Nostalgia & History > 1963 SP Sunset question

In 1963 my future wife, who was only 5 at the time, and her parents took a round trip on the SP Sunset from Louisiana to Los Angeles. My question is whether anyone would have records of the consist (mainly the power) from train 2 East of El Paso on  5/5/63? The story is that my wife was a child prodigy in piano back then and made the trip to play for various people in Hollywood including Lawrence Welk. She also played at the Hollywood Palladium and met many other celebrities while there like, Lucy and Desi, Jimmy Durante, Walt Disney and had fellow Louisianan Gene Austin (who sang 'My Blue Heaven') as her guide. Her dad kept notes and memorabilia in a few scrapbooks that we still have including pic 1 with the dates and times of the Sunset departures and arrivals. What makes the return trip on train 2 unique is that the Sunset made a special stop in Sulphur just for her and her folks to get off, for a parade the town had put together in her honor. Her dad told me that, at first, the train wasn't going to stop in Sulphur and he was told they would have to get off at the regular stop in Lake Charles. So, when they got to El Paso he called ahead to tell them the situation and figured that was that. At some point later the, conductor approached him and said, "Excuse me sir, but, we will be stopping in Sulphur after all". We don't know who exactly got involved to make that happen but, being Louisiana in 1963, I'm fairly sure there was a politician in there somewhere! Governor McKeithen signed one of her pianos and made her an "honorary colonel" on his staff so, it could have been him. Most of the pictures we have from that day don't have the train in them but, I've included those that do. The last picture is the closet consist I could find from the excellent book, 'The Sunset Limited by Jarel, Ryan, & Signor'. Previous posts on TO mentioned the Los Angeles pool power at this time was F7's and FP7's and I believe all the PA's were already out West and E units seemed to be used mostly before and then again after 1963. Any help would be appreciated!
 
Thanks,
Joe
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/21 16:49 by SPJoe.

---

---

---

.

---

---

---

Great story!  Great consist on the Sunset Ltd.  

I really enjoyed this.  A wonderful story with great photos.  Thanks

Thanks for the comments. The old SP Sulphur Depot in pic 3 was moved twice and preserved as a museum but, the last two hurricanes that hit that area last year were too much for it and it was torn down.

Joe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/21 16:50 by SPJoe.

---

The gentleman in photo #1, from the rear, looks a lot like Ike.

It appears your future wife was travelling by coach, judging by the images.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

What a great story and pictures Joe !
Gary

agentatascadero Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The gentleman in photo #1, from the rear, looks a
> lot like Ike.
>
> It appears your future wife was travelling by
> coach, judging by the images.
>
> AA

She said that's correct ... coach.

Joe

gcm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a great story and pictures Joe !
> Gary

Thanks Gary. 

Joe

That was quite a train.

Bob

Unless I'm missing something it only has 18 cars listed in the consist from the refferenced book. Where did the other 2 cars go? Makes no sense to count the B units as cars which would put it at 21. What am I missng/not seeing?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/21 22:59 by YoungOldHead.

YoungOldHead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Unless I'm missing something it only has 18 cars
> listed in the consist from the refferenced book.
> Where did the other 2 cars go? Makes no sense to
> count the B units as cars which would put it at
> 21. What am I missng/not seeing?

Looks like cars 2441-2442 are articulated chair cars so they each count as two cars.
 
Joe

 

robj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That was quite a train.
>
> Bob

Yes sir!
Joe