San Joaquin Daylight

AnEMD SDP45 leads theSan Joaquin Daylight at Martinez, California in 1971
Overview
Status	Discontinued
Locale	California
First service	July 4, 1941
Last service	April 30, 1971
Former operator(s)	Southern Pacific Transportation Company
Route
Termini	Los Angeles Union Station Oakland Pier
Train number(s)	51/52
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Route map v t e Legend San Francisco bus transfer San Francisco San Francisco Bayferry 0mi Oakland Pier 2 mi 3 km Oakland (16th Street) 5 mi 8 km Berkeley 11 mi 18 km Richmond 25 mi 40 km Crockett 31 mi 50 km Martinez Shasta Daylight & City of San Francisco 45 mi 72 km Pittsburg 78 mi 126 km Tracy Sacramento Daylight 89 mi 143 km Lathrop 113 mi 182 km Modesto 126 mi 203 km Turlock 151 mi 243 km Merced 184 mi 296 km Madera San Joaquin River 206 mi 332 km Fresno 250 mi 402 km Tulare 281 mi 452 km Delano 313 mi 504 km Bakersfield Tehachapi Loop 361 mi 581 km Tehachapi 381 mi 613 km Mojave 406 mi 653 km Lancaster 450 mi 724 km Saugus Newhall Pass Coast Daylight, Lark 477 mi 768 km Glendale 483 mi 777 km Los Angeles

TheSan Joaquin Daylight was aSouthern Pacific passengertrain (train numbers 51 and 52) inaugurated betweenLos Angeles and San Francisco'sOakland Pier by way of theSan Joaquin Valley andTehachapi Pass on July 4, 1941. Travel times were between 12 hours (1970^[1]) and 14 hours (1944^[2]). It operated until the advent ofAmtrak in 1971.

Train numbers 51 and 52 were named theSan Joaquin Flyer on March 20, 1927. The name was changed to theSan Joaquin on the January 1928 timetable. All streamlined lightweight equipment brought the name change toSan Joaquin Daylight on July 4, 1941.^[3]

Pullman-Standard built coaches were assigned to the two train sets, botharticulated pairs and singles. The 40-seatdining car and parlor-observation car had been built for the original 1937Daylight. Each train set had ten cars painted in SP's Daylight colors (red and orange, with black roofs and white striping and lettering), and included twohead-end cars rebuilt from heavyweights by the SPSacramento shops repainted Daylight colors to match the rest of the train.

SP initially assigned threeP-10 classPacificsteam locomotives 2383-2385 aftersemi-streamlining them and painting them in Daylight colors at the Sacramento shops. A single Pacific ran between Oakland Pier and Bakersfield; a pair of those Pacifics was assigned between Los Angeles and Bakersfield. Thehelper P-10 that led the northboundSan Joaquin Daylight from Los Angeles to Bakersfield returned on the southboundSan Joaquin Daylight from Bakersfield.

Diesel power includedEMD F-units andAlco PAs, later supplemented byGP9s andSDP45s.

The inaugural runs were as follows:

2383 P-10 class4-6-2 Streamlined Pacific Locomotive & Tender

5069 Heavyweight Modernized Baggage 30’Railway Post Office Car

6091 Heavyweight ModernizedBaggage Car

2492 44 Revenue seat Coach

2478 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach2477 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach

10200 40 seat Dining Car

2480 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach2479 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach

2487 44 Revenue seat Coach

2950 23 Revenue seat Parlor 10 seat Lounge Observation

2385 P-10 Class 4-6-2 Streamlined Pacific Locomotive and Tender (Helper)(Los Angeles – Bakersfield)

2384 P-10 Class 4-6-2 Streamlined Pacific Locomotive and Tender

5017 Heavyweight Modernized Baggage 30’ Railway Post Office Car

6092 Heavyweight Modernized Baggage Car

2493 44 Revenue seat Coach

2482 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach2481 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach

10201 40 seat Dining Car

2484 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach2483 Articulated 46 Revenue seat Coach

2488 44 Revenue seat Coach

2951 23 Revenue seat Parlor 10 seat Lounge Observation

In 1946 a Sacramento section of theSan Joaquin Daylight was introduced, named theSacramento Daylight, trains 53-54. The two trains ran together from Los Angeles to Lathrop, where they split. In 1970 the split moved from Lathrop to Tracy.

TheSan Joaquin Daylight's dining car was replaced by a coffee-shop car by the 1950s. The parlor-observation car was also removed, though it immediately gained a second life. In 1954 SP placed two of its seven homebuiltdome-lounge cars in the consists; one of the cars was rebuilt from the train's own parlor-observation car.^[4] The dome car was discontinued in the late 1960s.

In 1961 the coffee-shop car was replaced by SP'sautomat cars which had vended meals and non-alcoholic beverages, a self-service microwave oven, and a table area. This lasted to the end of service.

TheSan Joaquin Daylight ran until April 30, 1971, the day beforeAmtrak took over nationwide rail passenger service in the United States. In March 1974 Amtrak'sSan Joaquins began running between the Bay Area and Fresno and Bakersfield onSanta Fe track in the San Joaquin Valley.Altamont Corridor Expresscommuter rail trains in the Bay Area are expected to operate as far south as Merced along the formerDaylight route by 2027.

The overnight counterpart to theSan Joaquin Daylight was theOwl, trains 57-58, between Oakland andLos Angeles, with sleeping cars and meal and beverage service. It was discontinued in 1965, three years before theLark (direct to San Francisco itself) on the Coast Line ended. TheWest Coast (trains 59-60) carried overnight Sacramento-LA passengers until about 1960, though unlike theSacramento Daylight it was a separate train all the way.^[5]

• Coast Daylight
• San Joaquin,Amtrak California's service to the Central Valley
• Sacramento Daylight
• Southern Pacific 4449 locomotive in "Daylight" paint scheme

• Passenger trains of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company
• Named passenger trains of the United States
• Articulated passenger trains
• Railway services introduced in 1941
• Railway services discontinued in 1971

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata