Nostalgia & History > A Daylight in New Orleans

No, not THE Daylight but a Daylight paint scheme just the same.

Here we see Southern Pacific subsidiary Texas & New Orleans Alco PA-1 209 and its unidentified sister idling in Illinois Central's Union Station
having just arrived on SP's No. 6, The Argonaut,  the secondary accommodation, after The Sunset Limited, on SP's 
Los Angeles to New Orleans route. The fireman has done his job to insure the train indicator numbers have been removed after arriving at the
scheduled destination and Railway Express is busy unloading its head end business while passengers make their way past the
diesels to the  waiting room. The new N.O.U.P.T. will not open until 1954 so SP will continue using the IC station until then. Thanks 'ctillnc' for the correction! (see below).

The 209 dates from August 1949 and would be assimilated into SP's numbering scheme as 6064 in 1959??. I believe it moved west when SP
gathered all its Alco passenger units in California. Does anybody know when it was scrapped and where it last served?. It sure looked pretty
in this July 1952 picture by my dad, Bill Wherry.

Bet the subject line grabbed a few ; )

Charlie

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/15 14:43 by cewherry.

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What a wonderful image !  Thanks for posting.  Lots to see there.

Scrapped 8/01/63 at GE, according to "Diesels of the SP - Vol. 1" by Cortani, Lloyd, and Strapac.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

I'm confused. I thought SP used IC's Union Station at 1001 South Rampart.

ctillnc Wrote:
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> I'm confused. I thought SP used IC's Union Station
> at 1001 South Rampart.

Based on your comment and a brief search of Wikipedia, you are correct!. Union Station it was.
My confusion is based on the fact that our family departed that evening on an L&N train which
used Canal Street station. Thanks for the correction. I will amend the post.

Charlie

Charlie, This one is really evocative for me, as I was there several times in the late '40s/early '50s, and remember transferring to/from the L&N and IC there, but, strangely enough, not the MP or the Southern.....and my guess is that it had to do with pass restrictions.....i.e. some roads we rode fpr free, whereas others charged half fare to pass riders.  Also, I recall the covered walkway across Canal St, from the station to the ferry terminal.  It was always a real treat to board an air-conditioned train, thus escaping the oppressive heat in New Orleans.  Thanks for the memories.  AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

As far as SP Alco PA's are concerned, the Daylight scheme looked superior to the bloody nose scheme.

agentatascadero Wrote:
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>   Also, I recall the covered walkway
> across Canal St, from the station to the ferry
> terminal.  It was always a real treat to board an
> air-conditioned train, thus escaping the
> oppressive heat in New Orleans.  Thanks for the
> memories.  AA

Stanford was this taken from that walkway? I've got some B&W's that need to be scanned that shows interior of what appears
to be a ferry and may even have another view of said walkway.
Charlie

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cewherry Wrote:
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> agentatascadero Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >   Also, I recall the covered walkway
> > across Canal St, from the station to the ferry
> > terminal.  It was always a real treat to board
> an
> > air-conditioned train, thus escaping the
> > oppressive heat in New Orleans.  Thanks for
> the
> > memories.  AA
>
> Stanford was this taken from that walkway? I've
> got some B&W's that need to be scanned that
> shows interior of what appears
> to be a ferry and may even have another view
> of said walkway. Also whose tracks are in the foreground?
> Charlie

Charlie, It's hard to tell, but that could be it, if those tracks below are on or parallel to Canal St.  There's a photo of it in an old issue of Classic Trains, don't know which issue, taken from what appeared to be the sidewalk of Canal St.....from the L&N station to the ferry.  I have no idea of what was the layout of stations prior to construction of NOUPT, other than L&N being on Canal St.  Stanford

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

UP951West Wrote:
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> As far as SP Alco PA's are concerned, the Daylight
> scheme looked superior to the bloody nose scheme.

I totally agree.  That Daylight scheme looked far better.  And as far as the Alco PAs go, it's incredible how terrific that design is, still looks fantastic even though originally from the 1940s.

UP951West Wrote:
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> As far as SP Alco PA's are concerned, the Daylight
> scheme looked superior to the bloody nose scheme.

I agree, SP should in of repainted them back in 59!

Posted from Android

With the photo in 1952, the foreground is probably the early stages of construction for NOUPT which was just up the street from Union Station.