The ''Shore Line Limited'' was a named

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

. It operated on a 13.5-hour daytime schedule between

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

via the Coast Line.

History

The train was introduced on March1, 1906, consisting entirely of first-class

parlor car A parlor car (or parlour car outside the U.S.) is a type of passenger car (rail), passenger coach that provides superior comforts and amenities compared to a standard coach. History Parlor cars came about on United States railroads to address ...

s, a rarity on the United States' west coast. Initially, the service only called at six stations, though more were added in later years. Trains headed toward San Francisco had helper engines added in

San Luis Obispo ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

to maintain speeds over the Cuesta Pass. Less than two months after beginning operation, the train was temporarily discontinued due to the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

— service resumed just over a month later. Originally given numbers 19 and 20, the services had been re-designated as numbers 77 and 78 by 1914. Storms in late January 1914 damaged large portions of the Coast Line, with train delays lasting several days. As a result, ''Shore Line Limited'' runs were canceled and would not be restored until June 1915. The train was discontinued on September15, 1931, canceled due to effects of the

great depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

Wrecks

The northbound ''Shore Line Limited'' wrecked about north of King City on September28, 1919, killing the engineer and fireman. An additional 41 passengers received minor injuries. On September22, 1922, the southbound ''Shore Line Limited'', having departed twenty minutes late from Montalvo, crashed into a northbound Oxnard–Santa Paula local train; the engineer of the ''Limited'' and fireman of the local were killed in the collision with the rest of the crew and passengers sustaining minor injuries. Six cars of the southbound ''Limited'' wrecked near Los Angeles when it sideswiped a freight train which had been put into a siding but left jutting into the inbound tracks on April6, 1924. No passengers or crew were injured.

References

{{SP named trains Passenger trains of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1906 Railway services discontinued in 1931