The ''Golden Rocket'' was a proposed
named 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 ...
of the
Rock Island (CRIP) and
Southern Pacific (SP) railroads. Planned in the late 1940s, Southern Pacific eventually pulled out of the agreement and service never commenced.
History
In February 1946, the Rock Island and Southern Pacific Railroads planned on jointly introducing a high-speed, tri-weekly passenger train that would run between
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...
.
Two 11-car consists were to have been placed into service on the new line, one owned by the CRIP and the other by the SP. However, just as
Pullman-Standard
The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century ...
neared completion on the Rock Island trainset in 1947, and in the midst of an aggressive advertising campaign, the Southern Pacific abruptly withdrew from the project.
Rock Island took delivery of its rolling stock: a
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, trip ...
-dormitory car, three
coaches
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
, a
coffee shop-bar-
lounge car
A lounge car (sometimes referred to as a buffet lounge, buffet car, club car or grill car) is a type of passenger car on a train, in which riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a r ...
, four
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 s ...
s, and a sleeper-lounge-
observation car
An observation car/carriage/coach (in US English, often abbreviated to simply observation or obs) is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the rearmost carriage, with windows or a platform on the rear of t ...
(with barbershop).
Planned rolling stock
The Rock Island consist for the ''Golden Rocket'':
# Baggage-dormitory #820
# Coach ''Valle Verde''
# Coach ''Valle Vista''
# Coach ''Valle Mar''
# Coffee-shop lounge ''El Café''
# Diner ''
El Comedor
''El Comedor'' (RI #428) is a former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad dining car, one of four built in 1947 on Lot 6762 by Pullman Company, Pullman-Standard to plan 7517 for the ''Golden Rocket (train), Golden Rocket'', "''the train tha ...
''
# 4-double bedroom, 4-compartment, 2-drawing room sleeper ''La Quinta''
# 22-roomette sleeper ''La Costa''
# 12-double bedroom sleeper ''La Jolla''
# 12-double bedroom sleeper ''La Palma''
# 2-double bedroom, 1-drawing room sleeper buffet lounge-observation ''La Mirada''
The proposed Southern Pacific consist for the ''Golden Rocket'' that was never built:
# Baggage-dormitory
# Coach ''Valle Rio Grande''
# Coach ''Valle del Sol''
# Coach ''Valle Imperial''
# Coffee-shop lounge ''El Café Frontero''
# Diner ''La Fonda''
# 4-double bedroom, 4-compartment, 2-drawing room sleeper ''Monte Chiricahua''
# 22-roomette sleeper ''Monte Santa Rita''
# 12-double bedroom sleeper ''Monte San Jacinto''
# 12-double bedroom sleeper ''Santa Catalina''
# 2-double bedroom, 1-drawing room sleeper buffet lounge-observation ''La Galleria''
Fate of the equipment
The units arrived bearing the ill-fated ''Golden Rocket''s eye-popping livery, painted bright
vermilion
Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It i ...
on top and bare stainless steel on the bottom. The cars also retained the festive
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
-themed interiors originally intended for the ''Golden Rocket''.
Rock Island assigned the cars to service on the ''
Golden State'',
its other transcontinental train (jointly operated with Southern Pacific).
The ''Golden State''s cars and locomotives retained the ''Golden Rocket'' colors well into 1953, after which time the locomotives were repainted in the SP's well-known red-and-orange ''
Daylight
Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sun ...
'' livery. Both railroads advertised the ''Golden Rocket''. It was promoted as "''America's Newest, Most Beautiful Streamliner''"; instead, it became "''the train that never was''."
See also
* ''
El Comedor
''El Comedor'' (RI #428) is a former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad dining car, one of four built in 1947 on Lot 6762 by Pullman Company, Pullman-Standard to plan 7517 for the ''Golden Rocket (train), Golden Rocket'', "''the train tha ...
''
*
Passenger trains
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often kno ...
on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
*
Passenger trains
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often kno ...
on the Southern Pacific Railroad
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Rocket (Train)
Passenger trains of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
Passenger trains of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company
Named passenger trains of the United States
Night trains of the United States