This is the fifth passenger train consist I would like to talk about. Previous blog posts include:
is a true accommodation train, and one of the last as well, serving the needs of its passengers along the route. I feel this train would be an interesting 6-12 car train, which could be made to fit on most model railroads that can handle full-length passenger cars or slightly abbreviated ones.
train-sets received very high riderships and second sections of Nos. 98 and 99 were being run regularly with whatever extra equipment the SP could dig up. Almost immediately SP ordered two more Coffee Shop dining cars and they were delivered in 1938, this caused the Coffee Shop-Tavern cars to become available for the food service cars in the second sections. New chair cars arrived in late 1938 and were quickly put into service upgrading the
(Nos. 96 & 97) to absorb the overflow from the overfilled 1937
(Nos.98 & 99). The original
was discontinued "for the duration" to free up the extra passenger equipment for the war effort. The
(Nos.71 & 72), as an all-chair night running complement to the premier all-Pullman
(Nos. 75 & 76). While the
were shown on the public timetables as an all-chair train. However it usually had several sleepers reserved for use by military personnel moving along the Coast Line between Los Angeles and San Fransisco. When the 12-5 sleeper were in the consist, overflow
except in the first few or last few miles of her run, so I'm using this photo from the Eddie Sims Collection to show what the head-end of the
looked like. Also many of these same chair cars were reassigned to the
's consist was made up of some interesting cars as I'll show below. Loading numbers (Ld#) were used to identify a car in that position in the consist. The cars were also 'carded' in small loading indicators in windows near the doors to help porters and passengers outside the train find their car.
SP 77-PR (PRO) - Ld# SL-1 *Note 2C* (SP 3000 Parlor or 2951 Parlor-Obs were assigned)
Note 2 Effective Oct 31, 1949: A. Discontinue reserving car 940 for women and children. B. Cars 948 & 949 added to consist to operate Fri-Sat-Sun only. C. Car SL-1 permanently discont'd.
Note 3 Effective Feb 27, 1950: Cars 948 & 949 dropped from consist until summer season.
Note 4 Effective March 31, 1950: Cars 940 & 941 revised to only operate Fri-Sat-Sun only, until summer season.
** SP 6083 or SP 6085 70-B-8 Stream-styled Harriman Baggage painted in Daylight colors regularly assigned.
10/2/49 - 10/31/49: 14 cars Mon-Sat; 13 cars Sunday.
10/31/49 - 2/27/50: 13 cars Mon-Thurs; 15 cars Fri & Sat, 14 cars Sunday.
2/27/50 - 3/31/50: 13 cars Mon-Sat; 12 cars Sunday.
I should add here that the SP 10400 & 10401 were shown in "Snack-Lounge Car" service. This wasn't a reconfiguration of the car, so much as a change in the late night service that was offered in the otherwise "Dining" car which was stenciled for "Coffee Shop" service since the service types were painted on the ends of the letterboard in 1946. From what I've read researching this, I don't believe the SP actually put in the lounge seating, like they did with the 1949 Triple-Unit Diner on the
, where 2/3s of the rear Dining section of the triple-unit had the tables swapped out for lounge chairs and standees for drinks. The "Snake-Lounge" service was more, 'Come enjoy your late night snacks and sit around the tables, as a lounge while you talk and leave the other passengers to sleep in their chair car seats.' type of arrangement.
June 1950-June 1951 Consist
Usually a GS-series engine, a Mt-series could be used
SP 70ft "LW" Baggage Express **
SP 70ft HW Baggage -Storage Mail *Note 1*
SP 70ft Baggage-Express - (various cars from the pool)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (June 15-Sep 16 - Seasonal) Ld# 940 & 941
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Daily) Ld# 942 & 943
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Daily) Ld# 944 & 945
SP Coffee-Shop "Snack-Lounge Car" - (SP 10400 & 10401 Regularly Assigned)
SP Tavern-Lounge - (SP 10312 & 10313 Regularly Assigned)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Daily) Ld# 946 & 947
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Daily) Ld# 948 & 949
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 Ld# 950 & 951 *Note 2*
HW 12 Section-1 DR Ld# 101/201 *Note 4A*
HW 8 Section-5 DBR Ld# 101/201 *Note 4B & 5D*
Note 1: Daily except Sunday
Note 2. Effective July 17, 1950: Cars 950 & 951 discontinued. Restore only when traffic warrants.
Note 3: Effective Sept 18, 1950: A. car 940 discont'd for winter season. Car 941 now operates as single unit. B. Cars 948 & 949 discont'd for winter.
Note 4. A. Operated 6/9/50 - 9/23/50 only. B. Eff 9/23/50: replaced the 12-1 car. Pullman line number 3475.
