Pacific Electric – Echo Park Local
The Echo Park Local Line was first built as a horse car line in 1889. The streetcar line owned by Pacific Electric ran from a junction at Sunset Boulevard to the end of the line at Cerro Gordo in Elysian Heights. Service from 9th and Hill Streets was every half hour.

Photograph by Donald Duke

Southern Pacific - Coast Daylight – Train No. 99
Southern Pacific’s Coast Daylight, Train No. 99 left Los Angeles headed for San Francisco at 8:15 AM. The all-new 1939 Daylight equipment with 12 cars is seen starting up the Santa Susana Pass traveling at 48 miles per hour. In minutes, Locomotive No. 4429 will reach the summit at Hasson, which is 1,118 feet above sea level.

Photograph by Donald Duke

Double Heading Through Cajon
Union Pacific's wartime Challenger -powered passenger Train Number 717 thunders upgrade near Frost, California, on a cool spring morning in 1945. It left Salt Lake City at 10:05 a.m., the day before with an arrival time in Los Angeles at 8:35 a.m. In 1943, the Union Pacific and Santa Fe combined averaged 42 passenger trains every 24 hours. An SA-C Class Articulated Consolidation #3559 has been added at Victorville to assist the train up to the summit of Cajon Pass.

Photograph by Donald Duke

The San Bernardino Mail Train
Santa Fe's Arroyo Seco steel viaduct bridge between Los Angeles and Pasadena was opened to traffic in 1899. Crossing the bridge in the late 1940s, is the San Bernardino "local" enroute to Pasadena. The Arroyo Seco Parkway (110 Pasadena Freeway), without any cars on it, is shown below the bridge.

Photograph by Donald Duke

EMD LaGrange 1935
This general view of the erecting shop in 1935 of the Electro-Motive Division plant at La Grange, Illinois reveals a lot of fabulous activity. Six "SC" diesel switchers are lined up being assembled. SC stood for S for six hundred horsepower and C for cast meaning the entire underframe was a one-piece casting. This was the first diesel locomotive produced by the La Grange, Illinois factory. The M-10001 City of Portland, although built by the Pullman Company, was having its Winton V-12 diesel engine retrofitted by Electro-Motive due to design problems realized with the original engines. In the background is the #50 boxcab being constructed for the Baltimore and Ohio. This was the first self-contained diesel passenger locomotive in the nation.

From the Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation Collection

SP GS-3 #4428 at Chatworth
The Chatsworth Rocks, in the Santa Susana Pass, create a dramatic frame for the Southern Pacific Lark, train No. 76, as it emerges from tunnel No. 27 heading into Los Angeles in an early morning in January, 1948. Locomotive #4428 a GS-3 type, was the first GS class to have 80 inch drivers and was built to operate with a maximum speed of 106 miles per hour. Fourteen were built in 1937.

Photograph by Donald Duke

Union Pacific M-10001
The Union Pacific's M-10001 was the second streamliner built by the Union Pacific in 1934. The UP's first, the City of Salina was completed early in 1934 to be followed by this train, the City of Portland. It is similar to the M-10000 only twice as long. The new transcontinental streamliner consisted of three units similar to the M-10000 plus three Pullman sleeping cars. In October 1934 the City of Portland ran from Los Angeles to New York City (3,248 miles) in 56 hours and 55 minutes, the fastest transcontinental journey ever made by rail. At several points along the line she made up to 120 miles an hour. In the first week of May 1935, the train went into regular service between Chicago and Portland.

From the Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation Collection

The Valley Flyer
Late in the 1930s, two, light Pacific type locomotives were semi-streamlined to operate as the "Valley Flyer" from Bakersfield to Oakland. They were intended to compete with the Southern Pacific's streamliners carrying passengers to the San Francisco World's Fair. These locomotives were liveried in an eye-pleasing silver, red, and yellow design. Originally built in 1913, during World War II the Valley Flyer was brought down from the Bakersfield-Oakland area to operate as a section of the San Diegan, later as helpers in the Cajon Pass and finally scrapped in 1951.

Photograph by Donald Duke

Downtown Los Angeles
Special bound for East First and Indiana Streets seen here in at Los Angeles and First Street about 45 years ago. Pacing this PCC streetcar is "Joe 911," according to the license plate. The streetcar in this picture was evidently privately chartered for this occasion. Not the woman knocking on the door to be let in.

Photograph by Donald Duke

The Flying F3
On Sunday, January 25, 1948 at approximately 8:45AM, this Santa Fe diesel locomotive, pulling the combined Super Chief and El Capitan from Chiago, was involved in this incredible accident. The lead locomotive, number 19, not responding to its braking system, crashed through the "end-of-track" bumper, across a raodway, climbed the curbing, and crashed through a concrete wall, hanging over Aliso Street approximately 20 feet below.

Photograph by Fletcher Swan

AT&SF: Helping Hand
Extra No. 3895 (Santa Fe type) lets its heavy freight train down Cajon Pass helping a gleaming set of diesel FT units at a safe 30 miles per hour. The day was September 27, 1947. A stop will be made at Victorville to cut the helper off allowing the diesels to proceed on their own eastbound.

Photograph by Donald Duke

Southern Pacific Daylight
A bright morning departure in 1954, for the Daylight Train number 99 was being pulled by the impressive GS-4 locomotive number 4452 leaving Los Angeles on its way to San Francisco. Note the track leading off to the left in the lower-left portion of the image; this is the San Diegan turnoff located just in frontof the Mission Tower. The GS-4 represented the high mark in Southern Pacific passenger locomotive design. These engines, with eighty-inch drivers, could develop 5500 horsepower at 55 miles per hour and could reach speeds of 110 mph. The approximate cost of each locomotive was $175,000. There were 27 of these locomotives built by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, OH.

Photograph by Donald Duke

AT&SF 3781
This spectacular shot of No. 3781, charging the eastbound grade near Sullivan's Curve, shows the magnificence of Santa Fe's 4-8-4 steam power. The strange contraption on the stack was raised and lowered by the engineer in order to keep smoke from driving down into the cab. This nine-car train is the Grand Canyon Limited.

Photograph by Donald Duke

SP: Continued Cooperation
On the third of May, 1939, the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal opened on a 45-acre site on North Alameda Street. The opening festivities included a parade along Alameda Street with more than a half-million people watching the procession. The big attraction was a show "Romance of the Rails" staged in front of a 6000-seat amphitheater. The grand finale featured the mainline railroads each providing one of their largest locomotives to roll across the stage. This photograph shows the Southern Pacific's GS-type "Daylight" locomotive in a sea of American flags.

Photograph by Ralph Melching