Nostalgia & History > Russia's Pres Khruvshev's SP Special 1959

Pic # one. Coming into Bayshore yard. [He was indignant] [ LA to Bayshore ]
Pic # two. Train empty heading to 3rd & Townsend to break up train.

FM



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/12 21:58 by fmaffei.

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He was probably indignant because he'd never seen a clean restroom before...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Nikita Khrushchev. So where can we find the full consist for this amazing train? Frank confirms that S•P Trainline has done a feature, but we don't have the issue number.)

I see a 1939 Parlor-Obs, a 12-bedroom "Cascade" sleeper, SP 3600 (the first SP Dome Lounge of 1954), SP 3002 and Second SP 3001 (1939 and 1937 straight Parlors), a triple-unit Coffee Shop-Diner, three more "Daylight" cars that looks to include high-windowed "Shasta"-type Chair Cars, an official car in Silver and Scarlet,more "Daylight" equipment including what appears to be another Dome Lounge by the glint and profile ... just a whole lotta SP magic of the era. And certainly not the second-string lineup of tired heavyweights this might have been on the same date. This was The Show, looks like. Turning it on.

According to SPH&TS Passenger Car Volume 5, page 336 (with a couple nice B&W pics, including a Steinheimer shot of the Premier in his trademark light-colored suit detraining from SP 3002) the train operated as Second 99 from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

I recall reading that the entourage and VIP guests were assigned to the First Class cars, and the press was well-accomodated forward. Great photos, Frank! Who has other views?

~ BZ

Not Russia; it was Union of Soviet Socialist Republic at that time (Soviet Union).

Here is the same train passing Redwood Junction about 30 minutes earlier.

Ed

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Cool. Thanks for posting!

So that makes (counting from the rear) three "Shasta"-style Chair Cars ahead of the triple-unit. That silver car is actually a "Sunset Limited" Audubon Diner, the car in front of that is a Timberline Tavern originally from the "Shasta Daylight", there's another Sacramento-built Dome Lounge (a 1955 'production edition') and yet another "Shasta"-style Chair Car. And based on Frank's long shots, at least two more cars -- one Daylight and one silver -- ahead of that. If not more.

This train outshined the same day's "Daylight" by sheer doubling of first class amenities, dining spaces, and lounge venues -- not to mention the sleeper for first class dayroom use. Wow.

My, my, to ride this train today. Actually, a fair number of these cars or car types survive in 2012 -- many Shasta-style Chair Cars in private hands, a Parlor-Obs running this holiday at ORHF in Portland, a 12-bedroom sleeper now with Iowa Pacific, the Audubon Diner at CSRM, most of the Dome Lounges, scattered from LA to Minnesota to Panama (though sadly not the first, SP 3600) -- albeit not with the original SP appearances in all cases. Even a couple of SP triple-unit cars survive, though none of the Coffee Shop-Diners would make it. Still, a pretty good survival rate of car types, all things considered and fifty-three years later.

Guess SP really wanted to show the world (and the Soviet leader) what America was made of. Ironic that this train, with its soon-to-be-altered color schemes and amenities, would have been impossible for SP to field a mere five or six years later.

But for this day, what a special this was!

~ BZ

Awesome looking trainset for ol Nikita Sergeyevich, and its good that SP put their best foot forward.

I'd have been interested to hear what some of his entourage thought of the accommodations. Were they amazed at what was available to average American citizens? Did they think that we were lying to them and were giving them the best of our Bourgeoisie lifestyle, and thus dismiss it? What did they think of as they "saw America through its backyards," seeing the rich and poor as well as the industrial might of the United States?

-Eric

Hey Notch--
That train is HUGE.. Wonder how many cars it was ? Henry Luna of PLA told me that when running "Excursions" the SP had a twenty-two car limit. The "Hangtown Express" to Placerville in 1961 was twenty-two cars. I wonder how many this SPECIAL was. It would be great to have a listing of the entire consist !!

KRK

On the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco, the SPECIAL train stopped in San Luis Obispo and was greeted by some 2500 members of the public. The Premier got off the train and mingled with the Public for about four minutes. Here are some photos and the story of that historic moment :

Premier Khruschchev Mixes With Friendly Crowd at Depot
Visit Takes Police By Surprise

A vastly curious and well behaved San Luis Obispo gazed in wonder, in awe and in great excitement at the premier of Russia yesterday.
Those who actually saw Nikita Khrushchev when he stepped from his special train at 1:15 p.m. number in the hundreds, although the crowd gathered at the depot was estimated at about 2,500.
His approach was signalled by the whirring overhead of several flights of big helicopters, bearing the U.S. Army insignia. Some flew ahead of the Khruschev train, while others hovered in a protective pattern.

Under Guard
All tracks in the Southern Pacific depot area were heavily guarded by the San Luis Obispo police department, and the sheriff’s office, special railroad officers and by state department security officers.
The crowd started arriving early at the depot, swarming about the barriers police had erected to hold spectators about 20 feet from the track over which the train would pass.
“Everyone was friendly and no hostility was shown,” the chief of police, William Schofield, commented today.
He said the crowd was “typically American” in ferver and enthusiasm such as shown at a football game or a bargain sale.
Authorities were informed before the arrival of the Khrushchev special that the premier would step from his train, but they were told to concentrate attention on the last two coaches.

