Southern Pacific Lines

Coast Line Division 

“The Route of the Octopus”

 
 

General Information

Building a Video Library

  1. Building a video reference library.  What videos that are on a "must have" list.

  2. Here's a few book suggestions:



Specific S.P. Videos

1950’s Onward, S.P. Steam

    SUNDAY RIVER PRODUCTIONS


4449: Daylight on Tehachapi

    SUNDAY RIVER PRODUCTIONS  


4449: On the Freedom Trail

    SUNDAY RIVER PRODUCTIONS


A Last Look at SP's Golden State Route

    BIG E


Across Donner Summit

    PENTREX


Beaumont Hill

    PENTREX

  1. This was originally a Video Rails production, and is basically two DVD's in one. In the second portion, you are in the cab of SP 8305 as it snakes it's way out of West Colton Yard and over the pass. The bird's eye view out the window is pretty clear and quite entertaining. Timeframe here is approximately 1994.

  2. Jason Eminian


Beaumont Hill & Cajon Pass

    OM&C VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


Cascade Crossing: Southern Pacific in Oregon

    TRAINS


Chatsworth and Santa Susanna Blocks

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Clear Signal   (1950 Calif. tribute to S.P.)

    PENTREX


Coastliners: Part 1 - Los Angeles to Santa Barbara/Goleta

    VALHALLA VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


Daylight, Central CA  (Pentrex Special order code #SPSPEC )

    PENTREX


Daylight Express

    SKYFIRE VIDEO

    It’s  a mix of 1940s-1950s video and modern 4449 video.


Daylight: The Most Beautiful Train in the World

    RICHARD LUCKIN


  1. Narrated by Michael Gross. New, $24.95 + 5 postage

  2. RK Publishing

  3. 621 Cascade Ct.

  4. Golden, CO.  80403

  5. http://members.cox.net/hdrozd/lark.jpg


Daylighting The Padre Trail - Los Angeles to San Francisco 1939

    UNKNOWN PRODUCERS


The “Desert Princess” Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge

    A & R PRODUCTIONS


Diesel Power on the Southern Pacific, 1942-1985

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Double Stacks over Tehachapi

    PENTREX


Donner Pass Thunder

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Extreme SP

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Early Baldwin Diesels on the Southern Pacific

    PENTREX


Farewell Southern Pacific - Scenes from California

    ICON PRODUCTIONS


Gerald M. Best's California Limiteds - 1920's Steam Triumphant

    PENTREX


GS 4/6: As It Used To Be

    SUNDAY RIVER PRODUCTIONS


The Golden Age Of Southern Pacific Steam - Classic Collectors Series - Vol. 3

    VIDEO RAILS


Highball over Tehachapi

    HIGHBALL PRODUCTIONS


The Hill at Beaumont Hill

    ESSEX VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


Imperial Valley Sugar Beet Trains – The ending of an era

  1. VIDEO RAILS     (now part of PENTREX)

  2. P.O. Box 80001

  3. San Diego, CA. 92138


Last Run of a Cab Forward Over Donner Pass - SP 4274

  1. VIDEO RAILS     (now part of PENTREX)    

  2. P.O. Box 80001

  3. San Diego, CA. 92138


Mojave Desert

    MARK MURRAY


Out of Dunsmuir

    DF & ASSOCIATES


Out of Dunsmuir

    WESTERN RAILROAD VIDEOS


Railfanning Southern California in the 1950's – Historic Hot Spots

    PENTREX


Riding the Rails on America’s Most Beautiful Steam Engine

    SKYFIRE VIDEO

    4449 fan trip


San Jose Coast Daylight 1992

    OM&C VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


Scarlet and Gray Memories

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Snow On The Run - Winter on Donner Pass 1951-1952

    PENTREX


The Southern Pacific

    PK’S PROVIDEO SERVICES

    Trains from 1994 to 2000.


Southern Pacific: 1941, Classic Collectors Series - Vol. 2

  1. VIDEO RAILS     (now part of PENTREX)    

  2. P.O. Box 80001

  3. San Diego, CA. 92138


Southern Pacific: in the 1950’s

  1. C Vision Productions

  2.                                                                         http://www.cvptrains.com/index.php/online-store#!


  4. It has archival footage from a doctor who worked for both the SP and ATSF. Little Tehachapi, plenty of Bakersfield, and lots of pacing footage in the San Joaquin Valley.


