I can't tell you how many times I have gone to San Francisco. As a kid, my family lived in Los Angeles. When I was 10 years old, my dad put me on a train headed for San Fran, to visit my aunt. At Union Station in downtown L.A., I boarded the Southern Pacific Coast Daylight. Ah, the Glory of Steam... Going through some canyons getting out of L.A. And after pasing through Ventura, it was the Pacific Ocean for the next few hours. The first three of four times I traveled to the Bay Area and back, it was steam all the way. At times, the train was running over 90 mph... And then this happened. As I was growing up, so was the Southern Pacific Railroad. Same tracks, same route, and the Diesels cut about 15 minutes off the travel time (steam locomotives had to stop to take on more water at the half way mark). And then in 1971, the old diesels were gone and the Amtrak Diesels took over the route. Two of these locomotives make as much power as four of the early Diesels. I have gotten used to Amtrak, took what used to be called the Coast Daylight and now called, the Coast Starlight back and forth to San Francisco. I have traveled all over the country on Amtrak. If it's an overnight trip, I book a sleeping compartment (I like my comfort, it takes two nights to get to Chicago). I booked my next trip on the Coast Starlight for March 27th, 2023. The only real difference between the Coast Daylight and the Coast Starlight is that the Daylight only went as far as San Francisco, where as the Starlight keeps on going to Seattle...
The Jalopy Journal
