City of Los Angeles

City of Los Angeles
The westward City of Los Angeles behind three EMC E2s in Cheyenne, Wyoming on February 13, 1938.
"Drumhead" logos such as these often adorned the ends of observation cars on the City of Los Angeles.

The City of Los Angeles was a streamlined passenger train that ran between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, via Omaha, Nebraska, and Ogden, Utah. Between Omaha and Los Angeles it ran on the Union Pacific Railroad; east of Omaha it ran on the Chicago and North Western Railway until October 1955 and on the Milwaukee Road thereafter. The train had number 103 westbound and number 104 eastbound.

This train was the top-of-the-line for UP, which marketed it as a direct competitor to the Super Chief, a streamlined passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and the Golden State, a streamlined passenger train jointly operated by the Rock Island and Southern Pacific railroads. As with the City of Los Angeles, many of the train's cars bore the names of locales in and around its namkesake city.

CNW / UP used one of only two sets of EMC E2 locomotives ever built as motive power for the train beginning in 1937. The UP scored a public relations coup in the mid-1950s when the City of Los Angeles was prominently featured in two consecutive episodes of the then popular television series I Love Lucy. In 1955 the Milwaukee Road assumed the service, replacing the Chicago and North Western between Chicago and Omaha. Actor Ronald Reagan often traveled on this train and even did a full page print ad for it that appeared in the National Geographic magazine. In a cost-cutting move, the City of Los Angeles was combined with the City of San Francisco in 1960.

Contents

History

Timeline

  • May 15, 1936: The City of Los Angeles makes its first run between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. One trainset, so leaves each terminal five times a month.
  • 1938: 14-car train powered by E2s enters service alongside the older trainset, allowing departures ten times a month.
  • 1941: New train powered by E6s enters service, replacing the articulated trainset; frequency remains ten departures per month. The Hollywood, a lounge car built for use on the City of Los Angeles, is the first passenger car whose interior is built entirely out of synthetic materials, which featured the newly-invented materials formica (plastic) and naugahyde.
  • 1947: The City of Los Angeles begins running daily.
  • 1955: Dome cars are added to the City of Los Angeles. The Milwaukee Road takes over operation of the City of Los Angeles from the Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago and Omaha.
  • 1956: The Challenger and the City of Los Angeles are combined into a single train, operated on the City of Los Angeles schedule. (The Challenger operated on its own schedule during a couple of summers thereafter.)
  • 1970: Dome dining cars retired and replaced with standard flat top cars.
  • May 1, 1971: Amtrak takes over long-distance passenger operations in the United States.
  • May 2, 1971: UP-operated long-distance rail service ends when the City of Los Angeles arrives at Los Angeles Union Station.

In 1979 Amtrak created the Desert Wind, running mostly on the City of LA route from Los Angeles to Ogden, Utah where it connected to the Oakland-Chicago train. (After a year or two some of its cars ran through to Chicago.) The Desert Wind ceased operation in 1997.

Other railroad uses of the name City of Los Angeles

The City of Los Angeles name has also been applied to a 48-seat diner built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1949. The car was originally UP No. 4808 and is currently owned and operated by the Union Pacific as part of their excursion fleet.

Equipment used

A typical City of Los Angeles train consist around 1955 included:

Station stops

Station stops, 1950[1]

  • Chicago, IL (Chicago & North Western)
  • Clinton, IA
  • Cedar Rapids, IA
  • Ames, IA
  • Boone, IA
  • Omaha, NE (Union Pacific)
  • Fremont, NE (departing passengers only)
  • Columbus, NE (departing passengers only)
  • Kearney, NE (departing passengers only)
  • Grand Island, NE
  • North Platte, NE
  • Sidney, NE
  • Cheyenne, WY
  • Laramie, WY
  • Rawlins, WY
  • Green River, WY
  • Evanston, WY
  • Ogden, UT
  • Salt Lake City, UT
  • Milford, UT
  • Las Vegas, NV
  • San Bernardino, CA
  • Riverside, CA
  • East Los Angeles, CA
  • Los Angeles, CA