Note 5. Effective Oct 10, 1950: A. Car 941 revised to operate Fri-Sat-Sun only,
as traffic warrants, for winter season, as single unit car. B. Car 942 revised to operate Fri-Sat-Sun only for winter as single unit, or as artic pair with car 943. C. Car 943 revised to operate as single unit Mon-Thurs. May operate Fri-Sat as single unit or as artic pair with car 942. D. Car 101/201 revised to operate daily except Saturday.
6/9/50 - 7/17/50: 18 cars Mon-Sat, 17 cars Sunday.
7/17/50 - 9/18/50: 16 cars Mon-Sat, 15 cars Sunday.
9/18/50 - 10/10/50: 13 cars Mon-Sat, 12 cars Sunday.
10/10/50 - 6/14/51: 11 cars Mon-Thurs, 12-13 cars Fri, 11-12 Sat & Sun.
However during the Korea war and for some years after, a lot military moved to/from Ft. Ord and Camp San Luis Obispo. So the 12-5 would operate daily except Saturday, along with a heavyweight 8 section 5 Bedroom car. If all the space was not needed for Military, the 12-5 would be opened up for public sale.
-
These comments are interesting in that they suggest that some MAIN (railroad code for US military movements) cars might have been combined with the Starlight before Sept 1950. Most likely these would have been Pullman 'Tourist' or Pool 12-1, 13-section (ex-12-1s), 14-section, or 16-section sleepers.
June 1952 Consist
For now this is mostly right, but the June'52 & March'53 dates and exact sleeper and baggage cars are still taken from various internet sources and are not 100% correct. I will be changing this part of the page as I have time.
Usually a GS-series engine, a Mt-series could be used
SP 70ft Baggage-Express - (various cars from the pool)
SP 70-B-8 Baggage Express - (SP 6083 or SP 6085 70-B-8 Stream-styled Harriman Baggage painted in Daylight colors regularly assigned)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (June 15-Sep 16 - Seasonal)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Fri-Sun)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Daily)
SP Coffee-Shop "Snack-Lounge Car" - (SP 10400 & 10401 Regularly Assigned)
SP Tavern-Lounge - (SP 10312 & 10313 Regularly Assigned)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Daily)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (June 15-Sep 16 - Seasonal)
SP STD LW 12-5 (for Military Personnel - ex-Sat)
SP STD HW 12-1 (for Military Personnel - ex-Sat - various types assigned)
The Pullman space was never publicly listed for the
Starlight. However, if the sleeping space was not fully used by military personnel, space in the STD 12-5 would be sold to the chair passengers on the train as an upgrade or sold out of the terminals for overflow
Lark passengers.
Between 1951 and 1952 the
Starlight sometimes showed up to 3 HW Pullmans and the LW 12-5 Pullman. Some of these heavy days two STD 8-5s might be used.
March 1953 Consist
Usually a GS-series engine, a Mt-series could be used
SP 70ft Baggage-Express - (various cars from the pool)
SP 70-B-8 Baggage Express - (SP 6083 or SP 6085 70-B-8 Stream-styled Harriman Baggage painted in Daylight colors regularly assigned)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (June 15-Sep 16 - Seasonal)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Fri-Sun)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Daily)
SP Coffee-Shop "Snack-Lounge Car" - (SP 10400 & 10401 Regularly Assigned)
SP Tavern-Lounge - (SP 10312 & 10313 Regularly Assigned)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (Daily)
SP 64-ACM/ACW-1/3 (June 15-Sep 16 - Seasonal)
SP STD LW 12-5 (ex-Sat - SP 9250 & 9251, for Military Personnel)
SP STD HW 12-1 (ex-Sat - for Military Personnel)
In the April 1953 premier train assignment roster the Pacific Lines had ten pairs of the 1937 cars: seven pairs were painted in Daylight colors, one pair in Two-Tone Gray, and two pairs in Dark Olive Green. The SP 2489 & SP 2490 were also assigned to the
Starlight during this time painted in TTG, note that these 79-C-2s didn't have baggage elevators.
 |
| From Equipment Circular 14, issued June 14, 1954. |
The Feb 1954 the STD 12-5s were transferred to the
West Coast, and came back in August '54 and stayed into August 1955. In January 1955 the
Starlight was officially dieselized. Also in 1955 the 1938-built Taverns (SP 10312 & 10313) were removed and replaced with 1939-built Taverns (SP 10314 & 10315).
In 1957 the
Starlight was discontinued when the
Lark dropped its all-Pullman status by adding chair cars to the consist. The Taverns were then assigned to the
West Coast (Nos. 59 & 60).
