Southern Pacific Freight Train Symbol History
by John Carr
Copyright 2001
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Many changes have taken place on the Southern Pacific over its last 30
years. These changes include the opening of the
Palmdale Colton Cutoff in July 1967, opening of West Colton Yard
at Bloomington in July 1973, and acquisition of the Rock Island
trackage into Kansas City from Tucumcari in June 1980. Changes have also
been felt in the housing market directly affecting lumber
traffic out of Oregon. Some changes have been in
relationships with other railroads, such as the Union
Pacific on the Overland Route, the Santa Fe
in the failed merger attempt in 1986 and most notably the merger with the
D&RGW in August 1988. When the Western Pacific merged with the
Union Pacific, the Rio Grande became the SP's new interchange partner.
The problem with the Rio Grande was its slogan was true. It ran through the
Rockies not around them. Soldier Summit in Utah had to be crossed no matter
which way traffic was routed in Colorado. There were restrictions on how
many trains could use the Moffatt Tunnel. The alternative was Tennessee Pass
with its difficult three percent grade. Also the distance between Kansas City and
Ogden was longer, so the two railroads were at a double disadvantage to the Union Pacific. The bright spot for the SP was its double stack traffic on the Sunset Route. However, it too faced serious restrictions as most of it was single
track. That is why the SP began pulling track off Donner Pass in 1994 and
adding double track to the Sunset Route. The SP was always an innovator embracing
containers over conventional trailers in the early 1980s and opening the
ICTF near the Long Beach Harbor in 1987. All have had an impact on
the schedules and symbols used by Southern Pacific for its trains.
Click on any small picture in this report to see a larger picture and
get more information about the train and the location. The left browse button at the bottom of the
enlarged picture
page will take you to the SP Symbol History page for that
train symbol. The right browse button will take you to the
next picture in geographical sequence. I have been working on the Southern Pacific train symbol history for many
years. This is more of a reference manual than a traditional
history book about the railroad. Each symbol is
listed with a brief history and description
of its primary functions and work activities. Following the
description is a list of condensed schedules. This gives the train
symbol's origin, destination, departure and arrival times. Near the
end of each line will be a number to indicate the number of
days it took for its schedule. For example, if the train
departed its origin on Monday and arrived at its
destination on Wednesday, then the number would be
a two to indicate the arrival two days after it departed. If
the train leaves its origin and arrives at its destination
on the same day, then no number is given. The last pair of
numbers indicate the year of the schedule from my reference
material. If the schedule remained the same for several time
periods then the beginning and ending years are given with a
dash between. If the schedule remained the same but the
symbol was changed, the schedule for both symbols are listed
to show the change in symbol. There are several sections to this
report. Sections cover the design of the train symbol
system (rules), the origin and destination codes, unit
trains, and two indices. The Old Symbol Index is a cross
reference from older symbols to the updated symbol. Old Symbol Index - 524 symbols are cross referenced D&RGW Coal Train Symbols Southern Pacific Picture Gallery Series
D&RGW Picture Index
There are 16 pages of scheduled train
symbols. All symbols are listed in alphabetical order by origin code. Use
the following link bar to access the various
pages.
- System Wide Pictures
- Black Butte Sub Dunsmuir and Mount Shasta, CA
area
- Cascade Sub Klamath Falls north and west to Albany, OR
- Modoc Route Klamath Falls to Sage Hen, CA
- Siskiyou Line
- Altamont and Donner Passes
- Overland Route across Nevada with the WP
- San Joaquin Valley Sacramento to Bakersfield, CA
- Tehachapi Mountains Bakersfield to Mojave with the Santa Fe
- Mojave Sub Mojave to Saugus, CA
- Coast Route Paso Robles to Chatsworth, CA
- Sunset Route Los Angeles to Yuma
- Sunset Route Arizona and New Mexico
- Golden State Route in New Mexico
- Dallas to Flatonia and south Texas
- Sunset Route El Paso, TX to Lafayette, LA
- Utah
- Moffat Tunnel Route
- Tennessee Pass Route
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