Southern Pacific Coast Line - La To Santa Barbara In The 40s

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by SmeagolRail, Mar 30, 2021.

  1. SmeagolRail

    SmeagolRail Member

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    sp_luggage_tag.jpg
    The Streamliner era in the United States was perhaps the golden age of railroading this side of the Atlantic. During this time, before highways and airlines became the dominant mode of travel, passenger trains crisscrossed the country providing high speed transportation for passengers and mail. Beginning in the Great Depression, many of these railroads began to re-imagine their star passenger trains with sleek streamlining and bold colors to attract people back to the rails. The New York Central had their 20th Century Limited. The Santa Fe had their Super Chief. And the friendly Southern Pacific launched their brand new Daylight.

    This Streamliner would follow the Route of the Missions between Los Angeles and San Francisco along the coastline of the Pacific Ocean, only stopping in several of the busiest coastline communities and resorts along the way. These trains would be painted in a striking orange, red, and black paint scheme to stand out from the rolling green hills along the coast and the blue waters of the ocean. And the railroad would commission a new class of locomotives from Lima to power these sleek, luxurious trains; the GS class.
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    Departing each station promptly at 8:15am and arriving at the other end at 6pm that same evening, the trains offered breathtaking views of the California Pacific coast from the comfort of a padded seat in an air-conditioned car. The service became so popular that from 1940 to 1949 (with a break during WWII), a second Daylight service departed each end at 12:15pm to meet the demand. During this time, the Daylight service was at its peak.

    In TSW2, with steam locomotives in the pipeline, I would like to suggest this route as a possibility for the game. Ideally, I think the best stretch of this line to recreate for the game would be the 105 mile stretch between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara as it was in the postwar 1940s. This creates many opportunities for a wide variety of scenery and services. The star of the show, of course, would be the Morning and Noon Daylights, which only make a stop at Glendale between the two cities. However, there were also other passenger trains including the Coaster and the Coast Mail (aka Sad Sam) which traveled the route.
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    For locomotives, the obvious choice to model would be the GS class. Specifically, I think the GS-4 would be the best option, since there is a surviving and operating example of the class and around the late 40s, they became dominant on the line. These could be painted in both Daylight and black War Baby colors, as well as having the GS-5s represented, since these engines were identical to the GS-4 in every way except for having roller bearings. Diesels were in their infancy at this time, and the Southern Pacific still used steam primarily along the line, so having another steamer for freight would be appropriate, such as the 4-10-2s or even a Cab Forward, which were occasionally spotted on the line.
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    I believe that this route gives an opportunity to show off what TSW2 is really capable of. Being able to experience what it was like to ride a streamlined passenger train in this era would be a dream come true for many railfans, with great scenery, history, and variety of traffic to boot. There is a ton of reference material available for the Daylight and the Coast Line as a whole, so information is not hard to come by. And there is a wealth of people who are passionate about this fallen flag railroad and its history, and many more who this product could appeal to. If there was one route I could add to TSW2, this would be it.
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  2. jolojonasgames

    jolojonasgames Well-Known Member

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    The good thing about this route is that it appeals to people who normally don't play American routes, like me.

    The GSs are just a sight to behold. With The GS-4 and it's roller bearing equiped GS-5 sibling, and a freight loco this would be a really interesting route for me. The coulour scheme of the Daylights is just to Iconic not to have in game when steam comes, though I'd like to see some black GSs in the mix for variation aswell.

    The cab-forwards would maybe make a good loco DLC?
     
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  3. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Nice suggestion, obviously would depend on steam traction getting a decent implementation.
     
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  4. steammaster4449

    steammaster4449 Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]

    But all kidding aside, I quite like the suggestion. It'd make for a good companion route to this one if it were to ever get made:
    The Peninsula Corridor In The 50's

    It would also make for a nice contrast to Buynot 's suggestion for the same route as this thread, but only between LAUPT and Ventura and in TS 20XX:
    Southern Pacific Daylight Route-Late 1940s (Los Angeles-Ventura)
     
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  5. jolojonasgames

    jolojonasgames Well-Known Member

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    Yes, if both this and Peninsula Corridor in the '50s are made, there might be some layering possible (like on the German routes), which could greatly enhance rolling stock variety for both routes.
     
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  6. SmeagolRail

    SmeagolRail Member

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  7. SmeagolRail

    SmeagolRail Member

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    The article released yesterday certainly gives me hope. Hopefully it's just as good as advertised.
     
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  8. steammaster4449

    steammaster4449 Well-Known Member

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    True that.
    Wouldn't surprise me if a handful of bugs and kinks slip past and make it into release, but as with other releases that had bugs and kinks, I don't doubt that they'll get ironed out in subsequent updates.
     
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  9. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    As much as I would love to see the Coast Daylight in TSW2, i see it very hard or very far off to make the 100+ mile proposal, hopefully I'm wrong though.....
     
  10. 59321747

    59321747 Well-Known Member

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    Your suggestion is normal, DTG wants to make money on the long-distance route, directly from San Jose to Los Angeles, sell it in four sections.
     
  11. 59321747

    59321747 Well-Known Member

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    Boston to Washington, D.C., Auburn to San Jose.
    The development of main railway lines in the United States and Canada must take long distances.

    Goleta to San Diego, Pacific surfer
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2021
  12. SmeagolRail

    SmeagolRail Member

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    I hope so too. IMO it wouldn't make sense to have the route end any sooner since the Daylight's only stop before Santa Barbara is Glendale, literally 15 minutes out of LAUPT. Any sooner and you'd either have to end the scenario at a red signal or have it be a rolling end, either way not very fun. Besides, the best scenery on the line would be between Ventura and Santa Barbara, so hopefully that makes the longer route length worth it
     
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  13. jolojonasgames

    jolojonasgames Well-Known Member

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    Maybe part of the route is easier to model, as north of Ventura on one side it's mostly ocean that has to be modelled. Routes are getting longer, partly due to new techniques being used by DTG. Hopefully those techniques will have developed even further by the time steam comes, and that then, in combination with oceans needing way less scenery developement, could allow for this route.

    Of course that's wishfull thinking, but I really hope it will be possible.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2021
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  14. steammaster4449

    steammaster4449 Well-Known Member

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    It has been stated in the streams that current route building techniques are indeed prohibitive when it comes to route length, but like jolojonas said, development of those techniques or maybe even entirely new techniques could quite possibly make routes like this doable. Besides, TSW2 is still a relatively recent game, so it's not like everything's pretty much down to a T like how TS Classic is.
     
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