Southern Pacific 1992 Update

    BIG E


Southern Pacific 2472

    SKYFIRE VIDEO

    A fan trip San Francisco to Tracy.


Southern Pacific By The Bay - A Thirty Year Look

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Southern Pacific Classic Steam Vol's 1 & 2.

    Herron Rail Video


  1. Volume 1 runs 56 minutes and covers much of California in the '40s-'50s, and the scenes shot on the San Francisco Peninsula and at the curve west of Third & Townsend, as well as on the Modoc Line (cab-aheads and joy-of-joys, an AC9 in extended sequences!) are absolutely wonderful.  The GS-2's, -3's and -4's, P-8s and MT 4-8-2s seen may not be in their dressiest or best condition as they ran out their last miles before retirement, but they still managed to put on some great performances. Forgive Mr. Herron's minor narrative slip of calling the Peninsula parade "commuter" trains;  these were locally known as "commutes."


  3. Volume 2 runs 53 minutes, is set in the and probes Tucson, AZ, back to San Francisco and the Peninsula, the Coast Line (some sweet Coast Daylight and Mail trains footage here), Niles canyon and the Southern San Joaquin Valley between Fresno and Bakersfield. There's even a wee bit taken south of the Tehachapi’s. The footage of a GS-4 racing at near top speed up and down the San Joaquin Valley on a latter day railfan excursion will have you glued to the screen. The Tucson sequences feature some fine images of SP-type 4-10-2s with their characteristic, lopsided 3-cylinder exhausts. Too, very useful

  4. consists of 40-foot freight cars and many strings of stock trains are shown. I couldn't help but note how freight cars in this era weathered to very dark appearance thanks to the steam power that pulled them; watch for the near-charcoal- black reefers, their original bright yellow or orange paint much disguised by road dirt.


  1. I just viewed the DVD's. Kevin's absolutely justified in his praise of these videos. Each contained scenes and sequences that I had never seen before (just when you think that you have every possible VHS or DVD of SP steam, thankfully someone comes along to

  2. prove you wonderfully incorrect!!) . While every view is "golden", there is some absolutely spectacular sequences of AC-9's on the Modoc Line including a sequences with the locos dropping off to take water. These are well worth the price of admission!!! !

  3. Eric Berman


Southern Pacific: The Coast Line  (1950’s), Classic Collectors Series - Vol. 5

  1. VIDEO RAILS     (now part of PENTREX)    

  2. P.O. Box 80001


Southern Pacific Daylight Time

    A & R PRODUCTIONS


Southern Pacific Double Feature - "ICTF - Los Angeles"  "The West Colton Yard"

    PENTREX


Southern Pacific Film Archives Vol. 1 - Daylights, Cab Forwards & Early Diesels

    PENTREX


Southern Pacific Film Archives Vol. 2 – Flangers, Speeders & Steam Rotary Snowplows

    PENTREX

  1. San Diego, CA. 92138


Southern Pacific - The Missing Years

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge

    SUNDAY RIVER PRODUCTIONS


Southern Pacific Overland Route

  1. Greg Scholl Video Productions:


Southern Pacific Pictorial

    GREG SCHOLL VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


Southern Pacific in SE Arizona

    HIGHBALL PRODUCTIONS


Southern Pacific Scrapbook

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS

  1. Pre-merger SP in Arizona and California. Main and branchline action with grades, helpers, manifest, oilcan, beet, “boxcar” and stack trains. See Gila and Lordsburg districts from the 80s and 90s with cabooses, lower quadrant semaphores and on-train footage. See Donner Pass, Cuesta and the Coastline, Beaumont Hill, Tehachapi, Stockton, Elvas Junction, Tucson, Santa Cruz branch, Ione branch, Lompoc (Whitehills) branch, and Stockton Junction with SP, Santa Fe and UP trains pounding all the crossing diamonds with in the days when it featured three railroads and an interlocking tower as well. This video has a parade of power. Grades, helpers, manifest freights, locals and much more. This video includes some really cool SDP45 pace shots, cab ride footage, and a lot of interesting camera angles.                            http://www.cspmovies.com/dvd/southern-pacific-scrapbook


  3. Featuring:

  4. Arizona                       •Lordsburg District

  5. •Coastline                   •Donner Line

  6. •Stockton                    •Great Branchline Action

  7. •Beet Trains                •Oil Can Trains

  8. •Santa Cruz Branch    •Ione Branch


Southern Pacific Shasta Division

    PENTREX

  1. San Diego, CA. 92138


  3. This one hour beauty highlights SP's Valley and Black Butte Districts of California. Most of the footage was shot in 1990, when SP's tunnel motors, SD45R's, and SD40R's ruled the western mountain scene. Manifest, lumber, and hot pig trains (most with helpers) make up the bulk of this action-packed video. Also witness some first generation Geeps and SD's filling in, as well as a healthy dose of kodachrome units adding color to many consists.


