Golden State (SP and RI), about 1950- about 1954

Fred Klein, 2005, 2010, 2016

The streamlined Golden State was Southern Pacific’s and Rock Island’s answer to the postwar rush for new trains to capture the boom in tourism and business travel.  Starting in 1902, the two railroads established a partnership where Rock Island carried the train from Chicago to Tucumcari, New Mexico, where it was passed on to Southern Pacific to carry it on its own sunset route rails to Los Angeles.  Then in 1948, plans for a streamlined and fast “Golden Rocket” train planned during the war were abandoned, and a nearly streamlined Golden State running on a slower schedule took its place.  In 1942 Pullman Standard delivered some streamlined cars to Southern Pacific, who put them in service in the heavyweight train.  Rock Island added some of its own streamlined cars in 1947.  Stunning red and silver E7 diesels were added in 1947.  In 1949 and 1950, PS fully completed its new car order and the Golden State was launched as a full-fledged streamliner in 1950.

 

Many streamlined cars for the train were cobbled together from available cars, and the Golden State never had a uniform set of trains made expressly for it like the Empire Builder or Morning Daylight.  Each of the Golden State trains was therefore different.  In 1950, Southern Pacific provided two trainsets of mostly SP cars, and Rock Island provided three trains of mostly RI cars.  Later the cars from the two railroads were mixed together more thoroughly.  The cars had “Golden State” centered in the letterboard, with the railroad’s name in smaller letters at each end of the car.   As a rule, the Southern Pacific cars had smooth sides with extended railroad Roman lettering, and Rock Island’s cars were corrugated sided with art deco lettering.  Train number 4 was eastbound and train number 3 was westbound. The locomotives did not run through from one railroad to another, therefore SP locomotives would be seen west of Tucamari NM, and RI diesels would be seen north of Tucamari to Chicago.

 

Both railroads added new cars in 1954.  Starting in 1953-54, all Southern Pacific cars used the stainless steel (or simulated stainless paint) scheme when the cars came up for re-painting.  This was because the red paint faded quickly to pink in the desert sun.  During repainting, a red letterboard with white “Southern Pacific” letters was substituted for the “Golden State” lettering, and the “Golden” car names were dropped in favor of SP numbers.  Rock Island kept the names, however.  The stunning red and silver cars therefore gradually gave way to silver cars with a completely red letterboard.  In 1958, this all-silver scheme became standard for all SP cars. The Golden State was combined with the Sunset Limited between El Paso and Los Angeles in 1964.  1968 saw the complete termination of through Golden State service. More information including references on the Golden State can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_State_(train). My model train has all red-top cars for my visual enjoyment, even though some cars have less than true prototypical window arrangements. Commercial models of Golden State trains also favor the idealized red and silver scheme.

 

The Golden State at Alhambra, California on July 25, 1953. Note at least one car in the new all-aluminum paint. From page 151 of Union Pacific Streamliners by Joe Welsh (Voyageur Press, 2008).

 

The cover of a brochure handed out to passengers describing the facilities of the train in general terms. The fruit trees and the snow capped mountains represent southern California, even though the train would be pulled by the Southern Pacific rather than the Rock Island in California.

 

A photograph of the Golden State in the Illinois countryside sometime in the 1950s, probably 1955 or later. A pair of Rock Island E7 diesels pulls the train. Note that only a few of the cars have retained their red roofs and upper car bodies, mostly sleepers to the rear. The railroads found that the red roof paint faded in the sun and went back to the aluminum paint instead as the cars came up for repainting.

 

A 1950s postcard of the Golden State.

 

Because of the variety of car types on different trains, the modeler has a great deal of flexibility in choosing cars for the consist.  My train uses a variety of available cars that match the types of cars used by the two railroads.  A purist could model one of the specific trainsets car-for-car, but every train would be a bit different.  The pure model would not be pure for long, because car substitutions were sometimes made and repainting began in 1953.  I get the impression that operating the prototype train was a struggle in which neither railroad had any heart for purity or the stunning red and silver paint scheme.  A modeler can adopt the same spirit and just keep a train of believable cars running.  If you mix a heavy weight car or two into this lightweight consist, you can model a train during 1948-1950.  If you use some silver cars, you can model trains from 1954-1958.  There is a detailed history of all these car changes, and the most thorough Golden State reference I have found is Ryan, Dennis and Mike Jarel, The streamlined Golden State, SP Trainline No. 59, SP Historical and Technical Society, Spring 1999.

 

The locomotives and some of the cars in this train were custom painted by Ernie Guise of Model Railroad Customizing. 

 

This table indicates the prototype cars in a basic Golden State consist of September 15, 1950 drawn from the five different trainsets (Ryan and Jarel, SP Trainline, Spring 1999), and what cars or kits I used to model them.  The train thus uses representative Golden State cars without duplicating a specific Golden State train. Some specific prototype car names are listed in the first column, the names on the models are in the third column, some of which may not be prototypical. Unfortunately, most cars must be custom painted.

 

* M&R models makes metal sides for the SP diner, SP 4/4/2 and SP 10/6 sleeping cars.

 

Rock Island diesel power (Chicago to Tucamari New Mexico)

 

Power for the 1947-1958 (approx) Golden State between Chicago and Tucamari NM was an A-B set of Rock Island EMD E7 passenger diesels. These are factory painted Life like models. The A unit is lettered “The Rocket” because it was intended for the train named “Golden Rocket” to match the other RI Rocket trains, but “Golden State” became the train name. I picture an extra B unit for a longer, summertime train. The SP needed more power than the RI for western mountain grades.

 

Southern Pacific diesel power (Tucamari New Mexico to Los Angeles)

 

Power for the 1947-1958 (approx) Golden State was an A-B-B set of silver and red EMD E7 passenger diesels.  The SP diesels were used on SP rails between Los Angeles and Tucamari.  In earlier years after 1947, the red-silver diesels were sometimes used on the coast route.  In later years, E7s in daylight paint and Alco PAs in daylight paint could be found on the Golden State route.  The models are custom painted Life-like E7 diesels. 

 

Head end cars

 

The first car is a baggage-RPO, here a prototypical Rock Island car. I suspect this car continued to Los Angeles because of the unique Golden State lattering and paint, even though RPO cars on other railroads were usually used on home rails. This is a Centralia Car Shops-Intermountain car in factory paint. The first car in the Sept 15, 1950 consist was a baggage dorm, here used as the second car.  One of the prototype cars was Rock Island 820, built by Pullman Standard in 1948, which was the prototype for this semi-corrugated Rivarossi model car. Custom painting by Ernie Guise.

 

An alternate for the RPO is the Southern Pacific heavyweight car. After April 1953, the Golden State routinely had a heavyweight baggage car and/or a baggage-RPO. The Wheels-of-time model is prototypical in type and paint for this car.

 

Coach section

 

Next came two or three coaches.  I have a Rock Island corrugated coach (modeled by a Kato smoothside coach with corrugations applied to the sides), an SP smoothside coach (modeled by a substitute, non-prototypical Con-cor coach, with windows too large for the coaches assigned to the Golden State), and a Kato smoothside coach. The last chair car in this group of 3 coaches went from Los Angeles to Kansas City (here the car is the Southern Pacific Golden Flake), to be set out at Kansas City for the Twin Rocket to take it to Minneapolis. This model SP coach is a nearly prototypical Kato coach that gives a good impression of the window size and spacing of the SP and RI coaches used on the GS. I added an extra (fourth) Rock Island corrugated coach (modeled by a prototypical Rivarossi car).

 

Within the group of chair cars was a coffee shop lounge car for the coach passengers.  The Con-cor smoothside diner is a good approximation for this car, with both large and small elongated windows.  The door placement and exact number of windows is different, and the Con-cor car is mirror-reversed from the prototype.

 

First sleeper section and first class food cars

 

The sleeper section began with a pair of 6 section-4 roomette-4 drawing room cars made by PS in 1942.  The first started at Los Angeles and was split off at Kansas City for carriage to Minneapolis with the preceding coach on the Twin Rocket.  The second 6/4/4 was set out at Kansas City for forwarding to St. Louis.  The Kato smoothside Pullman car (after repainting) and Centralia car Shops 6/4/4 are accurate prototypical models for these 6/4/4 sleepers. I added an extra 6/6/4 sleeper, modeled by a custom painted Kato car, Golden Creek.  Next was the diner, here represented by Southern Pacific’s Golden Chalice.  The diner is modeled by Intermountain’s prototypical western diner, SP’s Golden Chalice. After the diner is a club-lounge car, but the mid-train lounge cars were only assigned to the two primarily-SP trains out of the 5 Golden State trains.  The model is a prototypically faithful Marshall-Shops kit, custom painted by Ernie Guiese. 

 

Second sleeper section

 

The next car was a 12 double-bedroom sleeper, here the SP Golden Orange.  The model is another Marshall-Shops kit.  Four of the 5 trains used a 12 DBR car, but the fifth used the Rock Island 4/4/2 sleeper La Quinta, an exception that drove the reservation agents up the wall. The next pair of sleepers were 4 compartment-4 double bedroom-2 drawing room cars made by PS in 1942.  These 4/4/2 cars were carried from Chicago, and one was dropped in Phoenix and the other in Tuscon.   Intermountain/Centralia make good models of these Southern Pacific sleepers.  Next came a 10/6 sleeper, always an SP car from PS built in 1950.  The car here is “Golden Crest”.  The Rivarossi smoothside Pullman sleeper is a prototypical model for this car, and M&R models makes metal sides for this car. 

 

The tail observation car is Rock Island 2 BR/ 1 DR observation buffet lounge Golden Vista (here decaled as Golden Terrace).  I think this is the signature car of the Golden State train.  The Rivarossi corrugated model is prototypical for 2 of the 3 RI observation cars used on the Golden State.  The boat-tailed observation cars were only used on the 3 primarily Rock Island trains, and the 2 primarily SP trains used a blunt-end 10/6 sleeper (no lounge observation) on the tail.  Thus the 3 “RI” trains had the lounge car at the rear, and the 2 “SP” trains had the lounge car in mid-train after the diner.  Astute observers will notice that my train has BOTH the SP lounge and RI lounge, a feat the railroads probably never did because it would leave another train without bar receipts.  To include both cars, I claim a modelers license, a desire for ready availability of libations, and a desire to use as many prototypical models as I have.

 

 

REFERENCES

Randall, David, From Zephyr to Amtrak, Prototype Publications, 1972.

Ryan, Dennis and Mike Jarel, The streamlined Golden State, SP Trainline No. 59, SP Historical and Technical Society, Spring 1999.

Wayner, Robert, Car Names, Numbers and Consists, Wayner Publications, 1972.

 

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