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Shrinking passenger ridership, and car-shifting
of the late 1950s
In mid-1955, the pre-war tavern cars (class 79-T-1) were replaced with
newer class 83-T-1 Timberline Tavern cars 10316 and 10317 built in
1949 for the Shasta Daylight. The Timberline Taverns had flush sides,
extra tall windows and were fitted with rustic interiors. The Shasta
Daylight received dome cars in their place. The class 79-T-1 taverns
off the Daylight served for a time on the San Joaquin Daylight, the
Starlight, and on the Lark.
Due to falling ridership, by 1957 the triple food service units were
used only during peak traffic periods. The remainder of the time,
22. As Daylight speeds off, at the left of the photo is one of the
83-C-5 chair cars, while on the right are the stateroom parlor
car and parlor observation.
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class 83-D-1 smooth-sided dining cars built in 1949 ran on the Coast
Daylight. Twin-unit diner-coffee shop cars 10225-10226 from the City
of San Francisco were sometimes used on the Daylight, as were Budd
stainless steel diners built for the Sunset.
The Daylight’s triple car food service units were scrapped in 1963.
Newer triples built for the Shasta Daylight in 1949 were transferred
to the Coast Daylight, operating in peak periods till the summer of
1967. Single-unit coffee shop diners replaced the triple unit cars on the
Shasta Daylight.
In 1962 dome cars 3605 and 3606 began operation on the Coast
Daylight, replacing the Timberline Tavern cars. The parlor cars with
23. By 1957 more of the diesels were appearing in the “bloody
nose” color scheme as shown in this prototype photo at an
unspecified location. The fourth car, on the right of the photo, is
one of the 83-C-5 Shasta type chair cars. Courtesy Bob’s Photos.
