Southern Pacific Lines

Coast Line Division 

“The Route of the Octopus”

 
 

General Information

The Sunset Limited History

  1. The only LA to San Antonio scheduled passenger train in July 1958 was the Sunset that left LA at 2000 PST and was scheduled into San Antonio at 0510 CST.


  1. The practice of the Sunset equipment being turned and run through LA after Mission Road was closed is discussed in Day Trains for the Coast Route.



Sunset Limited Train Consist

The Sunset Limited Steam Motive Power

  1. SP put some 4-4-2s on the Sunset at some point.


The Sunset Limited Diesel Motive Power

1950’s

  1. EMD E-7s in Daylight colors provided the locomotive power.

  2. Bruce Bloch

1960’s

  1. For years, SP’s Los Angeles engine terminal preferred to send out the Golden State, Sunset and Coast Daylight with E-unit power. However, between 1966 and 1970, the E-units were retired; the last six E9 cab units were written off in 1970. After that, the Sunset had to use four-axle locomotives.

  2. Joe Strapac

1970’s

  1. You would see a single SDP45 in the locomotive consist a number of times. The SDP45s were always trailing units behind one or two SP FP7s. A photo of SP SDP45 #3207 in the consist several times during October-December 1970.

  2. Ralph Back


  4. SDP45 #3207 was added to the Sunset pool and used quite a bit on 1/2 from late 1970 to 4/31/71 along with Fs and Geeps.

  5. Wesley Fox


  1. SP FP7 6449 and passenger GP9s 3006(nee-SP 5624)-3009(nee-SP 5602) on SP #2 arriving at the SP station Houston, TX on 12-29-70. An FP7 and passenger GPs was not common on SP #2 at this time. This is the only time I saw SP's passenger GP9s on SP #2 during December 1970 and January 1971.

  2. Ralph Back


  1. In March of 1971, the "Sunset" was all F-units at L.A.

  2. Drew Jacksich



The Sunset Limited Passenger Car Equipment

  1. Originally, the streamlined Sunset had all 10-6 sleepers. Official Guides that show compartments and drawing rooms on the train as well.

1950

  1. SP finally re-equipped the Sunset Limited in 1950. These 76 cars did not come from Pullman, but from Budd. Like most Budd cars, they were unpainted stainless steel but with a Daylight red stripe on the letter boards. The Sunset Limited was the only SP train whose run was longer than a day on the SP and was not shared with another railroad, which may explain the new paint scheme.

  2. Bruce Bloch

1957

  1. Most of Espee's lightweight passenger trains featured cars built by Pullman-Standard; a few economy baggage cars were constructed by St. Louis Car in 1959-'60 as #6601-6700 There’s also the bi-level gallery cars built by AC&F in 1957 and we're also not talking about SSW's lightweight cars here. 

1960

  1. The Sunset had a through LA-Dallas sleeper that connected to the Texas Eagle in El Paso. The SP forwarded through 10-6 sleepers to Fort Worth and Dallas via the T&P's West Texas Eagle until sometime in the early 60's. There's a photo of one in Steve Goen's"Miss Katy in The Lone Star State".

1968

  1. On page 196 of the SUNSET LIMITED book is a consist for #1 departing El Paso on 21 June 1968 and it shows a hamburger-gill-lounge and an articulated chair car added to the rear of the train at El Paso.

1970

  1. In Sept 1970, there was a reinstatement of sleepers and the diner to the Sunset.


Sunset Limited Consist

  1. SP #1 SUNSET LIMITED (11-29-70)

  2. Los Angeles, CA

  3. Arrived 616am, Sunday  

  4.  

  5. SP 6450 FP7A

  6. SP 6451 FP7A

  7. SP 3007 GP9

  8. SP 6776 Baggage (Gray)

  9. SP 3103 Baggage-Dormitory

  10. SP 9006 10-6 Sleeper (NY-LA Transcontinental car)

  11. SP 9013 10-6 Sleeper

  12. SP 10407 Coffee Shop

  13. SP 2364 Chair

  14. SP 2220 Chair

  15. SP 2376 Chair

  16. SP 10615 Automatic Buffet Car

  17. SP 2368 Chair

  18. SP 10402 Coffee Shop

  19. SP 2985 Lounge

  20. SP 2375 Chair

  21. SP 2378 Chair

  22.  

  23. Except for the last four cars, baggage and the New York sleeper, this is most of  the consist which went to New Orleans Tuesday 11-24-70.


  1. A French Quarter lounge car was a Budd built car assigned to the Sunset Limited. SP 291, the ex-Sunset Limited "French Quarter Lounge" assigned to the business fleet, is preserved in its 1989 appearance at the California State Railroad Museum.

