Coast Daylight (SP)

Daylight Limited
Coast Daylight

Coast Daylight departing San Francisco in 1949.
Overview
First service	April 28, 1922
Last service	May 19, 1974
Successor	Coast Starlight
Former operator(s)	Southern Pacific Amtrak
Route
Start	Los Angeles
End	San Francisco
Train number(s)	98/99
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map Distance Station 0 San Francisco 30 km 19 mi Palo Alto 47 km 29 mi San Jose 114 km 71 mi Salinas San Luis Obispo Tunnel 248 km 154 mi San Luis Obispo 367 km 228 mi Santa Barbara 404 km 251 mi Oxnard Santa Susana Pass 464 km 288 mi Glendale San Joaquin Daylight 470 km 292 mi Los Angeles

Route map
Distance Station 0 San Francisco 30 km 19 mi Palo Alto 47 km 29 mi San Jose 114 km 71 mi Salinas San Luis Obispo Tunnel 248 km 154 mi San Luis Obispo 367 km 228 mi Santa Barbara 404 km 251 mi Oxnard Santa Susana Pass 464 km 288 mi Glendale San Joaquin Daylight 470 km 292 mi Los Angeles

The Coast Daylight, originally known as the Daylight Limited, was a passenger train on the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) between Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, via SP's Coast Line. It was advertised as the "most beautiful passenger train in the world," carrying a particular red, orange, and black color scheme. The train operated from 1937 until 1974, one of the few passenger trains retained by Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak merged it with the Coast Starlight in 1974.

Southern Pacific introduced the Daylight Limited on April 28, 1922. The train operated on a 13-hour schedule between the Third and Townsend Depot in San Francisco and Central Station in Los Angeles, running on Fridays and Saturdays only. In 1922 and 1923 the train ran seasonally, beginning in April and ending in November. Daily operation began in July 1923. The SP shortened the running time to 12 hours for the 1924 season. Until the late 1920s it made no intermediate stops (except for servicing), the longest nonstop run in the world at that time. Its 12-hour schedule was two hours better than any other train on its route.

The streamlined Daylight began on March 21, 1937, pulled by GS-2 steam locomotives on a  9 ³⁄₄-hour schedule. It was the first of the Daylight series that later included the San Joaquin Daylight, Shasta Daylight, Sacramento Daylight, and Sunbeam.

By June 30, 1939, the streamlined Daylights had carried 268.6 million passenger-miles on 781,141 train-miles for an average occupancy of 344 passengers.