100-638: The Golden State was a named passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles from 1902–1968 on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (“Rock Island”) and the Southern Pacific Company (SP) and predecessors. It was named for California, the “Golden State”. The Golden State route was relatively low-altitude, crossing the Continental Divide at about 4,600 feet (1,400 m) near Lordsburg, New Mexico , although
200-440: A 10-6 blunt-end sleeping car at the rear but one of the three Rock Island round end observation cars. As for mail cars, baggage cars and baggage dormitory cars, the situation was as follows: Both Southern Pacific and Rock Island each provided five mail-baggage cars (featuring a Railway Post Office) for Golden State service. The Southern Pacific assigned five older heavyweight mail-baggage cars numbered 5065-5069 which were painted in
300-558: A Rock Island Railroad sleeping car from Minneapolis and at the same station it picked up also a Missouri Pacific Railroad sleeping car from St. Louis, The train had a coordinated connection with the National Railway of Mexico 's (NdeM) El Fronterizo (7/8) in El Paso, Texas ; this NdeM train continued to Ciudad Juarez , Chihuahua and Mexico City . The schedule was set to accommodate travel from Los Angeles to Mexico, and
400-488: A bypass around Rochester. The Terminal Railway 's Gardenville Cutoff, allowing through traffic to bypass Buffalo to the southeast, opened in 1898. The Schenectady Detour consisted of two connections to the West Shore Railroad, allowing through trains to bypass downtown Schenectady. The full project opened in 1902. The Cleveland Short Line Railway built a bypass of Cleveland, Ohio, completed in 1912. In 1924,
500-478: A classification yard and livestock pens on 300 acres of land (known as West Albany). Facilities included locomotive shops, freight and passenger car shops, and roundhouse terminals. These were the New York Central's primary back shops until the end of steam in 1957. The Troy and Greenbush Railroad was chartered in 1845 and opened later that year, connecting Troy south to Greenbush (now Rensselaer ) on
600-415: A joke as service deteriorated badly. Extra fare for Pullman accommodation Los Angeles to Chicago was $ 10 in 1948, adding perhaps 10% to the total fare. The $ 3.50 extra fare for chair car passengers had the advantage of individual reserved seats and modern, leg rest, air-conditioned coaches. If you did not want to pay the extra fare, the slower secondary trains (see below) were available. The additional costs in
700-575: A line between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. It was leased to New York Central Railroad in 1853. Also in 1855 came the merger with the Lewiston Railroad , running from Niagara Falls north to Lewiston . It was chartered in 1836 and opened in 1837, without connections to other railroads. In 1854, a southern extension opened to the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad and the line was leased to the railroad. The Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad
800-713: A maroon front and silver rest and in the early 60's to an all maroon scheme, which by 1967 was enhanced with yellow wings at the front. By late 1953, Southern Pacific PA-1/PB-1 and PA-2/PB-2 units began joining the E7 units with pulling the Golden State, and in 1954 E9 units were added. By this time A-B-A sets became more common on the Southern Pacific, which could be either made up entirely of E7 or PA/PB units or mixed consists featuring E7, E9 and PA/PB units working together. All these Southern Pacific diesel units remained in
900-576: A network of commuter lines in New York and Massachusetts. Westchester County, New York had the railroad's Hudson, Harlem, and Putnam lines into Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan (Putnam Division trains required a change at High Bridge, New York), while New Jersey and Rockland County, New York were serviced by the West Shore Line between Weehawken and Kingston, New York, on the west side of
1000-668: A new 39¾ hour (the accepted fast schedule between Chicago and Los Angeles/San Francisco) streamliner to be named the Golden Rocket . This name was an extension of the use of the name Rocket that the Rock Island had introduced on other routes combined with the prefix “Golden” which had been used for many years as a prefix for car names. See also the Rocky Mountain Rocket , the Des Moines Rocket ,
1100-725: A non-computer era for coach seat reservations were substantial; however, a nationwide reservation system for Pullman (sleeping car) passengers had existed for many decades. Shortly before World War II, three streamlined dining cars ( Yucca , Saguaro and Ocotillo ) were built by Budd for service on the train. These cars were placed on the Twin Star Rocket in 1945 and later returned to the Golden State . Two-tone grey, smooth-sided 4-4-2 (4 double bedroom, 4-compartment, 2-drawing room) and 6-6-4 (6 sections, 6 roomettes, 4 double bedrooms) lightweight sleeping cars were assigned to
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#17327800810361200-458: A nuisance to switch and non-revenue producing (mid-train lounge cars always made more money off beverage service). In June 1950 they supplied two blunt-end 10-6 (10 roomette, 6 double bedroom) sleeping cars, similar to the cars built in 1950 for the newly streamlined Sunset Limited . And instead of observation cars, SP supplied two full mid-train lounge cars named Golden View and Golden Outlook that arrived in late 1949. The two consists featuring
1300-417: A protection car in case one of the five regularly assigned baggage dormitory cars were off for shopping. From 1948 until late 1950, the five Golden State consists had been always operating with two headend cars (one mail-baggage car and one baggage dormitory per consist). Only a consist that featured a combination of Southern Pacific baggage dormitory 3100 or Rock Island baggage dormitory 820 together with one of
