Nostalgia & History > When The Super Chief Visited Beverly Hills

On January 13, 1951, and for one day only, four streamlined cars of Santa Fe Railway's newly-equipped "Super Chief" went on public display in Beverly Hills, CA. Here we see Pleasure Dome 501. Some notes taken by a photographer also mention car numbers 601 and 496. 601 was a dining car and I assume 496 was a certain type of sleeping car that would be used on the train as part of the new equipment purchase. Other photos show what looks like a baggage car and a steam generating unit.

Since the "Super Chief" was known as "the train of the stars" and was noted for carrying VIP's from Hollywood or other industries, Santa Fe apparently had a desire to display the equipment in close proximity of many of the train's important and famous clientele. Since Santa Fe did not have any trackage near Beverly Hills, the railroad had to negotiate with the Pacific Electric Railway, which did have some freight-only branch lines that served Beverly Hills and other areas of west Los Angeles. PE agreed to display the equipment on their railroad, and, as we see here, the cars were spotted along South Santa Monica Blvd, spliced between N. Canon Drive and N. Crescent Dr.

The area has changed drastically since 1951. The PE is long gone, and all of the branch lines in west Los Angeles are as well, with the exception of the Santa Monica "airline". Metro's Expo Line now runs along much of the right-of-way of that line.

In these two photographs, we are fortunate that two landmark buildings have survived. In 1951, the large building with the red tile roof was the Beverly Hills post office and has since been converted to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The large distinctive tower in the background is part of the Beverly Hills City Hall, which has remained in that capacity over the years.

The 1951 photo is part of the Bob Finan collection, although I do not know who the photographer was. It may have been a Company photographer for Santa Fe Railway, as this photo is also part of the Santa Fe archives housed in Topeka, KS.

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CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:

> 601 was a dining car and I assume 496 was a certain type of
> sleeping car that would be used on the train as
> part of the new equipment purchase.

Santa Fe sleepers were named, and I can't find a streamlined passenger car bearing the number 496.  According to the Kansas State Historical Society site, the car farthest to the right in the above photo is dorm-lounge 1341:

https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/50493

Here's the view from the other end showing the steam generator car (converted from a steam locomotive tender) and baggage car: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DvzpvaRU8AUB_Eb.jpg

You posted some additional photos of the equipment enroute behind SP SW1 1011 (leased to PE) in this old thread: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18,2969302,4776776#4776776

601 became Amtrak 8070 and is currenty in Portola.

More than the area has changed drastically.
Look at all those people, dressed in their "Sunday Best", waiting in
an orderly line.  Kids on bicycles.  Must have been a nice place to live.......

Amazing they could negotiate some of the curvature on the PE tracks.

Englewood Wrote:
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> More than the area has changed drastically.
> Look at all those people, dressed in their "Sunday
> Best", waiting in
> an orderly line.  Kids on bicycles.  Must have
> been a nice place to live.......

Still is a nice place! B

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
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> The 1951 photo is part of the Bob Finan
> collection, although I do not know who the
> photographer was. It may have been a Company
> photographer for Santa Fe Railway, as this photo
> is also part of the Santa Fe archives housed in
> Topeka, KS.

Don't know if Bob had a official connection with Santa Fe but do know that he has posted here
for many years, as recently as this past May under his handle "ATSF100WEST".
Sure hope he is still with us.

Charlie

Cool picture, always remember that the Continental Bakery spur and Beverly Hills never seemed to go
together but that curve down by Sawtelle would have been real interesting to see a set of appropriate
PAs negotiate. I guess the shot was after the Santa Monica Blvd line got truncated at Sawtellle.

Out

callum_out Wrote:
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> Cool picture, always remember that the Continental
> Bakery spur and Beverly Hills never seemed to go
> together but that curve down by Sawtelle would
> have been real interesting to see a set of
> appropriate
> PAs negotiate. I guess the shot was after the
> Santa Monica Blvd line got truncated at
> Sawtellle.

I'd like to know where the Continental spur actually was. Even though I did work the job that switched
the bakery I'm at a loss to be able to pinpoint its location. I do read that PE electric operation continued 
along Santa Monica Blvd. as late as 1957 by order of a "city ordinance" between West Hollywood
yard and Seward St. and wonder if Continental was somewhere that area?

As to the PA's, I do have photos (one posted on TO's) that show a set at PE's University siding in October 1946 but
I don't know if they or any others ventured beyond that point. Somehow I doubt they did but at least some of their
cars made the trek as evidenced by the photos Evan provided a link to.

Charlie

 

Charlie, that section lasted in service into the mid-seventies. As I remember the spur extended South from the ex-PE line a bit
West of what is now Century City. I believe the station name might have been Lewis. Been a while!

Out

cewherry Wrote:
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> As to the PA's, I do have photos (one posted on TO's) that show a set at PE's University siding in October 1946 but I don't know if they or any others ventured beyond that point. Somehow I doubt they did but at least some of their cars made the trek as evidenced by the photos Evan provided a link to.

I don't think the PAs ever ventured west of USC.  For this display in Beverly Hills, a standard SW switcher belonging to PE moved the cars.  I'm not sure what the background was on the steam generating unit.  It looked something like that ex-GN one that WP used for a while on the California Zephyr.    



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/19 14:01 by CA_Sou_MA_Agent.

callum_out Wrote:
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> Charlie, that section lasted in service into the
> mid-seventies. As I remember the spur extended
> South from the ex-PE line a bit
> West of what is now Century City. I believe the
> station name might have been Lewis. Been a while!

