City of Los Angeles

For the city in California, see Los Angeles.

The westward City of Los Angeles behind three EMC E2s in Cheyenne, Wyoming on February 13, 1938.

"Drumhead" logos such as these often adorned the ends of observation cars on the City of Los Angeles.

The City of Los Angeles was a streamlined passenger train that ran between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, via Omaha, Nebraska, and Ogden, Utah. Between Omaha and Los Angeles it ran on the Union Pacific Railroad; east of Omaha it ran on the Chicago and North Western Railway until October 1955 and on the Milwaukee Road thereafter. The train had number 103 westbound and number 104 eastbound.

This train was the top-of-the-line for UP, which marketed it as a direct competitor to the Super Chief, a streamlined passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and the Golden State, a streamlined passenger train jointly operated by the Rock Island and Southern Pacific railroads. As with the City of Los Angeles, many of the train's cars bore the names of locales in and around its namkesake city.

CNW / UP used one of only two sets of EMC E2 locomotives ever built as motive power for the train beginning in 1937. The UP scored a public relations coup in the mid-1950s when the City of Los Angeles was prominently featured in two consecutive episodes of the then popular television series I Love Lucy. In 1955 the Milwaukee Road assumed the service, replacing the Chicago and North Western between Chicago and Omaha. Actor Ronald Reagan often traveled on this train and even did a full page print ad for it that appeared in the National Geographic magazine. In a cost-cutting move, the City of Los Angeles was combined with the City of San Francisco in 1960.

History

Timeline

• May 15, 1936: The City of Los Angeles makes its first run between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. One trainset, so leaves each terminal five times a month.
• 1938: 14-car train powered by E2s enters service alongside the older trainset, allowing departures ten times a month.
• 1941: New train powered by E6s enters service, replacing the articulated trainset; frequency remains ten departures per month. The Hollywood, a lounge car built for use on the City of Los Angeles, is the first passenger car whose interior is built entirely out of synthetic materials, which featured the newly-invented materials formica (plastic) and naugahyde.
• 1947: The City of Los Angeles begins running daily.
• 1955: Dome cars are added to the City of Los Angeles. The Milwaukee Road takes over operation of the City of Los Angeles from the Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago and Omaha.
• 1956: The Challenger and the City of Los Angeles are combined into a single train, operated on the City of Los Angeles schedule. (The Challenger operated on its own schedule during a couple of summers thereafter.)
• 1970: Dome dining cars retired and replaced with standard flat top cars.
• May 1, 1971: Amtrak takes over long-distance passenger operations in the United States.
• May 2, 1971: UP-operated long-distance rail service ends when the City of Los Angeles arrives at Los Angeles Union Station.

In 1979 Amtrak created the Desert Wind, running mostly on the City of LA route from Los Angeles to Ogden, Utah where it connected to the Oakland-Chicago train. (After a year or two some of its cars ran through to Chicago.) The Desert Wind ceased operation in 1997.

Other railroad uses of the name City of Los Angeles

The City of Los Angeles name has also been applied to a 48-seat diner built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1949. The car was originally UP No. 4808 and is currently owned and operated by the Union Pacific as part of their excursion fleet.

Equipment used

A typical City of Los Angeles train consist around 1955 included:

• EMD E9 A-B-A diesel locomotive set
• Mail express 5707
• Baggage 5606
• Baggage dormitory 3107
• Sleeper 11 double bedroom Placid Lake
• Sleeper 11 double bedroom Placid Dune
• Sleeper 4-4-2 Imperial Hill
• Domeliner diner 8008
• Sleeper 4-4-2 Imperial Club
• Sleeper 5-2-2 Ocean Beach
• Sleeper 5-2-2 Ocean Bay
• Domeliner lounge observation 9009

Station stops

Station stops, 1950^[1]

• Chicago, IL (Chicago & North Western)
• Clinton, IA
• Cedar Rapids, IA
• Ames, IA
• Boone, IA
• Omaha, NE (Union Pacific)
• Fremont, NE (departing passengers only)
• Columbus, NE (departing passengers only)
• Kearney, NE (departing passengers only)
• Grand Island, NE
• North Platte, NE
• Sidney, NE
• Cheyenne, WY
• Laramie, WY
• Rawlins, WY
• Green River, WY
• Evanston, WY
• Ogden, UT
• Salt Lake City, UT
• Milford, UT
• Las Vegas, NV
• San Bernardino, CA
• Riverside, CA
• East Los Angeles, CA
• Los Angeles, CA

Time Table

Sample Time Tables, 1947 - 1953

Westbound Read Down			Condensed Schedules All trains daily			Eastbound Read Up
City of Los Angeles 103						City of Los Angeles 104
Sep. 11, 1949	May, 1950	Sep. 27, 1953				Sep. 27, 1953	May, 1950	Sep. 11, 1949
7.15	7.15	7.15	Lv.	Chicago   C.& N.W.	Ar.	10.40 +2	10.40 +2	10.45 +2
3.00 +1	3.00 +1	3.00 +1	Ar.	Omaha   C.& N.W.	Lv.	2.50 +2	2.50 +2	2.50 +2
3.10 +1	3.10 +1	3.10 +1	Lv.	Omaha   Un. Pac.	Ar.	2.40 +2	2.40 +2	2.40 +2
9.25 +1	9.25 +1	9.25 +1	Ar.	Cheyenne	Lv.	6.30 +1	6.30 +1	6.30 +1
9.35 +1	9.35 +1	9.35 +1	Lv.	Cheyenne	Ar.	6.20 +1	6.20 +1	6.20 +1
6.20 +1	6.20 +1	6.15 +1	Ar.	Ogden	Lv.	9.45 +1	9.45 +1	9.40 +1
6.30 +1	6.30 +1	6.25 +1	Lv.	Ogden	Ar.	9.35 +1	9.35 +1	9.30 +1
7.10 +1	7.10 +1	7.10 +1	Ar.	Salt Lake City	Lv.	8.50 +1	8.50 +1	8.50 +1
7.20 +1	7.20 +1	7.20 +1	Lv.	Salt Lake City	Ar.	8.40 +1	8.40 +1	8.40 +1
9.00 +2	9.00 +2	9.00 +2	Ar.	Los Angeles	Lv.	5.00	5.00	5.00
39 h 45 m	39 h 45 m	39 h 45 m	---Elapsed Time---			39 h 40 m	39 h 40 m	39 h 40 m

Notes:
Bold numbers indicate P.M.
+1 indicates the day after departure
+2 indicates two days after departure

Compare the run time to that of Amtrak's Desert Wind in 1979: Westbound (train 35) 48 hours and 30 minutes. Eastbound (train 36) 48 hours and 00 minutes.

See also

• Passenger train service on the Chicago and North Western Railway
• Passenger train service on the Milwaukee Road
• Passenger train service on the Union Pacific Railroad

References

1. ^ The Official Guide of the Railways, May 1950

• Ranks, Harold E. and Kratville, William W. (1974). The Union Pacific Streamliners. Kratville Publications, Omaha, NE. 
• Schafer, Mike and Joe Welsh (1997). Streamliners: History of a Railroad Icon. MBI Publishing Co., St. Paul, MN. ISBN 0-7603-1371-7. 
• Solomon, Brian (2000). Union Pacific Railroad. Railroad color history. MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 0760307563. 

External links

• Passenger trains operating on the eve of Amtrak