Southern Pacific Freight Train Symbol History
by John Carr
Copyright 2001
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Many changes have taken place on the SP over the last 20
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 and most notably the merger with the
D&RGW. All have had some impact on
the schedules and symbols used by SP 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 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. D&RGW Coal Train Symbols SP Picture Gallery Series 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
- Cascade Route Pictures
- Coast Route Pictures
- Sunset Route Pictures
- D&RGW Picture Index
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