1400-631: A way for freight and especially passengers to avoid the extensive and time-consuming locks on the Erie Canal between Schenectady and Albany. The Mohawk and Hudson opened on September 24, 1831, and changed its name to the Albany and Schenectady Railroad on April 19, 1847. Until the 1840s it used an inclined plane and pulley system at either end of the line to pull passenger cars up the steep hills in Albany and Schenectady. As locomotive technology progressed,
1500-485: A “Western” series of 12 roomette, 4 double bedroom cars built for the Wabash and Union Pacific, were extra spacious. Also in 1954, Southern Pacific provided new 44-seat corrugated side coaches for the Golden State, which unlike the older smooth side coaches were built by Budd instead of Pullman Standard. In 1959, Rock Island purchased three lightweight smooth side baggage dormitory cars from the New York Central, which replaced
1600-535: Is where the change from Rock Island to Southern Pacific crews and locomotives were made. The Rock Island main line crossed the Colorado and Southern and Fort Worth and Denver railroad main line at Dalhart, Texas . This Dallas-Denver line was the route of the Texas Zephyr and other trains. For many years travelers could connect here to go north and south between El Paso and Denver, the only other route being
1700-522: The Peoria Rocket and others. The Golden Rocket was to have two sets of equipment (one supplied by each railroad) and compete with Santa Fe's Super Chief , another train between Chicago and Los Angeles. The Rock Island ordered cars with a red and silver color scheme, lettered for the Golden Rocket . The Southern Pacific was not as enthusiastic, primarily because of upgrades needed on
1800-476: The 20th Century Limited is listed under "Twentieth Century Limited". Named trains are sometimes identified through a train headboard , drumhead , lettering on the locomotive or passenger cars, or a combination of these methods. New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad ( reporting mark NYC ) was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of
1900-625: The Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge was constructed as part of the Hudson River Connecting Railroad 's Castleton Cut-Off, a 27.5-mile-long freight bypass of the congested West Albany terminal area and West Albany Hill. An unrelated realignment was made in the 1910s at Rome, when the Erie Canal was realigned and widened onto a new alignment south of downtown Rome. The NYC main line was shifted south out of downtown to
2000-553: The Golden State Limited ran year-round until it ended in 1968. Limited was dropped from the name on May 18, 1947, and the train became the Golden State . In summer 1926, the train left Chicago at 8:30 PM CST and arrived Los Angeles 68 hr 15 min later. During the 1920s and 1930s when Florida became a popular winter destination, the Rock Island and Southern Pacific positioned the Golden State as an escape from
2100-685: The Harlem Line ). The surviving sections of the West Side Line south of 34th Street reopened as the High Line , a linear park built between 2009 and 2014. In 1867, Cornelius Vanderbilt acquired control of the Albany to Buffalo -running New York Central Railroad, with the help of maneuverings related to the Hudson River Bridge in Albany. On November 1, 1869, he merged the railroad with his Hudson River Railroad to form
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#17327800810362200-539: The New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad was added in 1946 but ended in 1951. Other sleeping car routes on the Golden State included Chicago – Kansas City and Chicago – San Diego (via the Southern Pacific and their subsidiary, San Diego and Arizona Railway , connecting at Yuma, Arizona ). The train carried linked sleeping cars from other carriers: in Kansas City, it picked up
2300-490: The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie and Boston and Albany Railroads in 1887 and 1900, respectively, with both roads remaining as independently-operating subsidiaries. William H. Newman, president of the New York Central lines, resigned in 1909. Newman had been president since 1901, when he replaced Samuel R. Callaway (who had replaced Depew as president in 1898). In 1914, the operations of eleven subsidiaries were merged with
2400-579: The Rochester and Syracuse Direct Railway was chartered and immediately merged into the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad on August 6, 1850. That line opened June 1, 1853, running much more directly between those two cities, roughly parallel to the Erie Canal. The Tonawanda Railroad , to the west of Rochester, was chartered on April 24, 1832, to build from that city to Attica . The first section, from Rochester southwest to Batavia , opened May 5, 1837, and
2500-521: The 1950s that began to deprive NYC of its long-distance passenger trade. The Interstate Highway Act of 1956 helped create a network of government subsidized highways for motor vehicle travel throughout the country, enticing more people to travel by car, as well as haul freight by truck. The 1959 opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway also adversely affected NYC freight business: container shipments could now be directly shipped to ports along
2600-761: The Big Four, was formed on June 30, 1889, by the merger of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway , the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway and the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railway. The following year, the company gained control of the former Indiana Bloomington and Western Railway . By 1906, the Big Four was itself acquired by the New York Central Railroad. It operated independently until 1930; it