Change in Plans
The train was already pulling into the station when they were told of a switch in plans, and asked to concentrate security on the sixth coach.
This lead to a breakneck dash for the heavy covey of officers already assembled at the earlier appointed place.
As the train came to a halt, scores of newsmen aboard dashed from the steps and toward the area where Khrushchev was going to take his brief four minute stroll.
When the smiling premier alighted from his coach, the crowd surged forward across the barriers in good natured determination to get near the Russian visitor, an to see him closely.
Police were taxed but seemed swayed by the courteous attitude shown by the pressing throngs, and the commendable deportment.

One woman lost her shoe in the crush of spectators, and looked real amazed when it was picked up and returned to her by none other than Nikita Khrushchev.
Khrushchev sauntered slowly down the platform, shaking hands with several people who pressed closely enough to him despite the burly Russian guards and the state department forces surrounding him.
Among those to feel the Khrushchev handclasp was the county recorder, Jack Brown.
The Russian premier even picked up one little tot, but quickly turned him over to a policeman when the youngster became frightened and sobbed.
In returning to the train, Khruschev waved a farewell as newsmen scampered to get back aboard as a loud speaker warned them of immediate departure.
The crowd quickly dispersed as the special section of the Daylight pulled out slowly heading for San Francisco.
The name of San Luis Obispo appeared prominently in news throughout the world this morning, all reflecting on the pleasant nature of the brief stop and the friendly attitude of the reception in this city.
A few pickets strolled along the station platform urging disarmament and peace in the posters they displayed. Hundreds of cars lined the S-P tracks throughout San Luis Obispo County, with heavy concentration at Pismo Beach, Oceano and Paso Robles.
Again only good-natured waving of hands at the passing train greeted the premier’s eyes.
When the train skirted the Cal Poly campus here many students lined the tracks to observe the memorable sight.




Photos and story courtesy of the San Luis Obispo "Tribune" ...

KRK

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sou2601 Wrote:
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> Awesome looking trainset for ol Nikita
> Sergeyevich, and its good that SP put their best
> foot forward.
>
> I'd have been interested to hear what some of his
> entourage thought of the accommodations. Were
> they amazed at what was available to average
> American citizens? Did they think that we were
> lying to them and were giving them the best of our
> Bourgeoisie lifestyle, and thus dismiss it? What
> did they think of as they "saw America through its
> backyards," seeing the rich and poor as well as
> the industrial might of the United States?
>
> -Eric

SP put its best foot forward, much to its credit. Other Californians did not. In his excellent biography, "Khruhschev: The Man and His Era", historian William Taubman records that no one from the Los Angeles city administration showed up at LAUPT to bid him goodbye from the city, something of a diplomatic faux pas, particularly after LA mayor Norris Poulson had insulted Khruhschev quite directly at a banquet the day before. Taubman does not record the reactions of Khruhschev or his party to the SP's train or hospitality, but does note that the powers that be, led by United Nations Ambassdor Henry Cabot Lodge, had decided to operate the train as if it were an operation for a U.S. presidential candidate. Stops were made at Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, where Nikita Sergeyevich "kissed babies, bowed to ladies, pinned hammer and sickle pins on men, and beamed as large crowds applauded him." Said the Premier, ever to the core both the sometimes coarse Russian peasant that he was, and the Communist ideologue as well: "The plain people of America like me. It's just those bastards around Eisenhower that don't." Upon arrival there, San Franciscans were more welcoming and diplomatic than the Angelenos had been, although there were some very blunt exchanges with labor leaders whom Khruhschev regarded as being weak on the class struggle of workers.

Taubman's book portrays Khruhschev as a complex man. At heart a peasant who had risen to the heights of power and survived Stalin's purges, he was a wily mix of peasant street smarts, canny political operator (especially within the Party apparatus), opportunist, and deeply committed Communist ideologue. He could be by turns both charming and polite, and unbelievably coarse and rude. Taubman's recording of his entire American trip frequently shows a bluntness, indeed rudeness, both on his part and that of many of his American hosts which is almost shocking -- how quickly we have forgotten the incredible tensions of the Cold War era. He yearned for recognition of the USSR as a great and prestigious power, yet was often deeply insecure both himself as a person, and for his nation. A fascinating, complex and yes, dangerous, man.

It must have been quite a trip up the coast on the train that day. There probably never has been a trip like it in American railroad history, and there probably never will be another. On that day, the Southern Pacific truly was the stage for world history.

MC
Columbia, Missouri



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/12 07:06 by ironmtn.

