West Coast (passenger train)
Encyclopedia
The West Coast was a named train of the Southern Pacific Railroad
from Los Angeles
to Portland
via the San Joaquin Valley
. It had through car service to Seattle via the Great Northern Railway. Unlike the West Coast, Amtrak's Coast Starlight
takes the Coast Line through San Luis Obispo and Oakland; no Southern Pacific passenger train was ever scheduled Los Angeles to Portland via Oakland.
The first through train from Los Angeles to Portland started in 1924 and was named West Coast in 1927, by which time it was on the Cascade Line via Klamath Falls. In California it sometimes ran on the West Valley via Orland and Davis and sometimes on the East Valley via Marysville and Roseville; it always ran via Merced. It was always an overnight train between Sacramento and Los Angeles; in 1932-36 it was combined with the Owl south of Fresno.
The train was discontinued north of Sacramento in 1949 and south of Sacramento in 1960.
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
via the San Joaquin Valley
San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...
. It had through car service to Seattle via the Great Northern Railway. Unlike the West Coast, Amtrak's Coast Starlight
Coast Starlight
The Coast Starlight is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States. It runs from King Street Station in Seattle, Washington, to Union Station in Los Angeles, California. The train's name was formed as a merging of two of Southern Pacific's train names, the Coast...
takes the Coast Line through San Luis Obispo and Oakland; no Southern Pacific passenger train was ever scheduled Los Angeles to Portland via Oakland.
The first through train from Los Angeles to Portland started in 1924 and was named West Coast in 1927, by which time it was on the Cascade Line via Klamath Falls. In California it sometimes ran on the West Valley via Orland and Davis and sometimes on the East Valley via Marysville and Roseville; it always ran via Merced. It was always an overnight train between Sacramento and Los Angeles; in 1932-36 it was combined with the Owl south of Fresno.
The train was discontinued north of Sacramento in 1949 and south of Sacramento in 1960.