2700-512: The Boston and Albany. This influenced a great deal about the line, from advertising to locomotive design, built around its flagship New York-Chicago Water Level Route. A number of bypasses and cutoffs were built around congested areas. The Junction Railroad 's Buffalo Belt Line opened in 1871, providing a bypass of Buffalo to the northeast as well as a loop route for passenger trains via downtown. The West Shore Railroad, acquired in 1885, provided
2800-505: The Daylight scheme until 1958 and 1959 when they were gradually repainted into the “Bloody Nose” scheme featuring a red nose and grey rest, which they kept until the very end. Also by 1960, F7 units started to appear pulling the Golden State for a limited time in the early '60s. Although the Golden State was officially declared a dieselized train by January 1948, the Southern Pacific regularly assigned GS-4 class 4-8-4 steam locomotives to pull
2900-871: The El Paso–Kansas City portion of the route, which was single track and poorly signaled. After Southern Pacific decided not to participate, Rock Island's set of Golden Rocket equipment was re-lettered and integrated into the Golden State . The Golden State became a streamliner in January 1948, with vermilion red on the upper body and pier panel and the lower bodies either natural corrugated stainless steel or silver or grey paint on smooth-sided cars. The train ran with many styles of equipment. Smooth-sided and corrugated stainless steel equipment were mixed and heavyweight baggage, Railway Post Office (RPO) and dormitory cars were common. Transcontinental sleeping car service between New York and Los Angeles on alternate days via
3000-490: The Erie Canal and serve Rome, and so the Syracuse and Utica Direct Railroad was chartered on January 26, 1853. Nothing of that line was ever built, though the later West Shore Railroad , acquired by New York Central Railroad in 1885, served the same purpose. The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad was chartered on May 1, 1834, and opened mostly in 1838, the remaining 4 miles (6.4 km) opening on June 4, 1839. A month later, with
3100-432: The Golden State between Tucumcari, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas until late 1953. Due to diesel shortages on the Southern Pacific, which lasted until the mid '50s, steam helpers in form of GS class 4-8-4, MT class 4-8-2, SP class 4-10-2 and even AC class 4-8-8-2 and 2-8-8-4 steam locomotives were a common sight on the Golden State. In July 1948 the Golden State left Chicago at 10:15 pm CST and arrived Los Angeles 5:15 pm on
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3200-534: The Golden State train name in the logo, by slightly enlargening the height of the red letterboard stripe and by painting the headend cars solid grey. A unique type of sleeping car was introduced by Rock Island in 1954; 10 cars with eight roomettes and six bedrooms assigned to the Rocky Mountain Rocket and the Golden State . These cars had more space for long-distance travelers. Standard streamlined sleeping cars with roomettes normally held 22 passengers in various configurations (10-6, 14–4, etc.) but these, along with
3300-613: The Golden State's route west of Yuma. The Sunset runs three times weekly; Southern Pacific reduced the Sunset Limited from daily to tri-weekly before Amtrak's formation. The Southern Pacific line from Los Angeles to El Paso was completed in May 1881; the Golden State ran on the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad from Tucumcari, New Mexico , to El Paso. West of there it sometimes used the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad (EP&SW) through Douglas, Arizona , to Tucson and sometimes
3400-625: The Great Lakes, eliminating the railroads' freight hauls between the east and the Midwest. The NYC also carried a substantial tax burden from governments that saw rail infrastructure as a source of property tax revenues – taxes that were not imposed upon interstate highways. To make matters worse, most railroads, including the NYC, were saddled with a World War II-era tax of 15% on passenger fares, which remained until 1962: 17 years after
3500-610: The Hudson River Railroad, the West Side Line was built in 1934 in the borough of Manhattan as an elevated bypass of then-abandoned street running trackage on Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. The elevated section has since been abandoned, and the tunnel north of 35th Street is used only by Amtrak trains to New York Penn Station (all other trains use the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad to reach
3600-688: The Hudson River. The New York Central, like many U.S. railroads, declined after the Second World War. Problems resurfaced that had plagued the railroad industry before the war, such as over-regulation by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which severely regulated the rates charged by the railroad, along with continuing competition from automobiles and trucks. These problems were coupled with even more-formidable forms of competition, such as airline service in
3700-518: The Mohawk River, paralleling the Erie Canal, to Utica . Of the ten early railroads bordering the Erie Canal, the U&;S was the most profitable. It was headed by Erastus Corning , future president of the consolidated New York Central. On May 7, 1844, the railroad was authorized to carry freight with some restrictions, and on May 12, 1847, the ban was fully dropped, but the company still had to pay