Found Lewis !  On one of Ray Younghans maps in an Interurbans Special.

His map also shows 4 unremarked spurs between Beverly Hills and Lewis.
I'm guessing that one of those spurs was Continental.

A 1975 SP employee timetable shows but 0.3 miles between Beverly Hills and "End of Branch".
Googling Lewis shows nothing but Lewis is  shown; between Doheny Dr. and the station at
Beverly Hills in a really old PE guide to stops and cross streets; so old that O.A. Smith, future
president of PE  is shown as "Passenger Traffic Manager". Pretty old.

As to my wondering about late electric operation on the track between West Hollywood and Seward St: No.
Continental Baking would have been located west of West Hollywood and thus not bound by the ordinance.

Thanks for the suggestion, Rich!

Charlie

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:

> I'm not sure what the background was on the steam
> generating unit.  It looked something like that
> ex-GN one that WP used for a while on the
> California Zephyr.    

In 1943, Santa Fe took five tenders that had previously accompanied 1337-class 4-6-2's and converted them into steam generator cars, with two Vapor Clarkson CFK 4225 sets inside along with fuel and water tanks.  They were given a blue and yellow paint job to match the freight F-units they were likely to be trailing, and were initially numbered 9000-9004.  They were renumbered 1-5 in 1967, and were retired by the end of 1968.  Photos of the cars in service are hard to come by, but you can see one behind the ABBA set of freight F7's in the photo in this old thread:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3886770,3887262#3887262

A Jack Whitmeyer roster shot of car 9004 on a troop train at San Bernardino, CA in 1946 is here: http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/sfr31.jpg
A roster shot of car 4 in 1967 at Dallas, TX in on Don Ross' site: http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0108/sf4.jpg
More prototype and model photos can be found here: http://www.thecoachyard.com/Pages/AllImages.lasso?RecId=248

cewherry Wrote:
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> callum_out Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------

>
> I'd like to know where the Continental spur
> actually was. Even though I did work the job that
> switched
> the bakery I'm at a loss to be able to pinpoint
> its location. I do read that PE electric operation
> continued 
> along Santa Monica Blvd. as late as 1957 by order
> of a "city ordinance" between West Hollywood
> yard and Seward St. and wonder if Continental was
> somewhere that area?

Charlie,
The bakery spur was South of Santa Monica Blvd between Robertson and Rodeo.  Robertson was the first street East of where the private ROW ended, and the Eastbound half of Santa Monica Blvd crossed the tracks.  As  I remember, there are two more North-South streets East of Rodeo before the bakery, but I just can't remember their names...
G

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> In 1943, Santa Fe took five tenders that had previously accompanied 1337-class 4-6-2's and converted them into steam generator cars, with two Vapor Clarkson CFK 4225 sets inside along with fuel and water tanks.  They were given a blue and yellow paint job to match the freight F-units they were likely to be trailing, and were initially numbered 9000-9004.  They were renumbered 1-5 in 1967, and were retired by the end of 1968. Photos of the cars in service are hard to come by,

I came across this photo of the equipment on spot in Beverly Hills.  Sorry the picture is so small, but it appears to show what you've described.  

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CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:

> I came across this photo of the equipment on spot
> in Beverly Hills.  Sorry the picture is so small,
> but it appears to show what you've described.  

Larger version: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DvzpvaRU8AUB_Eb.jpg

Yes, that is one of the 9000-class blue and yellow steam generator cars Santa Fe rebuilt from 1337-class steam locomotive tenders in 1943.

ExSPCondr Wrote:

> Charlie,
> The bakery spur was South of Santa Monica Blvd
> between Robertson and Rodeo.  Robertson was the
> first street East of where the private ROW ended,
> and the Eastbound half of Santa Monica Blvd
> crossed the tracks.  As  I remember, there are
> two more North-South streets East of Rodeo before
> the bakery, but I just can't remember their
> names...
> 
Here's the most definitive map I've yet seen; a TOPO from 1950 that, when enlarged shows 3 of the 4 spurs
shown on the Ray Younghans map published by Interurbans. The spurs were east of the PE depot, beyond
City Hall, toward West Hollywood. 
The depot address was 499 N. Canon Dr and sat between Beverly Dr. and Canon Dr. in Beverly Hills.

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=fe969c69b720d8af9bec61527aa2bdd5

Still no reference to anything named Lewis but this TOPO provides a treasure of railroad related information.

Charlie

Charlie, the SPV map shows Lewis as East of the PE Beverly Hills station site and West of Sherman where
the PE line from Vineyard joined the Santa Monica Blvd line. It was named for some reason and my thought
was that it was the spur point.

Out

First image is wrong relative to what we're discussing but the second one looks to be right on. Spur had an East facing
switch and was close to 90 degrees from Santa Monica Blvd. East side of the spur was an open area.

Out

callum_out Wrote:
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> First image is wrong relative to what we're
> discussing but the second one looks to be right
> on. Spur had an East facing
> switch and was close to 90 degrees from Santa
> Monica Blvd. East side of the spur was an open
> area.
>
The first map adjoins the second, to the west and I agree the second shows our area of interest.

Help me out here Rich; what is a 'SPV' map and have I seen one in this discussion?
I've looked at several topographic maps, surely not all, but so far I fail to find Lewis; except on the Younghans map
and in the PE points of interest guide from O.A. Smith's day.

Thanks to all.

Charlie