Details of Cars Assigned to the Starlight
Baggage & Headend Cars
Semi-Streamlined Noon Daylight Baggage Cars (SP 6083 & 6085)
 |
| This is a model that I started on about 20 years ago. It's a kitbashed Rivarossi LW (1930s) Baggage car. |
The
Starlight usually had two or three head end cars, both baggage cars. One was usually either the SP 6083 or the SP 6085 which were 70ft baggages streamlined for the
Noon Daylights in 1940 and followed the rest of the
Noon Daylight's consist moving over to the
Starlights.
 |
| The Starlight's streamlined baggage cars started as SP's 70-B-8s with skirts, full-width diaphragms, & modified roof ends. |
Today, I would consider using one of the Southern Car & Foundry 70ft Harriman Baggages as a starting point and streamlining the car the same way the SP did.
 |
| Streamlined 70ft Baggage car with Full-Width Diaphragms |
The Old Option for Streamlined 70-B Model
The photo above shows the majority of the kitbash I am doing to make the semi-streamlined Harriman RPO cars SP 5069. The same method could easily be used on a suitable Harriman 70ft Baggage car.
 |
| My old kitbash stand-in attempt. |
My existing stand-in kitbash that I started about 1999 using a classic Rivarossi 1930's LW baggage car stalled mid-way through the kitbash. I pulled it out to take some photos. Looking at it today there are a number of issues I would have restarting it.
First is that the roof profile is still that of the LW Rivarossi roof, while this was good practice for my future (current) models of SP 5069 using SC&F kit above, I really should replace the whole roof section that should be full height 'Harriman' profile with some section of MDC roofing, with new slope sheets blending to the FWD ends.
Next is that the sides are slightly too long. The model's 72ft over the square corners of the sides, where as the modified 70-B-series prototype car should be about 71ft after the ends were squared off for streamlining. Tied in with this is that the baggage doors, while being the right size are too far apart by about 2-3ft... so that sort of messes up the whole side proportions.
The final detailing issue is mainly that the model has no rivets on the sides at all. The prototype car is a standard SP 70ft HW riveted baggage car, so it will take a LOT of Archer Rivets today to fix this. One final note is that the cars as-streamlined were fitted with skirts at the ends and the center, while later the center sections were removed, they retained the end skirting out-board of the trucks. This would have to be fabricated in styrene. This car is one of the few I still own with American Limited FWDs... which are two pieces of rigid plastic that telescope. I'm not as favorable to this design anymore as they tend to catch and bind up causing derailments.
Ex-EPSW 70ft Baggage (SP 6510-6519)
For the second baggage car I might suggest using a Walthers AC&F 70ft clerestory baggage car.
 |
| SP 6515, ex-EPSW baggage car (Stand-in Walthers model) |
In the SPH&TS Passenger Cars Vol.3 Head End Cars book there is a photo showing the
Starlight with one of the Ex-EPSW baggage cars in addition to the streamlined baggage. While these are 70ft long models and the prototype were only 66ft, I'm not really in the mood to cut out 4ft from this very well proportioned model which will fit very well into the
Starlight consist.
SP 70ft Harriman Baggage
 |
| SP 70ft Harriman Baggage Car |
The second baggage car could also be one of the 70ft baggage Harriman car. The SP had about 120 of these cars and they were by far the most common 70ft baggage on the SP.
The new plastic division of Sunset Models,
Golden Gate Depot is planning to bring in an all new plastic 70ft Harriman Baggage car in 2026-27. I look forward to seeing these models when they arrive.
(Edit: Yes, the 2018 GGD cars were problematic, but I'm hoping the V2 retooling of these models in 2026-2027 will turn out much better.)
An Alternative Shorter Baggage Car
 |
| Athearn/MDC/Roundhouse 60ft Harriman Baggage car |
If shorter cars for the consist is desired, I would suggest using the
Athearn R-T-R (ex-MDC/Roundhouse) 60ft Harriman Baggage cars. The Southern Pacific had about 250 of these baggage cars, The Roundhouse's model is correct for two of the classes, totaling 35 cars.
Chair Cars
Weekday nights the
Starlight used two pair of Artic-Chair cars, over the weekends up to five pairs would be used. Assignment of night trains on the coast, with its cooler temperatures, would not usually rate the newer 1939 and 1941 66-ACM/ACW cars, but instead usually used the 1937-built 64-ACM/ACW's or 77-C-3s.