3800-645: The NYC from opening. This was a connection between Syracuse and Rochester, running from the main line at Lyons to the Auburn Road at Geneva. It was merged into the NYC in 1890. In 1885, the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway , a competitor since 1883 with trackage along the west shore of the Hudson River and on to Buffalo closely paralleling the NYC, was taken over by the NYC as the West Shore Railroad and developed passenger, freight, and car float operations at Weehawken Terminal . The NYC assumed control of
3900-515: The NYC's eastern trackage and NS acquiring most of NYC's western trackage. Extensive trackage existed in the states of New York , Pennsylvania , Ohio , Michigan , Indiana , Illinois , Massachusetts and West Virginia , plus additional trackage in portions of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec . At the end of 1925, New York Central Railroad operated 11,584 miles (18,643 km) of road and 26,395 miles (42,479 km) of track; at
4000-659: The New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, re-forming the New York Central Railroad. From the beginning of the merger, the railroad was publicly referred to as the New York Central Lines. In the summer of 1935, the identification was changed to the New York Central System, that name being kept until the merger with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway , also known as
4100-450: The New York Central Railroad were optimized for speed on that flat raceway of a main line, rather than slow mountain lugging. Famous locomotives of the system included the well-known 4-6-4 Hudsons , particularly the 1937–38 J-3a's; 4-8-2 World War II–era 1940 L-3 and 1942 L-4 Mohawks ; and the 1945–46 S-class Niagaras : fast 4-8-4 locomotives often considered the epitome of their breed by steam locomotive aficionados ( railfans ). For
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4200-549: The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. This extended the system south from Albany along the east bank of the Hudson River to New York City, with the leased Troy and Greenbush Railroad running from Albany north to Troy . Vanderbilt's other lines were operated as part of the railroad included the New York and Harlem Railroad, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway , Canada Southern Railway , and Michigan Central Railroad . The Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad
4300-406: The Rock Island immediately post-war with A-B and A-B-B sets of EMD E6, E7, E8 and sometimes even Alco DL units being assigned to the train. Later, A-B-A sets and even some FP7 units became more common. In 1947 Southern Pacific bought three 6,000 hp (4.47 MW) A-B-B sets of EMD E7 units in the vermilion and silver (aluminum) colors. These red and silver Southern Pacific E7s were repainted to
4400-701: The Rock Island owned 4-4-2 and 6-6-4 sleepers. In the late 1950s the slower counterpart train on generally the same route was the Imperial . Between 1947 and 1950, after the demise of the Golden Rocket, streamlined sleeping, chair, meal and lounge cars were added. As five consists were necessary, Rock Island and Southern Pacific each supplied two or three different cars. For example, Rock Island and Southern Pacific each built and assigned two 12 double bedroom sleeping cars for Golden State service, which resulted in four consists each featuring one such car type, while
4500-479: The Santa Fe (Silver series) and New York Central (Central series). Starting in 1940, 8-section, 5-double bedroom rebuilt heavyweight Clover -series cars appeared on the Golden State . During 1926-29 and after 1948 the Golden State was an extra-fare train, supposedly to account for the costs of the luxury service and the reservation system for chair car seating. In later years, the extra fare became something of
4600-475: The Santa Fe to Albuquerque with a second change of trains at La Junta, Colorado. As part of the merger agreement between EP&SW and SP in 1924, the SP agreed to build a main line through Phoenix , which until then was on a branch from Maricopa. The main line was built from a point near Picacho through Coolidge to Chandler, Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix thence on existing tracks to Buckeye with a new extension to Wellton on
4700-472: The Southern Pacific (SP) via Deming; SP carried the train Tucson to Los Angeles. The former EP&SW between Douglas and El Paso was abandoned in 1961 and the tracks removed in 1963. Rock Island had many feeder lines used for freight and passenger service to southern California. One of these was the ‘ Choctaw Route ’ from Memphis through Little Rock, Oklahoma City and Amarillo to Tucumcari, New Mexico. This line
4800-492: The Southern Pacific and Rock Island were added to the Golden State as they were built. Southern Pacific used “Roman”-style lettering on its equipment, while the Rock Island favored “Zephyr”-style lettering. Except for the 1942 built sleeping cars, the postwar cars built for the Golden State also differed in their car side style between the two roads: Except for two corrugated side coaches, Southern Pacific cars had smooth sides, while Rock Island cars had corrugated sides except for
4900-460: The Syracuse and Utica Railroad by building a more direct route, reducing travel time by a half-hour. The company was merged before any line could be built. Albany industrialist and Mohawk Valley Railroad owner Erastus Corning managed to unite the above railroads together into one system, and on March 17, 1853, executives and stockholders of each company agreed to merge. The merger was approved by
5000-613: The Tonawanda Railroad was authorized to build the connection, and it opened later that year. The Albany and Schenectady Railroad bought all the baggage, mail and emigrant cars of the other railroads between Albany and Buffalo on February 17, 1848, and began operating through cars. On December 7, 1850, the Tonawanda Railroad and Attica and Buffalo Railroad merged to form the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad . A new direct line opened from Buffalo east to Batavia on April 26, 1852, and