Time Table

Sample Time Tables, 1947 - 1953




Westbound
Read Down
Condensed Schedules All trains daily Eastbound
Read Up
City of Los Angeles
103
City of Los Angeles
104
Sep. 11, 1949 May, 1950 Sep. 27, 1953 Sep. 27, 1953 May, 1950 Sep. 11, 1949
7.15 7.15 7.15 Lv. Chicago   C.& N.W. Ar. 10.40 +2 10.40 +2 10.45 +2
3.00 +1 3.00 +1 3.00 +1 Ar. Omaha   C.& N.W. Lv. 2.50 +2 2.50 +2 2.50 +2
3.10 +1 3.10 +1 3.10 +1 Lv. Omaha   Un. Pac. Ar. 2.40 +2 2.40 +2 2.40 +2
9.25 +1 9.25 +1 9.25 +1 Ar. Cheyenne Lv. 6.30 +1 6.30 +1 6.30 +1
 
9.35 +1 9.35 +1 9.35 +1 Lv. Cheyenne Ar. 6.20 +1 6.20 +1 6.20 +1
6.20 +1 6.20 +1 6.15 +1 Ar. Ogden Lv. 9.45 +1 9.45 +1 9.40 +1
6.30 +1 6.30 +1 6.25 +1 Lv. Ogden Ar. 9.35 +1 9.35 +1 9.30 +1
7.10 +1 7.10 +1 7.10 +1 Ar. Salt Lake City Lv. 8.50 +1 8.50 +1 8.50 +1
 
7.20 +1 7.20 +1 7.20 +1 Lv. Salt Lake City Ar. 8.40 +1 8.40 +1 8.40 +1
9.00 +2 9.00 +2 9.00 +2 Ar. Los Angeles Lv. 5.00 5.00 5.00
39 h 45 m 39 h 45 m 39 h 45 m ---Elapsed Time--- 39 h 40 m 39 h 40 m 39 h 40 m

Notes:
Bold numbers indicate P.M.
+1 indicates the day after departure
+2 indicates two days after departure

Compare the run time to that of Amtrak's Desert Wind in 1979: Westbound (train 35) 48 hours and 30 minutes. Eastbound (train 36) 48 hours and 00 minutes.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Official Guide of the Railways, May 1950
  • Ranks, Harold E. and Kratville, William W. (1974). The Union Pacific Streamliners. Kratville Publications, Omaha, NE. 
  • Schafer, Mike and Joe Welsh (1997). Streamliners: History of a Railroad Icon. MBI Publishing Co., St. Paul, MN. ISBN 0-7603-1371-7. 
  • Solomon, Brian (2000). Union Pacific Railroad. Railroad color history. MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 0760307563. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • City News Los Angeles — (CNLA) is a weekly newspaper created in 2001 to serve the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community of Los Angeles, California. According to the official website: City News LA is a news organization which covers the issues facing… …   Wikipedia

  • City of Los Angeles v. Lyons — Supreme Court of the United States Argued November 2, 1982 Decided April …   Wikipedia

  • City of Los Angeles (disambiguation) — City of Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state of California, and the second most populous in the United States. City of Los Angeles may also refer to: Los Angeles, California, the city City of Los Angeles (train), a train This… …   Wikipedia

  • City of Los Angeles' Historic Preservation Overlay Zones — Harvard Heights HPOZ sign The city of Los Angeles, California has been hailed by historic preservation advocates for its pioneering Historic Preservation Overlay Zone program, which designates not just buildings but entire neighborhoods or… …   Wikipedia

  • City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department — The City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department is the official Los Angeles, California, USA arts council. The agency approves the design of structures built on or over City property and accepts works of art to be acquired by the City. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Watts (City of Los Angeles) — Die Watts Towers Watts ist ein Wohnbezirk im südlichen Los Angeles, er ist ein Teil South Los Angeles, ehemals South Central. International bekannt wurde der Bezirk 1965, als von dort der sogenannte Watts Aufruhr ausging. Die Situation der Afro… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Seal of City of Los Angeles — The seal of Los Angeles contains the coat of arms of the city of Los Angeles, a city in the U.S. state of California. The shield is encircled by the legal name of the city (City of Los Angeles) and its date of founding (1781).Inside the circle,… …   Wikipedia

  • SS City of Los Angeles — may refer to:* SS City of Los Angeles (1918), laid down under this name but became USS Victorious (ID 3514) for the United States Navy in World War I; sailed as SS City of Havre from 1931 to 1938; sailed as SS City of Los Angeles (1938) until… …   Wikipedia

  • Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles — The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles is the public housing agency for Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1938. There are more than 60 public housing locations in Los Angeles. The larger sites are:* Aliso Extension * Avalon… …   Wikipedia

  • Los Angeles — Spitzname: City of Angels, L.A., Gang Capital of the Nation, Horizontal City Skyline von Los Angeles (Downtown LA) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”