PART 1 – SP PASSENGER TRAINS |
46
The streamlined
Sunbeam and the
Hustler
The Texas and New Orleans
subsidiary of the Southern
Pacific had a popular heavy-
weight afternoon train
serving Dallas and Houston.
In 1936, the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy
began operation of a new
fast Dallas-Houston stream-
liner, the Sam Houston
Zephyr, followed by Rock
Island’s introduction of
their Texas Rocket in 1937.
Both beat the running time
of the Southern Pacific’s
heavyweight train.
The Southern Pacific was
a serious competitor, and
had already decided to run
its own streamliner on the
Dallas-Houston line. The
cars were built in the same
groups as those of the Coast
Daylight, and on September,
19, 1937 the new streamlined Sunbeam trains, #13 and #14, were
launched running the fastest schedule between Houston and
Dallas, beating the times of competing Rock Island and Burlington.