5100-606: The United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest , along with the intermediate cities of Albany , Buffalo , Cleveland , Cincinnati , Detroit , Rochester and Syracuse . New York Central was headquartered in New York City's New York Central Building , adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal . The railroad
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#17327800810365200-597: The Water Level Route, could complete the 960.7-mile trip in 16 hours after its June 15, 1938 streamlining (and did it in 15 1 ⁄ 2 hours for a short period after World War II). Also famous were the NYC's Empire State Express , which traveled from New York City through upstate New York to Buffalo and Cleveland, and the Ohio State Limited , which ran between New York City and Cincinnati. At various times, beginning in 1946 and continuing into
5300-640: The better. Prominent New York Central trains: Trains left from Grand Central Terminal in New York, Weehawken Terminal in Weehawken, New Jersey , South Station in Boston, Cincinnati Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Michigan Central Station in Detroit, St. Louis Union Station , and LaSalle Street Station and Central Station (for some Detroit and CincinnatI trains) in Chicago. The New York Central had
5400-424: The blunt-end 10-6 sleeping cars on the rear operated with the full mid-train lounge cars, while the three consists featuring observation cars operated without any full lounge car, as these observation cars themselves featured a buffet lounge in the rear half of the car. In May and June 1956, the Rock Island converted their three observation cars for the Golden State into full mid-train lounge cars, which caused three of
5500-521: The cold eastern and Midwestern winters, with some success. For years the primary competition was Santa Fe's California Limited which did almost twice the business. When the Santa Fe Chief started in November 1926, the Golden State started running on the same 63-hour schedule with the same $ 10 extra fare (until 1929). After World War II, the Rock Island and Southern Pacific considered
5600-459: The east side of the Hudson River. The Hudson River Railroad was chartered on May 12, 1846, to extend this line south to New York City; the full line opened on October 3, 1851. Prior to completion, on June 1, it leased the Troy and Greenbush. Cornelius Vanderbilt obtained control of the Hudson River Railroad in 1864, soon after he bought the parallel New York and Harlem Railroad . Along the line of
5700-474: The end of 1967, the mileages were 9,696 miles (15,604 km) and 18,454 miles (29,699 km). The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was the oldest segment of the railroad's merger and was the first permanent railroad in the state of New York and one of the first railroads in the United States . It was chartered in 1826 to connect the Mohawk River at Schenectady to the Hudson River at Albany, providing
5800-418: The equivalent in canal tolls to the state. The Syracuse and Utica Railroad was chartered on May 11, 1836, and similarly had to pay the state for any freight displaced from the canal. The full line opened July 3, 1839, extending the line further to Syracuse via Rome (and further to Auburn via the already-opened Auburn and Syracuse Railroad ). This line was not direct, going out of its way to stay near
5900-466: The familiar “Daylight” scheme (red, orange and black) in June 1949 before the Golden State even had received all its ordered lightweight cars which did not occur until June 1950. Until 1954, the Rock Island diesel units were painted in the original red, maroon and silver “Rocket” colors. In 1954 that changed to a simplified scheme without the red color, in 1958 to an even more simplified scheme featuring mostly
6000-463: The fifth consist had a 4-4-2 sleeping car in place of the non existent fifth 12 double bedroom sleeping car. Unlike the Rock Island, the Southern Pacific had five 10-6 (10 roomette, 6 double bedroom) sleeping cars assigned to this train, where three cars of this type were normal mid train sleeping cars and two of this type were tail cars with a blunted end. The three normal mid train 10-6 sleeping cars usually ran in those three consists that did not feature
6100-417: The first two-thirds of the 20th century, New York Central Railroad had some of the most famous trains in the United States. Its 20th Century Limited ( Century ), begun in 1902, ran between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago , and was its most famous train, known for its red carpet treatment and first-class service. Its last run was made on December 2–3, 1967. In
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#17327800810366200-756: The five consists to operate without any tail car, as the Rock Island did not have any blunt-end sleeping cars. The five Golden State consists were remarkable in the point that they featured at least six unique cars that never were built in more than one example. These cars were Southern Pacific lightweight smooth side baggagage dormitory 3100, Rock Island lightweight corrugated side baggage dormitory 820, Rock Island lightweight corrugated side 4-4-2 sleeping car La Quinta , Rock Island lightweight corrugated side coffee shop lounge El Café (informally labeled as “Fiesta Car”), Rock Island lightweight corrugated side dining car El Comedor and Rock Island lightweight corrugated side sleeper buffet lounge observation La Mirada . Especially
6300-400: The heavyweight baggage dormitory cars that the Rock Island had been constantly using for the Golden State since 1942. And also in 1959, Rock Island purchased two lightweight smooth side lounge cars from the New York Central for Golden State service, while it reassigned its original Golden State assigned lounge cars La Mirada, Golden Divan and Golden Vista to other trains. Dieselization began on
