The GOLDEN STATE Page
The Golden State Limited was a joint train of the Rock
Island and Southern Pacific railroads and it ran between Chicago and Los
Angeles starting on October 2, 1902.
On January 4, 1948, the all lightweight GOLDEN STATE
replaced the Golden State Limited. For a brief period (1948-1952),
the cars were decorated with SP Daylight Red over stainless steel or aluminum
paint. There were at least 75 cars painted that way. That is the
period featured here. Most, but not all, pictures have a link to a larger
image.
#3 WB Chicago->KC->Tucumcari->El Paso->LA
#4 EB LA->El Paso->Tucumcari->KC->Chicago
TheGOLDEN
ROCKET
Prior to the creation of the GOLDEN STATE
streamliner, Rock Island and Southern Pacific had planned an all new train
called the GOLDEN ROCKET. The Rock Island ordered
cars, the SP ordered diesels and both roads produced ads showing the red/silver
scheme. Because of an ICC 1947 requirement for expensive automatic train
stop equipment, the Southern Pacific changed their minds and the train
never came to be. In my opinion, the SP changed their minds back because
they eventually ordered all new equipment for the new GOLDEN
STATE(even though it never reached the sub-40 hour originally planned
schedule). Many of the RI GR cars retained their GR letterboard
for many years.
Pictures
Passenger Cars
Observation La Mirada (RI GR)
Vintage Rails, May/June 1999, courtesy
Pentrex
See fullsize
(103KB)
See largersize
(196KB)
[unable to get permission - Can anyone help me reach Lou Cross?]
Observation Golden Vista/Divan (RI)
(Four Ways West)
See fullsize
(136KB)
Trains
Go here
for larger photo and credit
[GS
at Nicklin, CA, May 1948]
[unable to get permission - Can anyone help me reach Frank Peterson?]
GS at Palm Springs (SP photo)
See fullsize
(47KB)
See largersize
(81KB)
GS power on SP #99
Go here
for larger photo and credit
GS power on SP Lark (SP photo)
See fullsize
(86KB)
See larger
size (142KB)
Southern Pacific Locomotives
(EMD photo)
EMD data card
See fullsize
(26GB)
See largersize
(59GB)
See backside
w/data (52MB)
Postcards
See
fullsize (24KB)
See largersize
(45KB)
See fullsize
back (9KB)
See largersize
back (21KB)
Ads
See fullsize
(89KB)
See largersize
(158KB)
Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 4, 1948, Standard Oil
See fullsize
(97KB)
See largersize
(342KB)
See 1024x768
wallpaper (2.25MB)
Saturday Evening Post
See fullsize
(17KB)
See largersize
(139KB)
Brochures
See fullsize
(57KB)
See largersize
(172KB)
See as 1024x768
wallpaper (2.32MB)
See fullsize
(32KB)
See largersize
(58KB)
Graphics
Used on the Southern Pacific cars
GOLDEN STATE
GOLDEN STATE
The RI used Zephyr lettering while the
SP used Roman lettering.
Used on stationary and menus for many years
Click here
for larger picture (378KB)
Models
Examples only
N Scale
HO Scale
O Scale
Map
Click here
for large map (40MB)
Consists
The Golden State consists are maintained at the Rock Island Technical
Society web site at
http://www.simpson.edu/~RITS/equipment/rigs.html
SP Diesel Paint Scheme
Click here for
Southern
Pacific Diesel Locomotive Paint Schemes: Golden State
References
"The Streamlined Golden State", Dennis Ryan & Mike Jarel, S$P
Trainline #59, Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society
"The Golden Rocket", Steve Hile, Railroad Model Craftsman, March, 1988
Links
Rock Island Technical Society
Southern Pacific Historical and Technical
Society
Jeff's Guide to the ROCK ISLAND LINES
SP Mailing List FAQ
Richard Percy's Espee
Modelers Home Page
Thanks to Jeff Price, Dick Hutchins and others for their assistance!
Please bear with me as I attempt to gain permissions for any copyrighted
material appearing here without an offsite link.
Please contact me with questions, broken links, additions and corrections
at mailto:John.Matrow@wichita.edu
Copy this Zephyr
Font to c:/winnt/fonts (or wherever) to see this page with some Zephyr
lettering.
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