  5. The action starts in Redding and works its way north (eastbound) to Grass Lake. There's great coverage of Redding's famous trestle and several trains are shot in detail at Cantara Loop and around Mt. Shasta. Even catch a bay window caboose or two! Lots of detailed narration, a few basic maps, and crisp, clear video make this release a must for the modern SP fan. But of course the main attraction is SP's dusty SD's grinding up steep grades against California's beautiful scenery.

  6. Jason Eminian


Southern Pacific Steam since 1890

    SUNDAY RIVER PRODUCTIONS


Southern Pacific Steam in the 1950's

    MAIN LINE MOTION PICTURES


  1. The video consisted of about 32 minutes of adequate quality film footage. The footage was very interesting, especially from a modelers point of view. Lots of R.O.W. detail reference. Seeing Black Widow units, period rolling stock, AC's and other SP steam in action is a treat no matter what the situation or presentation. There is no narration, only piano background music. 


Southern Pacific Vintage Steam

  1. Greg Scholl Video Productions:

  2. http://www.mcmillanpublications.com/Cart/list.asp?ID=2696


Southern Pacific - When the Empire was Intact

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Southern Pacific’s Coast Daylight Route

    CANTENARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


Southern Pacific's Overland Route

   http://www.gregschollvide.com


Southern Pacific's San Joaquin Route

    CANTENARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS =


Southern Pacific's Shasta Route circa 1950, volume 1 and 2

    CANTENARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


SP I, II, III, IV

    SUNDAY RIVER PRODUCTIONS


SP 4449 "The Daylight"

    GREG SCHOLL VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


SP 4449 Washington Steam Fest

    GREG SCHOLL VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


SP Around Klamath Falls

    BIG E


S P - "Bay Area Commuters" "Small Engines" "Pacific’s to Mountains" "The Big Ones"

    UNKNOWN PRODUCERS


SP Coast Line

    UNKNOWN PRODUCERS

    (800) 350-3182


SP San Joaquin Route

    CANTENARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


SP San Joaquin Valley Mainline

    Pentrex

    This video spends some time showing trains shuffle around Bakersfield Yard. The time era is roughly 1992-1993.


SP Shasta Route

    ICON PRODUCTIONS


SP Steam

  1. Greg Scholl Video Productions:


SP Sunset Route - 1993

    BIG E


SP Vintage West

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


SP WHEN 1965-1975

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


SP's Cab Forward Collection

  1. PENTREX

  2. With comments by Bob Church and Stan Kistler


SP’s Central California Mainline

    PENTREX


SP's Coast Daylight

    CANTENARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


SP’s Geeps and Cadillacs – Vintage Workhouses

    PENTREX


Stacks & Semaphores

    HIGHBALL PRODUCTIONS


Sunset Salute

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


Tehachapi Loop: Unique Views

    MARK MURRAY


Tehachapi Part II: Southern Pacific

    WB VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


Tennessee Pass - From start to finish

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


The Coast Daylight

    CANTENARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


The Golden Age Of Southern Pacific Steam, Classic Collectors Series - Vol. 3 

  1. VIDEO RAILS     (now part of PENTREX)    

  2. P.O. Box 80001

  3. San Diego, CA. 92138


The Hill at Beaumont Hill

    ESSEX VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


The Northwestern Pacific Today

    PENTREX


The Stormy - SP's Lordsburg District

    PENTREX


The Road to New Orleans I - UP and SP

    BIG E


This Is My Railroad - Diesel Version (1952)

    PENTREX

  1. I was able to download both the steam version of this video from

  2. ftp://ia300143.us.archive.org/3/items/ThisIsMy1940_2/. File name is ThisIsMy1940_2.mpeg.


This Is My Railroad - Steam Version (1947)

    PENTREX

  1. The 1947 production of "This is My Railroad" was started just before WWII and not finished until after it was over.See http://www.archive.org/details/mov


  3. I went to http://www.archive.org/details/movies searched the Prelinger Archives.

  4. http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=This%20is%20my%20railroad%20AND%20mediatype%3Amovies


  6. I was able to download both the steam version of this video from

  7. ftp://ia300129.us.archive.org/3/items/ThisIsMy1940/. File name is ThisIsMy1940.mpeg.


The Trains of Tehachapi

    BIG E


Tough Times On the Southern Pacific

  1. The opening chapter is worth it alone, with company footage of dramatic flooding in the Eel River Canyon. Second part deals with SD45 #8946 which went off-roading at Norden. M-K ultimately comes in, builds a road, and drags her muddy carcass out. More company film of a trestle fire on the Salt Lake crossing and it's rebuilding, flooding and entrapment of the Sunset Limited in Texas, and some graphic scenes of the 1952 Tehachapi EQ and it's effects. Last chapter will hit home with many NorCal fans, with extensive footage of the Roseville bomb explosions. Detailed coverage on all and the company films are clear. Lots of history and great memories for the SP fan.

  2. Jason Eminian


Track Time: SP in California

    MARK MURRAY


UP-SP Paired Track in Palisade Canyon

    BIG E


UP - SP River Wars I - The Mississippi River

    BIG E


UP - SP River Wars  II - The Missouri River

    BIG E


Views from the Canyon

    AAAHWSOME!!! RAILROAD VIDEOS


Views from the Depot

    AAAHWSOME!!! RAILROAD VIDEOS


Willits to Eureka

    WESTERN RAILROAD VIDEOS


Working on the Southern Pacific

  1. PENTREX


  1. All kinds of great company footage from the golden days. And some very interesting and one of a kind piggyback footage. Five excellent SP-produced advertising/training shorts. For any SP fan interested in the late transition era through the early 1960's.

  2. Eric Berman


Your Colorful Southern Pacific

    CHARLES SMILEY PRESENTS


  2. The new Charles Smiley DVD ("Your Colorful Southern Pacific") centering on beet processing operations in the 1970's and later in which indicated that beet trains and the Holly Sugar sugar beet processing plant at Betteravia are featured.


  4. Sugar beet operations from loading, hauling, unloading through processing into blue-and-white bags, are nicely covered. An added plus is the coverage on the Santa Maria RR's diesel operations.


# Videos on the S.P.

    UNKNOWN PRODUCERS

    (800) 950-9333


  1. NEW FILM ON DVD

  2. UP, SOUTHERN PACIFIC (DAYLIGHTS, CAB FORWARDS, PLUS 4-8-2s) HUSTLE IN AND OUT WITH HEAVY NAMED PASSENGER TRAINS, THE DAYLIGHT LIMITED FILMED FROM 1939 - 1942


  4. MAIN LINE MOTION PICTURES

  5. PO Box 3985

  6. Chester, Virginia 23831

  7. TOLL-FREE: 866-826-480



S.P. Related Videos

Steam Loco Weathering Clinic

  1. now available from www.trainvideosandparts.com.


  3. This DVD presents complete step-by-step how-to information about weathering two HO scale locomotives, a Bachmann Climax and a Broadway Limited AC-4. It was filmed in two segments. The first is a "live" presentation at the 2006 Pacific Model Loggers' Congress (www.pacificmodello ggerscongress. com) and covers, in a typical 45-minute clinic timeframe, the complete process from starting with the stock Climax and ending with the loco weathered and finished. Part two was filmed here in my studio and workshop and details every step needed to weather the Cab Forward and get it ready for the road.


  5. The DVD includes paint blends, weathering chalk and airbrush how-to, holding jigs, electrical connection considerations, wheel cleaning and other necessary technical details a modeler will find useful for weathering his or her locomotives.


  7. Both weathering jobs, live and studio, are presented in a way that helps make the process painless and fun, even for a modeler attempting such a job for the first time. And all of this takes place without any engine disassembly.

  8. Jeff Johnston


1937 Daylight Movie on Youtube

                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8YIYYiMs8&feature=PlayList&p=7B5E1600BA0D9E21&index=19

  1. Richard Wilkens


Robert G Sage SP films

  1. Three videos are all SP, mostly late steam passenger & freight action on the Coast and San Joaquin Divisions. A few early diesels make brief appearances, including an RSD-5.

  2.                                                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFFSRJO4Xg0

  3.                                                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhaSrb2fCsI

  4.                                                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEBJCHvXiEE

  5. Rob Simpson


  7. The footage, soundtrack and captions are extremely similar to the Video Rails/Pentrex Southern Pacific Classic Collectors Series VHS production! This footage is from a three volume set by Video Rails on SP steam, SP 1941, and SP Coast Line.

  8. Joe Gartman



Stock Footage of SP in Glendale/Burbank/SFV

  1. The link below will take you to stock footage (35mm, B&W) of night scenes shot by Columbia Pictures for the Rita Hayworth film "Down to Earth" on April 17, 1946. Apparently this footage was shot from a moving SP train starting in Glendale and proceeding at least as far as Van Nuys. Not the entire route is comprised in the footage, but there are plenty of lineside industries and some auto traffic on San Fernando Rd. if I have the location correct.


  3. The video runs a little over 11 minutes, and it might be fun to try to pick out locations. There are no opposing movements, but there are freight cars spotted on various sidings/spurs.

  4.                                                                         http://archive.org/details/PET0981_R-5

  5.                                                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWOSEukNYyk

  6. Jerry Joseph


  8. Very cool! This one features a Pacific Electric bus near the beginning and some very clear shots of Burbank station at the end. Lots of fun and nostalgic L.A. stuff in the middle (though not railroad related) like fur stores, Clifton's Cafeteria, VandeKamp's Bakery and 10 cent parking lots that you don't see any more but that were very much a part of the everyday cityscape.

  9. Dave Blanchard

  10.                                                                        http://archive.org/details/PET0981_R-1_LA


  12. The film does indeed start in Glendale as the automobiles are on San Fernando Road which is on the east side of the SP mainline. I liked the brief images of the Asbury Rapid Transit System bus parked on the side of the road and the Greyhound bus which goes roaring along. I think this is the area between Taylor Yard and Glendale depot. Points of interest are what appears to be the silos at Taylor Feed and the spot where the UP Glendale branch pulls away. We don't see Glendale depot or the area north of it.


  14. When the road is on the opposite side, this is still San Fernando Road as it crosses over in the City of Burbank. We missed the depot at Burbank and the tower at Burbank Junction. The sign for Van Nuys should be Van Nuys Boulevard, pointing towards the community many miles away. The images are all Roscoe, Pacoima, and San Fernando. At 6:26 we pass the shelter which I believe is Pacoima as it appears too big to be Roscoe (now Sun Valley) and also, Pacoima is only a few miles south of San Fernando. Soon after the road fades away and we are in San Fernando. Truman Street which today is near the mainline did not exist at the time. The freight cars are really cool, especially all the Overnight cars. Then at 8:42 we get a nice shot of San Fernando depot. This is followed by the back of a packing house, which should be Hazeltine Packing Company (oranges and lemons).


  16. The rest of the video I can't identify. It may be Sylmar as the white building when they start shooting the track appears to be the Sylmar Packing Company (olives).

  17. David Coscia


  19. The stucco buildings along San Fernando Road gives some modeling ideas for my layout as this is where I model. Can also stop film and look at frame to frame to look at details. I remember some of the industrial buildings in the film as they lasted into the 1960s and 70s. What was in the SP, GS gondolas? Rolls of wire?

  20. Bruce Petty


  22. Here is another posting of the same film that was put up about three weeks later. It includes a very detailed breakdown of all the industries, etc. that we see going by and the location.

  23. Glendale to Burbank Train Ride, April 1946  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_wKTnLJD54


  25. Correction: About two weeks later and it's about half of the footage in the other posting. Be sure to click "show more" under the poster's description to see the detailed listing of the industries, street crossings, etc.

  26. Mark Bridgwater


Video of Pacifc Coast Railway

  1. If you are interested in the Central Coast and the railroad situation there, the SLO Tribune has a older video of the Pacific Coast Railway which crossed the SP Coast Division in San Luis Obispo, the only crossing of the Division, I am aware of by an active narrow                                                 gauge common carrier.   

  2.                                           http://sloblogs.thetribunenews.com/slovault/2010/07/08/pacific-coast-railroad-bridge-avila-beach-1966/

  3. Tom VanWormer

  4.                            

  5. If you have trouble viewing it from that web page, try this link:

  6.                                                                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0xvaKKSbl4

  7. Tim O'



The Pacific Electric

LA Street Cars - The Final Years

    PENTREX


Los Angeles: The Early Days (about Pacific Electric)

    DAVE'S VIDEO EDITING


Pacific Electric, volume 1 and 2

    CANTENARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


PE - The Twilight Years

    PENTREX


Remembering The Red Cars

    CANTENARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS


This Was Pacific Electric

    SKY CITY PRODUCTIONS



 
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