6400-476: The highest elevation en route was over 6,600 ft (2,000 m) near Corona, New Mexico . Other transcontinental routes reached elevations of more than 7,000 feet (2,100 m) in the Santa Fe railway near Flagstaff, Arizona , and Union Pacific near Sherman, Wyoming . At 2340 miles it was one of the longest continuous passenger railroad routes in the United States, to be exceeded by the SP's Imperial and by Amtrak 's pre-2005 Sunset Limited . The train
6500-570: The letterboard instead of Golden State . Unlike for the mail-baggage cars where each road had provided five cars for, the situation for the baggage dormitory cars was different, as there were only five such cars in total assigned for Golden State service. The Rock Island provided three baggage dormitory cars: One lightweight corrugated side baggage dormitory numbered 820 built new by Pullman Standard in 1947 and two older heavyweight baggage dormitories numbered 6014 and 6105. The Southern Pacific provided modernized heavyweight baggage dormitory car 3401 which
6600-492: The line is currently operated as the Falls Road Railroad . The Buffalo and Lockport Railroad was chartered on April 27, 1852, to build a branch of the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls from Lockport towards Buffalo. It opened in 1854, running from Lockport to Tonawanda , where it joined the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad , opened in 1837, for the rest of the way to Buffalo. The Mohawk Valley Railroad
6700-601: The luxurious 2-double-bedroom, 1-drawing room observation La Mirada , built for the Golden Rocket , the Rock Island had observation cars Golden Vista and Golden Divan . All these three observation cars arrived in August 1948, which means by the time the Golden State was officially introduced as a streamliner in train in January 1948, all five consists continued operating without any observation cars until August that year and two consists even until June 1950. The Southern Pacific did not believe in observation cars, feeling them to be
6800-413: The mainline was extended to the Mohawk River in downtown Schenectady and the Hudson River waterfront in Albany. The Utica and Schenectady Railroad was chartered April 29, 1833; as the railroad paralleled the Erie Canal, it was prohibited from carrying freight . Revenue service began on August 2, 1836, extending the line of the Albany and Schenectady Railroad west from Schenectady along the north side of
6900-600: The mid-1930s, many railroad companies were introducing streamlined locomotives; until the New York Central introduced the Commodore Vanderbilt , all were diesel-electric. The Vanderbilt was the NYC's first streamlined steam locomotive. The railroad hosted the streamlined steam-powered Rexall Train of 1936, which toured 47 states to promote the Rexall chain of drug stores and to provide space for company conventions. The steam-powered Century , which followed
7000-561: The mid-1950s, the Century and other NYC trains exchanged sleeping cars in Chicago with western trains such as the Super Chief and the City of San Francisco . The cars, which contained roomettes , double bedrooms and drawing rooms , provided through sleeper service between New York City and Los Angeles or San Francisco ( Oakland Pier ). Despite having some of the most modern steam locomotives anywhere, NYC's difficult financial position caused it to convert to more-economical diesel-electric power rapidly. The Boston and Albany line
7100-420: The names and the Golden State lettered letterboards for their cars. The repainting process from the red and silver paint scheme to the all silver scheme for Rock Island cars and to the simulated stainless steel with red letterboard stripe scheme for Southern Pacific cars started in April 1953 and was not finished until January 1955. In late 1958, the Southern Pacific cars paint scheme was again changed by deleting
7200-444: The new red and silver scheme. The Rock Island assigned three newly in 1947 built lightweight corrugated side mail-baggage cars numbered 802-804 and later in 1952 two newly rebuilt (from old parlor cars) heavyweight mail-baggage cars numbered 720 and 721. These three cars were the only cars of the entire Golden State car pool that never received the red and silver paint scheme and remained all stainless steel with Rock Island lettering in
7300-464: The number of heavyweight cars in a Golden State consist could reach up to three. Only a consist which had either Rock Island baggage dormitory 820 or Southern Pacific baggage dormitory 3100 in combination with Rock Island mail-baggage cars 802-804 and Rock Island mail-storage cars 852-853 would be an all streamlined consist. It was not until 1959 that the number of heavyweight cars assigned to the Golden State consists would be reduced again. In addition to
7400-543: The old line between Depew (east of Buffalo) and Attica was sold to the Buffalo and New York City Railroad on November 1. The line was added to the New York and Erie Railroad system and converted to the Erie's 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) broad gauge . The Schenectady and Troy Railroad was chartered in 1836 and opened in 1842, providing another route between the Hudson River and Schenectady, with its Hudson River terminal at Troy . The Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad
7500-490: The opening of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, this formed a complete line from Albany west via Syracuse to Auburn. The Auburn and Rochester Railroad was chartered on May 13, 1836, as a further extension via Geneva and Canandaigua to Rochester , opening on November 4, 1841. The two lines merged on August 1, 1850, to form the rather indirect Rochester and Syracuse Railroad (known later as the Auburn Road ). To fix this,
7600-493: The original SP main. This alternate route is no longer in service between Roll and Buckeye, Arizona, although the tracks are in place. The Golden State received regular upgrades to equipment. Beginning in 1924 Golden -series observation cars were assigned to the train. These 3-compartment, 2-drawing room observations became famous in the Pullman fleet as the most modern and luxurious equipment available and were also operated on
7700-489: The red and silver paint scheme was discontinued, the names were gradually removed from the Southern Pacific cars and replaced by numbers. Also, the Golden State lettering in the letterboards of the Southern Pacific cars was replaced by Southern Pacific lettering written inside a red stripe and the train name was featured in a logo in the center of the car (like on the Sunset Limited). The Rock Island however retained
7800-460: The rest of the line to Attica opened on January 8, 1843. The Attica and Buffalo Railroad was chartered in 1836 and opened on November 24, 1842, running from Buffalo southeast to Attica. When the Auburn and Rochester Railroad opened in 1841, there was no connection at Rochester to the Tonawanda Railroad, but with that exception there was now an all-rail line between Buffalo and Albany. On March 19, 1844,
7900-513: The rest of the year, the same schedules were known as the California Limited westbound and Chicago-St. Louis Limited eastbound. The Golden State Limited was for Pullman passengers only, while the California Limited also carried tourist (economy) sleeping cars and coaches. The Golden State Limited (or California Limited in the off season) carried numbers 43 and 44 until mid-1907 when it became numbers 3 and 4. After January 1910
8000-532: The reverse direction. The Golden State had the same declining passenger revenues as other trains in the 1950s and 1960s, although service was not downgraded severely as on other trains. A sleeping car and grill/lounge or dining car was always included. The train was combined with Southern Pacific's New Orleans to Los Angeles Sunset Limited west of El Paso after April 1964. The final Golden State ran on April 8, 1968, after which service ceased. Amtrak's Sunset Limited between Los Angeles and New Orleans uses
8100-480: The second day. The return trip left Los Angeles at 11:30 am arriving in Chicago at 11:30 am the second morning. In July 1954 it left Chicago at 2:15 pm CST and arrived Los Angeles the second day at 7:30 am. The return trip left Los Angeles at 1:30 pm and arrived the second day at 9:55 am. In later years the arrival in Phoenix, for example, was late in the evening. Pullman passengers on the Phoenix setout could stay in
8200-439: The sleeping car until morning. A typical consist of the early 1950s could include a maximum of 16 cars: Lists of named passenger trains In the history of rail transport , dating back to the 19th century, there have been hundreds of named passenger trains . The following is a list of named trains . Lists of these have been organized into geographical regions. Trains with numeric names are spelled out. For example,
8300-445: The south bank of the new canal. A bridge was built southeast of downtown, roughly where the old main line crossed the path of the canal, to keep access to and from the southeast. West of downtown, the old main line was abandoned, but a brand-new railroad line was built, running north from the NYC main line to the NYC's former Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad , allowing all NYC through traffic to bypass Rome. Steam locomotives of
8400-467: The state legislature on April 2 and, on May 17, 1853, the New York Central Railroad was formed. Soon the Buffalo and State Line Railroad and Erie and North East Railroad converted to 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge from 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) broad gauge and connected directly with the railroad in Buffalo, providing a through route to Erie, Pennsylvania . The Rochester and Lake Ontario Railroad
8500-683: The three Rock Island mail-baggage cars 802-804 would be an entirely streamlined Golden State consist. All other options featured one or two heavyweight cars, which is why the Golden State could actually never be considered a full streamliner train. That possible combination of having at least one fully streamlined consist out of five was made impossible in late 1950 and early 1951 when the Southern Pacific started to assign four red and silver painted heavyweight ex baggage-horse cars now converted to mail-storage cars numbered 4300-4303. Rock Island also provided two 1947 built corrugated side baggage cars (numbers 852 and 853) as mail-storage cars during that time. So now
8600-508: The train beginning in 1942. Later that year 4-4-2 sleepers from the discontinued Arizona Limited and Treasure Island Special were also assigned ( Imperial Clipper , Imperial Guard , Imperial Throne and Imperial Banner ). These cars wore only numbers as the RI/SP did not name their cars until after World War II (and then only for a short time). Streamlined 44 and 48 reclining seat leg-rest (long-distance) low-capacity chair cars from both
8700-434: The unique and partially handmade decorations and interiors of El Café , El Comedor and La Mirada were heavily promoted in advertising but the chance that one of these unique cars was part of a Golden State consist was only one in five, which basically resulted in all five consists having unique compositions. After World War II and until 1953 all cars in the train had names, mostly beginning with Golden . After 1953, when
