Thursday, May 18, 2006

Shasta 'Daylight'


When I was about seven or eight I used to see advertisments for Athearn 'PS-2' box car kits in our British magazine 'Model Railway News'. Much later in life I got to see PS-2 boxcars in the flesh (at various railroad museums!) and also what American freight trains looked like and I was very impressed.

So here's a 'marker' for items to appear soon on Western railroading and especially the 'Espee'. Here's a old photograph of the 'Shasta Daylight' in the 1950's passing the mountain of the same name, a place which has become very important to me over the years.

The two-tone orange and tuscan 'daylight' livery was agrguably the prettiest of the North American paint jobs although who could fail to love the ATSF 'warbonnet' colours. Both are just perfect for hot clear desert days.

Sadly the 'Shasta Daylight' vanished long ago but the Amtrak 'Coast Starlight' still uses this route in the middle of the night.

2 Comments:

At 10:32 PM, May 18, 2006, Blogger Mugo said...

It should be called the Shasta Dawn, because that is when you pass by Mt. Shasta on this train. A simply brilliant ride to Seattle and beyond.

 
At 4:21 PM, May 22, 2006, Blogger Eddie said...

Hello Iain!
That is a splendid picture of the 1950's vintage Shasta Daylight. I have always enjoyed America's streamliners of long ago. Unfortunately...I rode the worn out -Mechanically malfunctioning leftovers on the early 1970's Amtrak trains. Still...They were roomy and very stylish. Classics from a forgotten age of travel.

Thank You.
Eddie
http://eddiesrailroad.blogspot.com

 

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