The ''City of Los Angeles'' was a streamlined

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self p ...

between

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

via

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ...

, and

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

. Between Omaha and Los Angeles it ran on the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

; east of Omaha it ran on the

Chicago and North Western Railway The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states bef ...

until October 1955 and on the

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experienced ...

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 competitor to the ''

Super Chief The ''Super Chief'' was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The streamliner claimed to be "The Train of the Stars" because of the various celebrities it carried between Chicago, Ill ...

'', a streamlined passenger train on the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

, and the '' Golden State'', a streamlined passenger train jointly operated by the Rock Island and Southern Pacific railroads. Many of the train's cars bore the names of locales in and around its namesake city.

History

''City of Los Angeles'' service began in May 1936 using the diesel-powered custom

streamliner A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor " bullet trains". Less commonly, the term i ...

M-10002 The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10002 was a diesel-electric streamliner train built in 1936 by Pullman-Standard, with prime movers from the Winton Engine division of General Motors Corporation and General Electric generator, control equipment an ...

. It was the second of Union Pacific's diesel streamliners to the west coast, following the '' City of Portland'' that started service nearly a year earlier. Initial service consisted of five runs monthly. CNW / UP replaced that set with a fourteen unit full-sized train pulled by a three-unit set of

EMC E2 The EMC E2 was an American passenger-train diesel locomotive which as a single unit developed , from two (2) prime movers. These locomotives were typically operated as a unit set ( A - B - B) or ( A - B - A); where the three unit lashup deve ...

locomotives in December 1937. Service frequency was doubled in July 1938 with the former ''City of San Francisco'' streamliner

M-10004 The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10003, M-10004, M-10005, and M-10006 were four identical streamlined 2-car power car diesel-electric train sets delivered in May, June, and July 1936 from Pullman-Standard, with prime movers from the Winton Engine ...

. That set was replaced in March 1939 with a full-size train pulled by two-unit EMC E3 locomotive set. After World War II service was expanded with additional trains until daily service was achieved in 1947. The UP scored a public relations coup in the mid-1950s when the ''City of Los Angeles'' was featured in two episodes of the popular

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

'' I Love Lucy''. Starting in 1955 the

tracks were used in place of the Chicago and North Western between Chicago and Omaha. Actor

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

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. ''City of Los Angeles'' service was terminated after Amtrak took over Union Pacific's passenger rail services on May 1, 1971. Amtrak operated several excursion services on the Los Angeles–Las Vegas segment from 1972 to 1976, ending with the short-lived ''

Las Vegas Limited The ''Las Vegas Limited'' was a short-lived weekend-only passenger train operated by Amtrak between Los Angeles, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the last in series of excursion trains run by Amtrak between 1972–1976 serving the Los Ang ...

''. From 1979 to 1997, Amtrak operated the Salt Lake City–Los Angeles (Ogden–Los Angeles until 1983) ''

Desert Wind The ''Desert Wind'' was an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that ran from 1979 to 1997. It operated from Chicago to Los Angeles as a section of the ''California Zephyr'', serving Los Angeles via Salt Lake City; Ogden, Utah; and Las Vegas. ...

''; it connected to the Oakland–Chicago ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...

'' at its northern end, once again offering Chicago–Los Angeles through service.

Timeline

City of Los Angeles Union Pacific Railroad dome lounge car 1955

* May 15, 1936: ''City of Los Angeles'' makes its first run between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. One trainset (the

) leaves each terminal five times a month. * December 1937: 14-car 791-ton train powered by three

s replaces the older trainset, reassigned as '' City of Portland.'' * July 1938: Former ''

City of San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

'' trainset

joins service, allowing departures ten times a month. * March 1939: New train powered by two unit

EMC E3 The EMC E3 is a , A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive that was manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, Illinois. The EMC demonstrator #822 was released from La Grange for test on September 12, 1938. The cab version, or E3A, was ...

set enters service, replacing M-10004; frequency remains ten departures per month. The ''Hollywood'', a lounge car built for the ''City of Los Angeles'', is the first passenger car with an interior built entirely of synthetic materials, including the newly invented

formica (plastic) Formica Laminate is a laminated composite material invented at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the United States in 1912. Originally used to replace mica in electrical applications, it has since been manufactured for multiple applica ...

and

naugahyde Naugahyde is an American brand of artificial leather. Naugahyde is a composite knit fabric backing and expanded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating. It was developed by Byron A. Hunter, senior chemist at the United States Rubber Company, and is no ...

. *July 1941: EMC E6 three unit set replaces E3 set; consist of train expanded to 14 cars. * 1947: ''City of Los Angeles'' begins running daily. * 1955:

Astra Dome The Astra Domes were a fleet of streamlined dome cars built by the American Car and Foundry Company ("ACF") and later by Pullman-Standard ("PS") for the Union Pacific Railroad between 1954–1958. ACF built a total of 35 cars including coache ...

dome cars are added to the ''City of Los Angeles''.

The Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experienced ...

takes over operation of the ''City of Los Angeles'' from the

between Chicago and Omaha. * 1956: ''

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

'' and ''City of Los Angeles'' are combined and operate 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. * 1971:

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

took over intercity passenger operations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on May 1, 1971. The final ''City of Los Angeles'' trips left their terminals on April 30 and arrived on May 2, ending UP passenger service.

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 A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a co ...

built by the

St. Louis Car Company The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, interurbans, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887 to 1974, based in St. Louis, Missouri. History 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

The ''City of Los Angeles'' began running in 1936 using the articulated

trainset. Behind the two power units were an RPO-

baggage car A passenger railroad car or passenger car (United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry passeng ...

, a baggage-dormitory-kitchen, a diner-lounge, an 11-section

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. The first such cars ...

, a 7-double bedroom 2-compartment sleeper, two more 11-section sleepers, a 48-seat coach, and a 38-seat coach-buffet car. All the passenger-carrying cars were air-conditioned. The Union Pacific replaced it with a non-articulated train in late 1937. A trio of

diesel locomotives pulled a baggage-dormitory car, two 52-seat coaches, a coffee shop-kitchen car, a dining car, a dormitory-buffet lounge, seven sleeping cars of varying configurations, and a buffet-lounge- observation car. Union Pacific added a second articulated trainset in 1938, the

. Its configuration was similar to the M-10002: two power units, a baggage-dormitory, 40- and 48-seat coaches, a coffee-shop kitchen, a diner, an 11-section sleeper, two 7-double bedroom 2-compartment sleepers, two more 11-section sleepers, and a buffet-lounge-observation car. The second articulated trainset was replaced with an eleven car non-articulated train powered by an

twin locomotive set in March 1939. In July 1941 the E3 locomotive set was replaced with a three unit E6 set and the consist expanded to 14 cars. The two three-locomotive, 14 car trains were joined after the end of the war by new E7-powered trains, establishing daily service in 1947. The E2 locomotives were traded in 1953. A typical City of Los Angeles train consist around 1955 included: *

EMD E9 The E9 is a , A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois, between April 1954 and January 1964. 100 cab-equipped A units were produced and 44 cabless booster B units ...

A-B-A diesel locomotive set * Mail express 5707 *

Baggage Baggage or luggage consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transit. A modern traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, small possessions, tri ...

5606 * Baggage dormitory 3107 *

Placid series The Placid series was a fleet of ten lightweight streamlined sleeping cars built by Pullman-Standard for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1956. Each car contained eleven double bedrooms. Amtrak acquired all ten from the Union Pacific and operated them ...

sleeper 11-double bedroom ''Placid Lake'' * Placid series sleeper 11-double bedroom ''Placid Dune'' * Sleeper 4-4-2 ''Imperial Hill'' *

8008 * Sleeper 4-4-2 ''Imperial Club'' * Sleeper 5-2-2 ''Ocean Beach'' * Sleeper 5-2-2 ''Ocean Bay'' *

lounge

observation Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The ...

9009

Gallery

File:Union Pacific Railroad City of Los Angeles Astra Dome dining car.JPG, Domeliner diner upper level. File:Union Pacific City of Los Angeles dining car.JPG, Domeliner diner lower level. File:Union Pacific City of Los Angeles Gold Room.JPG, The Gold Room, a private dining room available by reservation. File:Union Pacific Railroad Astra Dome observation car.JPG, Astra Dome observation car. File:Union Pacific Domeliner Astra Dome lower level.JPG, Astra Dome lower level. File:Union Pacific Domeliner observation car card room.JPG, Observation car room for playing cards. File:Union Pacific Railroad Redwood Lounge 1956.JPG, The Redwood Lounge. File:Union Pacific Pullman car circa 1950s.JPG, Pullman car in day mode. File:Union Pacific Railroad pullman compartment.JPG, Pullman private compartment. File:Union Pacific Railroad coach car seating.JPG, Seating in a coach car. File:Little Nugget City of Los Angeles 1948.JPG, "The Little Nugget"-one of the streamliner's club cars.

Station stops

Station stops, 1950

* Chicago, IL (Chicago & North Western) * Clinton, IA *

Cedar Rapids, IA Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city ...

* Ames, IA * Boone, IA * Omaha, NE (Union Station) * 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 Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eight ...

Salt Lake City, UT Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, the ...

* Milford, UT *

Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

* San Bernardino, CA * Riverside, CA * East Los Angeles, CA *

Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

''The Official Guide of the Railways'', May 1950

Time Table

Sample Time Tables, 1947 - 1953

Notes:
Bold numbers indicate P.M.
indicates the day after departure
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.

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Passenger trains operating on the eve of Amtrak
{{Milwaukee Road named trains Passenger trains of the Union Pacific Railroad Passenger trains of the Chicago and North Western Railway Passenger trains of the Milwaukee Road Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1936 Night trains of the United States Railway services discontinued in 1971