In the April 1953 premier train assignment roster the Pacific Lines had ten pairs of the 1937 cars: seven pairs were painted in Daylight colors, one pair in Two-Tone Gray (TTG), and two pairs in Dark Olive Green. The equipment assignment roster also shows two single unit chairs, SP 2489 and 2490, painted in TTG and assigned specifically to the
Starlight. These two cars were identical to the rest of the 79-C-2 class cars except that they lacked baggage elevators.
After 1950, SP standardized that any general service pool LW chair cars would be painted in the Daylight colors. The rest of the Articulated 66-ACM/ACW cars were simply listed as "Daylight," which indicates that the rest of the cars were pooled for the
Coast Daylight, the
San Joaquin Daylight and protecting the
Shasta Daylight. Only four 77-C-3 cars were painted for the
Daylight pool, while the rest of the 77-C-3s were painted for specific assignments as follows; four in TTG for the
Cascade, four in yellow for the
Overland, and two in Red & Silver for the
Golden State.
64-ACM/ACW-1/-3
 |
| "130ft Artic-Chair", plated Brass Soho model. |
 |
| "130ft Artic-Chair", plated Brass Soho model. |
Models of the 1937-built articulated cars is best done with brass models, Soho has produced the 64-ACM/ACW cars. Challenger Imports and The Coach Yard have also produced these models.
66-ACM/ACW-1/-2
 |
| 1939-built, SP 2448, MTH models. |
 |
| 1939-built, SP 2447, MTH models. |
The most easily found models in 2016 are the MTH and BLI models of the SP's last two groups of Articulated Chair cars built in 1939 and 1941. I review the
MTH Daylight cars on my blog as well.
79-C-2s SP 2489 & 2490
 |
| SP 2439, a stock MTH Daylight 79-C-1 with new letterboard decals. - A starting point for SP 2490 & 2491. |
In the 1953 car roster of Passenger Cars Assigned to Premier Trains the SP 2489 & 2490 are shown painted in TTG and assigned to the
Starlight. I plan to model at least one of these cars. Starting from an MTH 79-C-1 and kitbashing from there. The main challenge beside the paint scheme change will be removing the baggage elevator and changing the trucks over to GSC Walthers trucks like I've done on the
SP 2424 (Part 1).
Food & Lounge Service
SP 10400/10401 77-D-11 Coffee Shop "Snack-Lounge"
 |
| My partly painted SP 10400, starting from a Soho model of the 77-D-11 class Cofee Shop car. |
The 1938-built Coffee Shops (SP 10400 and 10401) were used for the "Snack-Lounge" service on the
Starlights from the commencement of the new train service. The 77-D-11s had smaller kitchen and pantry space than the 77-D-10 Diners (SP 10200/10201-series) which came with the 1937 trainset. These 77-D-11s were built to replace and expand the combined Coffee Shop-Tavern 1937 cars SP 10310/10311, as the demand was high on the new
Daylight trains.
Soho made these early
Daylight food service car models, but unfortunately these cars require painting and finishing to be put into service. I'm planning to use some spare trucks from my MTH Observation and Parlor cars to bring these 77-D-11s up to the same mechanical standards as the rest of the MTH cars.
SP 10312/10313 79-T-1 Tavern
 |
| Left side of SP 10315, 79-T-1 class Tavern. The model is an out-of-box MTH car. |
The 1939-built Taverns (SP 10312-10313) were used on the
Starlight, regularly assigned to it in 1949. Models of these cars are available from both MTH and BLI. During the
Starlight assignment, these cars could also be protected by the older SP 10310 and 10311 if one one of the regular cars was in the shop. Remember also that my 1949, both SP 10310 and 10311 had been converted into full Taverns as well, but only had 3 windows on each side of the central bar area, which means the Soho as-built model wouldn't work for them, but the 1938 built cars (SP 10312-10313) and the 1941 built (SP 10314-10315) 79ft cars will from MTH or BLI. Although two of the newer 79ft cars were regularly assigned to the
Coast Daylight, so any protection would normally fall to the SP 10310/10311.
Protection Car Options?
.jpg) |
| Planned artwork for Golden Gate Depot's new (2026) SP 77-D-3/4 class HW "Harriman" Diner. |
Probably the best options we are getting in 2026 if a Soho SP 10400/10401 can't be located would be to use the upcoming Golden Gate Depot 77-D-3/4 Diner in place of the SP 10400/10401.
The Tavern protection car choices get a bit more interesting as there'd be a 50-50% option that the Starlight could have 'stolen' the protection Lounge off the Lark. This was usually one of the TTG-painted HW Center-bar 75-CS Lounge cars (SP 2975-2980-series)
However only one of these cars was kept at either LA or SF to cover the
Lark's "Triple-Unit Lark Club" cars, and the rest were usually working out of Oakland on the
Overland.