Scott Inman

  1. Jeff Cauthen

Paint

  1. They were unpainted stainless steel but with a Daylight red stripe on the letter boards.


Reference

  1. See pages 58-59 in "The Sunset Limited" (SPH&TS) for a discussion of the Golden State/Sunset pool. 

  2. Jeff Cauthen

                                                                                    http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/sunset/1970-08.htm

  1. Consist 1960                                                            http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/sunset/1960.htm

  2. Consist 1961                                                            http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/sunset/1961.htm


Modeling the Sunset Limited Passenger Car Equipment

Coach Yard

Lettering & Numbering

  1. Those were custom done by The Coach Yard. Remember all of the factory painted models of the CY Sunset Limited were actually custom painted and decaled here in CA.

  2. Paul Lyons


Soho

  1. They made brass Sunset Ltd. cars. All cars are plated.




Lettering & Numbering

  1. SPH&TS Volume 1 indicates the wings or either clear or white and the lettering is white or SP lettering gray.

  2. Randy Andress


There is not an appropriate decal available for the Sunset Limited striping as the basis point.

Decals

Champ

  1. Champ produced decals (for Soho) for these and other road cars (included in the box if un-lettered). The Champ decals are white or light gray lettering with no black border and spells out SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES. The wings are orange. The Champ set is out of production.

MicroScale

  1. The MicroScale 87-204 for the Sunset Limited lettering. It has the lettering without the red strip (set 178) and can do any letterboard of any SP cars. The Microscale lettering is silver with black border and spells out SOUTHERN PACIFIC. The wings are clear with black border.


  3. The present Microscale set 87-1055 is fine for post-1958 cars. Microscale offers the #1055 Daylight scheme with gray lettering and no black outline. Use the 1055 set for the car type lettering at the end of the letterboard.

  4. Jason Hill


  6. There is not an appropriate decal available for the Sunset Limited striping as the basis point. But you can use the Microscale Sunset Limited striping as the basis point. Simply cut them in half, otherwise the black edging on the overlapping side will be covered when you compress the height to the correct dimensions.  By removing a scale three inches or so from the center of the Microscale decals and using a straight edge to overlap them will fix this problem. 

  7. Scott Inman



Specific Equipment Used on the Sunset Ltd.

12-1  Pullmans Sleepers

  1. SP also received 12-1 sleepers for one Plan 2410. That lot of 12-1s was built in August-October, 1926, to diagram 5, for the Sunset Limited.

Modeling 12-1 Pullman Sleeper / Coach

Branchline SP Pullmans Sleepers

  1. SP purchased the 12-1s sleepers of Plans 3410, 3410A, and 3410B.

  2. Jeff Cauthen


  4. The Branchline SP 12-1 pullman cars are correct for SP Coast Line trains. According to the Car Assignment Database. Pre-1942,12-1 cars were used on coast SP trains Coaster, Lark, Starlight and Sunset Limited. 8-1-2 cars were not assigned on any coast SP trains.

  5. Jeff Cauthen


10-4 Private section Pullman cars

  1. In 1931/32 Pullman converted 19 plan 2412 cars to plan 2412H with 10 sections, 4 private sections. The private sections had a lavatory annex. A timetable shows that in 1932 they were used on the Lark and the Sunset between LA and SF.


  3. Ryan and Shine in Southern Pacific Passenger Trains, Vol. 1 The Night Trains of the Caost Route state that Daleford and Dalepark were assigned to the Sunset Limited until it was cancelled in 1942 west of LA.

Modeling the Sunset

Branchline

  1. The Branchline SP 12-1 pullman cars are correct for SP Coast Line trains. According to the Car Assignment Database, pre-1942, 12-1 cars were used on coast SP trains Coaster, Lark, Starlight and Sunset Limited. 8-1-2 cars were not assigned on any coast SP trains.

  2. Jeff Cauthen

Con-Cor

  1. Con-Cor's HO scale Budd passenger cars don’t represent anything Espee had on the Sunset Limited, SP's only lightweight streamlined train equipped with cars built by Budd. These don’t follow any Espee-type cars either. The passenger cars produced by Walther's are superior to those offered by Con-Cor.


Diner

Union Station Products

  1. #9624       Budd diner, used on Sunset Limited and also useful for SP Directors specials.

 
Southern Pacific Lines Modeling Sunset Passenger Train
General Info - The Sunset Limited History Sunset Ltd Train Consist Steam Motive Power Diesel Motive Power Passenger Car Equipment Specific Equipment Used
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