The title of this blog post may remind some readers of an excellent book of some years ago with a very similar title. That’s on purpose, though I will touch on only a tiny fraction of the information in that book. Its actual title was Southern Pacific Passenger Trains: Night Trains on the Coast Route, by Dennis Ryan and Joseph Shine (Four Ways West Publications, La Mirada, CA, 1986). This post draws heavily on the extensive information in that book.
Below is an image of its dust jacket, featuring a painting by Ernie Towler. Based on a John Illman photo, it depicts the Lark in the morning near Burlingame, inbound to San Francisco, passing the outbound Daylight, train 98. Certainly the most famous night train on the Coast was the all-Pullman streamlined Lark. and its two-tone gray paint scheme. In this painting, the Lark’s last two sleepers and the buffet-observation car have been cut off at San Jose to form the Oakland Lark.
But almost from the beginning of passenger trains on this route, there was a companion night train on the Coast Route, intended as a less-expensive alternative to the Lark. From 1901 to 1915, it was called the SF & LA Passenger; from 1915 to 1925, the Seashore Express, equipped with both chair cars and tourist sleepers. This became trains 69 and 70 in 1926 and took the name Coaster (previously the name of a daytime train on the Coast).
In the immediate postwar period, SP began to re-structure its passenger services on the Coast Line. The pre-war Noon Daylight trains were re-established, joining the Morning Daylight. The pair of overnight trains, the all-Pullman streamlined Lark and the heavyweight Coaster, continued, with the Coaster still perceived as the economy service.
Southern Pacific did its best to publicize the Coaster after the war, always emphasizing its relatively economical prices, both for fares and for on-board meals, as shown in this poster that appeared in depots and other public places.
Below is an image of the inbound Coaster rounding Sierra Point, just south of Bayshore Yard in the fall of 1946, with Mountain 4309 on the point (SP photo, Steve Peery collection). It’s a 13-car train today, with three baggage cars on the head end (some in use as postal storage cars). Night Trains on the Coast Route contains a typical 1946 consist: three baggage cars, five coaches, three 16-section tourist Pullmans, a 10-1-2 Pullman, and a 10 section-lounge observation (which you can see below). That open-platform observation was soon discontinued.
But a few years after the war, in late 1949, SP replaced the overnight Coaster on the Coast Line with a new all-coach train, the Starlight. The Coaster had featured heavyweight sleeping cars, many of them mostly section accommodations, and those were rapidly becoming unpopular with the traveling public. Coach travel was a little cheaper, and by using older equipment from the first Daylight trains, a much more modern train with more comfortable seating could replace the Coaster.
On October 1, 1949, the Noon Daylight was discontinued, and the next day the Coaster was also discontinued. Starting that day day, October 2, the replacement was the Starlight, much of its equipment coming from the former Noon Daylight. Here’s a poster publicizing the new train. Fare is a little higher than that for the Coaster shown in the poster above. As noted below, the schedule left after dinner and arrived before breakfast, thus no dining car was needed (though both a coffee shop and a tavern-lounge were included).
On my own layout, set in 1953, it’s obvious that the night train other than the Lark should be the Starlight. But I have a soft spot for heavyweight equipment, especially Pullmans, and occasionally a time warp occurs and a late-running Coaster may venture across the Guadalupe Subdivision.
I have always been intrigued by the ways corporations, including railroads, choose to present themselves to the public. Posters in depots, including the two shown here, are certainly interesting examples.
Tony Thompson
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