Here is the consist, as noted in the outstanding Dennis Ryan/Joe Shine book "SP Passenger Trains, Vol 2 - Day Trains of the Coast Route":

E9A 6049
E7B 5902
E7B 5916
E9A 6048
Shasta coach 2356
Shasta coach 2352
Shasta coach 2354
Shasta coach 2351
Dome lounge 3606
Timberline Tavern 10316
Sunset POT Coffee Shop 10410
Shasta coach 2389
Shasta coach 2353
Shasta coach 2355
Triple Unit diner 10265/66/67
12 bedroom 9401
Parlor 3001
Dome lounge 3605
Parlor 3002
Parlor obs 2954

My great grandpa was actually a chef on this train and he took one of the menus. It is twice the size, one half in Russian and the other half in English.
Ill try to get a picture of it!

sou2601 Wrote:
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> I'd have been interested to hear what some of his
> entourage thought of the accommodations. Were
> they amazed at what was available to average
> American citizens? Did they think that we were
> lying to them and were giving them the best of our
> Bourgeoisie lifestyle, and thus dismiss it? What
> did they think of as they "saw America through its
> backyards," seeing the rich and poor as well as
> the industrial might of the United States?
>
> -Eric


Despite the very tense relationship between the U.S. and the USSR at this time, the White House wanted Mr. Khruschev to see the most beautiful and prosperous American state at ground level. Even the boorish, arrogant Soviet Premier could not avoid observing the striking contrast between his barren, impoverished homeland and the Land of Plenty.

Bob

SCUfoamer Wrote:
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> My great grandpa was actually a chef on this train
> and he took one of the menus. It is twice the
> size, one half in Russian and the other half in
> English.
> Ill try to get a picture of it!

Who was he : SP Master Chef Paul xxx (forgot last name) ??

All the items on the special menu were Southern Pacific standard Bill of Fare, except for the addition of CAVIAR...

KRK

I'll have to help you with the resolution settings on that new scanner...

Love to see that menu!

Thanks to KRK for the great story from SLO; ironmtn for the fine insight into the man, and topfuel for the consist. (I have to fill that hole in the shelf with the Ryan/Shine Volume Two. The very enjoyable Volume One has been a favorite.)

Some oddities in the consist against the pics. It throws me into full CSI:TO mode, because I just loves foto forensics.

The rearmost Dome Lounge: In Frank Maffei's shots, it's a little hard to be sure, but I called that car as the prototype D-L, SP 3600. The windows look lower than the Shasta car ahead; there's a glint above the second window from the left, which is where the dome ended on that car; and it's operating bar forward, which is how this and only this car was set up to run. True, the Shasta Dome Lounges, SP 3605 and 3606, were bi-directional with their booth-style upper seating, but it was more normal to operate them with bar trailing. Again, the consist should be the final arbiter, but there are other issues...

The 12-bedroom car: the consist places that car as fifth from the rear, but Frank's photos clearly show it second from the end. Did the consist change? Was it made up in SF, recorded, then deadheaded to LA and then changed there?

The Pride of Texas Coffee Shop: this is where the consist list should rule, again -- but in AuburnEd's photo the middle kitchen door seems to be amidships, and that would signify a Diner, and not a Coffee Shop with a shorter kitchen area. Also, it's really hard to tell in KRK's SLO photo #2, but that car is visible just to the left of the nearest pole, and I count six windows in the dining section, right for a Diner and one short for a Coffee Shop. But I'll happily defer to the consist and the angle of Ed's photo until a clearer image ends up in front of my forensic big nose.

The Parlor-Obs determiner for SP 2954 would be the light cluster box on the rear roof, but the two top shots cut it off just short! The other determiner between the 1939 and 1941 cars in this era would have been the number and style of radio antenna posts, but again, the resolution of the top photo makes this a tough call. I'm happy to correct my guess to a 1941 car, but I'd rather see a better shot.

Finally, if you look at the Shasta Chair Car at frame right of that same #2 SLO photo in KRK's post, you can see that the car has full skirts. Those only appeared on the 1949 aluminum-bodied Shasta cars, whereas the 1954 steel-bodied versions for Coast and Shasta Daylights were delivered with no center skirts. The consist would have this car by position be SP 2355, which was a 1954 skirtless car; it should be SP 2389, the only 1949 skirted car listed in the consist.

So... a very inconsistent consist! The count, at sixteen cars and four E's, is impressive, and most of the consist list seems unimpeachable. But why the variations? Was the train made up in SF and deadheaded to LA, or did it operate with two different consists in each direction?

Cool thread, cool shots, cool accounts of a cool operation!

Forensically and microscopically yours,

~ BZ

dmaffei Wrote:
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> I'll have to help you with the resolution settings
> on that new scanner...

Ooh, Dave! You could help end the mist-ter-ree!!

~ BZ

The menu is in Ryan/Shine's SP day trains Part 2

Word at the time was that Ol' Nikita was P****d off when they pulled the shades down on the cars while traveling through Vandenberg AFB, at that time a SAC base.

Dave

Stein's photo of Khruvshev detraining at Bayshore shows him coming out of the parlor car vestibule, but there was two and it was a tight crop, so I can't say. I say the consist is correct as listed and Frank's photos maybe a dry run of the actual event a couple days before?. For an event like this, just under Presidential, I would think they would test drive the train placement, etc. Sorry, the quality isn't too good to figure out Frank's photos and why the end of the train was shuffled.

Another oddity. Why pull the train back out of Visitation end. IIRC, you can keep going up that track out the Bayshore end and go to the Coach yard.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/12 14:06 by WAF.