Golden Gate (train)

The Golden Gate circa 1938.

The Golden Gate was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe). It ran between Oakland and Bakersfield, California; its bus connections provided service between San Francisco and Los Angeles via California's San Joaquin Valley.

History

In 1912 The Santa Fe tried to compete with Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) with overnight trains that included cars to and from San Diego, the Saint train to San Francisco and the Angel train to Los Angeles. The Santa Fe route via San Bernardino and Barstow was longer than the SP route via Glendale and Lancaster and the San Francisco to Los Angeles schedule was 16 hrs 45 minutes, compared to 14-45 for SP's Owl and 13-45 for the Lark. The Saint and Angel were withdrawn in 1918.[1]

In 1936 the completion of improvements on the Ridge Route highway south of Bakersfield and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge gave the Santa Fe an opportunity to compete with the SP with faster service. The lightweight Golden Gate streamliners were assigned Nos. 6063 and ran daily between Oakland (station was actually in Emeryville) and Bakersfield. Santa Fe buses connected San Francisco across the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge to Oakland and between Bakersfield and Los Angeles, most with stops at North Hollywood and Hollywood and some with stops at Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena. The Oakland transfer point moved to Richmond in 1958 with buses making stops at Oakland and Berkeley.[2]

A competitor to the Southern Pacific Railroad's San Joaquin Daylight, the Golden Gate's scheduled 9-hour and 25-minute time bested that of the Daylight. After a series of hearings and legal challenges, the new six-car consists entered service on July 1, 1938. Coach fares were $6.00 one-way, $10.80 round-trip, rates that were matched by the SP. San Francisco to Los Angeles was 312.8 rail miles plus 112 bus miles.

In 1939 another train, the Valley Flyer, was added to the Bakersfield-Oakland route[3] to carry passengers to the Golden Gate International Exposition. In 1940 the Exposition ended and this train moved to the San Diego to Los Angeles route.

The Golden Gate was all but eliminated on April 11, 1965 though No. 62 was reassigned as No. 8 and took over the duties of the southbound Fast Mail Express. That service ended April 28, 1968. Today Amtrak California's San Joaquin runs the same route from Port Chicago to Bakersfield.

Timeline

Equipment used

Initial Golden Gate consists (two lightweight trainsets), July 1938:

The Golden Gate consists (two trainsets) as of March 1948:

*Extra car added between Chicago and Oakland during the summer months.

Golden Gate consists in 1958:

 Nos. 6063

 No. 62 only

In May 1960 two-unit ALCO PA sets replaced the F-units. Car #1346 was converted to a "Vend-O-Lounge" vending machine car in May 1964 (operated by the Harvey Company), though it failed to gain acceptance and was replaced with a 1500-series Lunch Counter Diner the following September.

See also

References

  1. Duke and Kistler, pp. 63,65
  2. Duke and Kistler, pp.99-101
  3. Duke and Kistler, pp. 102-103
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