двигатели с дополнительным приводом без кабины управления, аналогичной центральному блоку 3ТЭ10 или 3М62
Спасибо огромное не судите строго, техника разная но интерес огромный и вопросов много
@@user-ff5zk7wu6p спасибо за просмотр
ALCO PA thumbnail and we get EMDs. 😞
The thumbnail is not a PA, it's a Fairbanks-Morse Erie Built. And there are PAs in the video if you watch the whole thing.
Air travel killed off passenger trains
That and the loss of contracts with the post office
I would love it if they could do some of those picture quality upgrades on these videos. I guess they are using AI or something. These pictures are not clear and they jump. Love them otherwise.
If you have about 10 grand to spare, I'm sure something could be done. The type of enhancement you're talking about doesn't come cheap.
Because now your major passenger train Is old Santa fe cars, Not refurbished because of National railway (government) doesn't know How to run a train system.
Not true at all. There are no longer any pre-Amtrak cars in service (Google "heritage fleet"). All were retired by 2019. Everything Amtrak has now was built new for Amtrak to their designs. However some of those cars are nearly 50 years old (Amfleet 1). The government does know how to run a passenger service, they just lack the political will to fund service levels that would make usage attractive and practical. Expecting passenger trains to make a profit is sheer fantasy.
@@fmnut Thx for that reply, fmnut. All true. As a retired SPRR signal dept worker, and later Amtk psgr service for most of my whole working life, I was lucky to see it from the inside. Amtk does the best they can, within their parameters. It's certainly not perfect, compared to state of the art world passenger Rail. China's bullet trains are superb, for example. Our USA passenger Rail was once the best, now has slowly faded. We still run the longest and heaviest freight trains. I really enjoyed being a small part of it. I count myself lucky. I never had a dull moment out there, on the shining steel Rails.
@@amtrakjohn Sorry to disillusion you, but the title for longest and heaviest freight trains has also left the USA. In the Pilbara region of Australia they regularly run trains over two miles long and up to 40,000 tons, however they do this using US technology and practices.
@@fmnut Thanks for the Reply. Interesting to learn about the Australian freights. All the best to you. Someday I hope to make a visit to AUS, and see some of the sights there.
Poor transfer from film to digital.
I didn't do the transfers, so I did the best with what I had to work with.
Why use the word Super Chief? Has nothing to do with the Zephyr or LA Street Cars.
Because the video follows the route of 3 trains as listed in sequence in the title.
Government run Amtrac sucks compared to these trains.