8800-459: Was built by American Car & Foundry as hospital car for the US Army in 1944 and was painted red and silver in 1947, and in 1949 a newly built lightweight smooth side baggage dormitory car numbered 3100. With only five baggage dormitory cars available for the five Golden State consists, the Rock Island soon painted heavyweight baggage dormitory 6013 into the red and silver scheme and assigned it as
8900-712: Was chartered in 1851. The first stage opened in 1853 from Canandaigua on the Auburn Road west to Batavia on the main line. A continuation west to North Tonawanda opened later that year and, in 1854, a section opened in Niagara Falls connecting it to the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge . New York Central Railroad bought the company at bankruptcy in 1858 and reorganized it as the Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad, merging it into itself in 1890. The Saratoga and Hudson River Railroad
9000-467: Was chartered in 1864 and opened in 1866 as a branch of the railroad from Athens Junction, southeast of Schenectady, southeast and south to Athens on the west side of the Hudson River. On September 9, 1876, the company was merged into the railroad, but in 1876 the terminal at Athens burned down and the line was abandoned. The primary repair shops were established in Corning's hometown of Albany along with
9100-502: Was chartered in 1869 and opened in 1871, providing a route on the north side of the Harlem River for trains along the Hudson River to head southeast to the New York and Harlem Railroad. Trains could head toward Grand Central Depot , built by NYC and opened in 1871, or to the freight facilities at Port Morris . From opening, it was leased by the NYC. The Geneva and Lyons Railroad was organized in 1877 and opened in 1878, leased by
9200-467: Was chartered on January 21, 1851, and reorganized on December 28, 1852, to build a railroad on the south side of the Mohawk River from Schenectady to Utica, next to the Erie Canal and opposite the Utica and Schenectady. The company didn't build a line before it was absorbed, though the West Shore Railroad was later built on that location. The Syracuse and Utica Direct Railroad was chartered in 1853 to rival
9300-424: Was completed in 1900 to Amarillo, Texas, and to Tucumcari, after purchase by the Rock Island, by 1902. Over the years connections were made with through sleeping cars from Memphis and Little Rock to Los Angeles, generally connecting with the Golden State . The Rock Island actually owned the rail line to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, 59 miles (95 km) south of Tucumcari, but since the routes intersected at Tucumcari, this
9400-482: Was completely dieselized by 1951. All lines east of Cleveland, Ohio were dieselized between August 7, 1953 (east of Buffalo) and September 1953 (Cleveland-Buffalo). Niagaras were all retired by July 1956. On May 3, 1957, H7e class 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotive No. 1977 is reported to have been the last steam locomotive to retire from service on the railroad. But, the economics of northeastern railroading became so dire that not even this switch could change things for
9500-446: Was established in 1853, consolidating several existing railroad companies. In 1968, the NYC merged with its former rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad , to form Penn Central . Penn Central went into bankruptcy in 1970 and, with extensive Federal government support, emerged as Conrail in 1976. In 1999, Conrail was broken-up, and portions of its system were transferred to CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), with CSX acquiring most of
9600-620: Was inaugurated on November 2, 1902, as the Golden State Limited between Chicago, Kansas City , El Paso , southern Arizona and Los Angeles. At 2,762 miles (4,445 km) it had the longest route in the United States and second only to the Canadian Pacific Railway 's Imperial Limited in North America. Until 1910 the Golden State Limited was seasonal, generally running December to April or May;
9700-441: Was organized in 1852 and opened in fall 1853; it was leased to the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad , which became part of New York Central Railroad, before opening. In 1855, it was merged into the railroad, providing a branch from Rochester north to Charlotte on Lake Ontario . The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad was also merged into the railroad in 1855. It had been chartered in 1834 and opened in 1837, providing
9800-422: Was originally incorporated on April 24, 1834, to run from Lockport on the Erie Canal west to Niagara Falls ; the line opened in 1838 and was sold on June 2, 1850. On December 14, 1850, it was reorganized as the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad, and an extension east to Rochester opened on July 1, 1852. The railroad was consolidated into the New York Central Railroad under the act of 1853. A portion of
9900-551: Was switched out from steam to electric at that point as trains approached New York City. The generally level topography of the NYC system had a character distinctively different from the mountainous terrain of its archrival, the Pennsylvania Railroad. Most of its major routes, including New York to Chicago, followed rivers and had no significant grades other than West Albany Hill and the Berkshire Hills on
10000-591: Was then referred to as the Big Four Route. In 1930, New York Central Railroad acquired a 99-year lease of both Michigan Central and the ''Big Four'' (Cleveland, Chicago Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad). The back shops at West Albany, New York were unable to keep up with repairs to rolling stock, so additional shops were established east of Buffalo at Depew (1892), Croton-on-Hudson (Harmon Shops, 1907), and Oak Grove, Pennsylvania (Avis Shops, 1902). The Harmon Shops were particularly important as locomotive power
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