What train was this?

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socalsteve

Train Attendant
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Feb 15, 2003
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I live in Corona, Calif., and used to see Amtraks go through all the time up until a few years ago--it was probably the Desert Wind. Today my wife saw an Amtrak Superliner go through and I couldn't think of what train it might have been. The Starlight and Surfliners don't come through here (we're too far east) and the Sunset Limited goes north of us, through Ontario. Any ideas anyone? Thanks.
 
It's possible that the Sunset may have been diverted past your city because the subdivision it normally runs through was shut down. More than once trains have switched to alternate routes because of wrecks. The biggest one was after the Auto Train wreck here in Florida on the former ACl main, all traffic was diverted to the SAL main further west, and effected passengers sent on buses to their destinations.
 
It is definitely Southwest Chief which passed by Corona. The route is from San Bernardino to Riverside and to Fullerton on the way to LA, similiar to Metrolink 91 route.

I grew up in formerly Ag Preserve, so I'm well familiar with the area.
 
Speaking of which train is that, this is for an older train. I have always wondered:

In the TV series version of "Superman," after it was made in color, the annoucer says: "Faster than a speeding bullet...more powerful than a locomotive..." We see a streamlined Southern Pacific passenger train with E units and corregated passenger cars. In the 1950s, the SP had numerous trains running from Los Angeles. Anyone have any idea which train it was or could be?
 
I was never a Superman buff so I am can't visualize it..I will try to look for it in the future.

To answer the question,, what color is the train? If it is silver, it would probably be the Sunset Limited to New Orleans(yes, back then).

If it was yellow it could have been the City of Los Angeles or the Challenger, for example, to Chicago. It If was kind of reddish yellow it could have been one of the Daylight trains to San Francisco..

Any idea when I might find "Superman" on TV?
 
"Superman" is on in the middle of the night on TV Land--too late for most people. The train is an SP train (I know what SP trains look like). The E-7 (A-B-B) units are painted in SP Daylight colors. The passenger cars are silver, corregated with the red stripe just above the windows. I have always presumed it was the "Sunset," but it could be another SP train. "Superman" was shot in L.A. and many outdoors scenes were taken from L.A. area sites. L.A.'s city hall, for example, stood in for "The Daily Planet" building. It would make sense for filmmakers to use L.A. trains to represent trains in movies and/or televsion.
 
Now that you elaborate on it more, guess I watched Superman more , and remember it better than I had thought, and I do indeed remember the words about"faster than a speeding locomotive."

As to the train since you say the loco was a Daylight, it may have been sort of a composite train. Though SP equipment in later years got shifted all around from one train to the other. I am satisfied in their original "purity" only the Sunset Ltd had corruated unpainted stainless steel with a red stripe.

I will try to watch a little of it some weekend or so...I will check my listings.

You now have my curiosity aroused.
 
Guess what, Steve. I checked the TV listings, saw Superman came on at 3.30. Mother Nature called me at 3.25, so I stayed up five extra minutes to see for myself. My vote goes to the Sunset Limited---I am not that sure if agree with you on the locos being Daylights or not. I am actually not that knowlegable about locomotives. I also thought possibly it might be the Golden State, which ran SP until Tucumcari, N.M, then Rock Island to Chi.

The scenery was pure desert so that rules out the Daylight-- and I don't think the Golden State had that much pure unpainted stainless steel.The train on TV seemed to have a red stripe doesn't it? Above the windows?The Sunset had such a stripe. The whole scene is over so quickly it is hard to get the details).

Also I need to be given 40 lashes for mentioning the yellow City of Los Angeles and Challenger as being SP trains in LA. They were not---they were UP trains at that point.That was from my post yesterday.

I have a suggestion for you: check the credits sometime, see if it refers to the SP railroad(or possibly even the Rock Island, if the train is the Golden State after all).

Here is something else---I did not watch the show but I thnk they said something about Christopher Reeve. Guess what...I grew up on the version BEFORE it was played by Christopher Reeve...SO, it might have been a different train that I saw when I was a child, when someone else, also, was playing the role. In my vague mind I actually sort of think THAT train(way back then) was the Daylight, and that it went from the right of the screen to the left, opposite of what I saw this morning at 3.30..

Any thoughts, esp. after watching the credit lines, let us know.
 
I have watched the credits, and I haven't seen any mention of railroads. In fact, the credits don't mention who wrote the theme song. The color scheme of the locomotives is the "Daylight" scheme I have come to associate with SP--Shasta Daylight, Coast Daylight, etc., the SP portion of the City of San Francisco (the train that was stranded during the winter of 1952 in the high Sierras had PAs painted in the same "Daylight" scheme as the E7s in "Superman.") I am also familiar with the "Black-Widow" scheme and the more recent schemes.

Incidentally, I am talking about the "Superman" TV series from the 1950s starring George Reeves. There were no Superliners back then, although Santa Fe did come out with their hi-level cars for "El Capitan." That was a Santa Fe train, not SP.

The movie version with Christopher Reeve featured scenes of trains--in part in hommage to Superman's relationship with trains (often having to save them). There is one Amtrak train shown, which has hi-levels and a former-NP dome car. How do I know it is former NP? Because I (you) can see the NP monad on the heat-grating under the front window. Anyway, this is toward the end of the movie when Superman stretches himself across the chasm, using his own body as a rail for the train to pass over safely.

Also, the Coast Starlight (Daylight) passes through Santa Susanna Pass out of LA, before it reaches the ocean, and that area--though mountainous--is quite desert-like. This area has often been used as setttings for westerns.
 
I do know that there were no superliners back then, nor any Amtrak.I'm a born-in-1944 kid. I think the person who mentioned superliners was just joking.I am familiar with the hi level Santa Fe cars, and realize this has nothing to do with the train we are talking about.But I did get to ride the Santa Fe hi-levels and am so glad Amtrak has copied that similar pattern. It has served us well.

You may well be right about the loco- being more typical of the Daylight type---as I said, I am not a loco expert....but I still think it was the Sunset, even without its usual locomotive, because of the heavy use of stainless steel and the pure desert scenery.

.
 
In the first movie, when Superman is a teenager, there's a scene where he's racing a Santa Fe single-level passenger train with warbonet (red, yellow, and silver) EMDs on the front. This is the scene where the young Lois Lane is on the train with her parents.

I missed the Amtrak train towards the end. I'm going to have watch that scene again sometime.
 
Steve, I just now re-read one of your earlier posts and realize you already said the train had a red stripe on its otherwise silver body.I think that cinches it---it must be the Sunset, regardless of locomotive.
 
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