.jpg) |
| Golden Gate Depot pre-production lettering plan for the SP's general service 1946-1956 era Lounge car. |
So that would mean there was still a high likelihood that a Dark Olive Green pool of car and would have to be used, probably resulting in one of the 75-CS Lounge being used instead. One of the advantages of the Lark and the Starlight was that any 'incorrectly painted' protection car wouldn't be noticed and left to the darkness of the night to hide the shuffling of non-Daylight or TTG painted cars into their consists.
Sleeping Cars
The Pullman sleepers regularly ran on the Starlight at various times for military personnel to the various Coast Line bases were HW 12-1s and HW 8-5s. As these assignments varied with the military's needs, so did the cars used on a day to day basis. In addition the Pullmans were not run on the Starlight on Sunday nights.
STD 8-5 Heavyweight Sleeping Car
Most people will say that the 8-section, 5-double bedroom Pullmans were a uncommon car, however they did seem to show up on a number of Southern Pacific passenger trains after they were rebuilt from other floor plan cars. Over the years many were used on the heavyweight
Cascade,
Coaster,
Owl, and
West Coast. It seems only natural then that the SP's purchase of 16 STD 8-5s in 1949, would lead to them continue to find assignments around the system. When the Cascade was streamlined, the older heavyweight equipment was reassigned. The
Starlight often had one or two 8-5s during 1950 and 1951.
STD 12-5 Lightweight Sleeping Car
 |
| SP 9251, finished and detailed from a Rivarossi Duplex Sleeper model. |
In late 1952 through mid 1956 the two ex-
City of San Fransisco "duplex" 12-5 Pullmans (SP 9250-9251) were assigned to the
Starlight. In early 1953 the two cars were repainted from the Yellow and Gray
Overland/CoSF-pool scheme into Two-Tone Gray "General Service" scheme.
This model of a 12-5 is made from the old Rivarossi model, which is actually pretty close to the two SP 12-5s that were built for the
City of San Fransisco in 1937.
 |
| My early attempt at replicating SP 9250's aluminum trim molding, which this car retained longer than the 9251's smooth sides. |
I started to kitbash one of these Rivarossi models about 2015, but haven't finished it, as I would have modeled it with the trim molding still in place. Sadly the attempt that I made with the plastic strips and small channel was too larger. So I'll probably have to peel it back off and sand down the sides smooth before trying another approach. I'm also considering doing my model in the
Overland's yellow and gray scheme, which would add another striking color to my
Starlight consist. The other option would be to start with a UP Yellow 12-5 Duplex Sleeper model and remove the UP lettering with an X-acto blade carefully before reapplying the red SP lettering, which I've done on some of my other yellow SP models.
STD 12-1 Heavyweight Sleeping Car
 |
| Walthers HW 12-1 Pullman SP "Los Angeles" painted in SP Dark Olive Green and rigged with an OwlMtModels rear marker light. |
Both Walthers and Branchline (now Atlas) have made very good models of the Pullman STD 12-1 so this is probably one of the easier cars to get 'stock' off the shelf in a box. I'm still reworking my models to improve the interiors with window shades and aisle way safety bars, etc.
Thoughts on Modeling the Starlight Consist.
While the full train consist can easily be 10-18 cars, to keep in the spirit of the "pike size" nature of this article, I would probably model a week day version of the train or one that is not using the peak loading of 5 pairs of articulated chair cars.
The resulting train would be fairly reasonable to model as follows:
An SP GS-4 in Daylight colors as road engine - these engines in full Daylight colors were common on the Coast Line until about 1953-54 and regularly were assigned to the
Starlight.
1. SP Stream-styled baggage car (if available) or use a 70ft standard Harriman Baggage
2. SP 60 or 70 ft Harriman baggage or 70ft Walthers ACF baggage
3-4. SP Articulated Chair Car (preferably a 64-ACM/ACW)
5. SP 77-D-11 Coffee Shop (SP 10400 or 10401, this would be one of the tricky cars to get, as Soho's would be about the best model to use.)
6. SP 79-T-1 Tavern (SP 10312 or 10313, MTH or BLI model fits this perfectly. Until a Soho Coffee Shop could be found, a compressed model of this train could work with only the Tavern.)
7. SP 77-C-3 chair car (Almost any color car could be used, not just Daylight)
8. SP 79-C-2 chair car (Possibly repainted MTH or BLI model as SP 2489 or 2490 in TTG)
9. SP STD 12-1 HW Sleeper (Any Walthers or Branchline 12-1 painted for SP will fit the bill.)
10. SP STD 12-5 LW "Duplex" sleeper SP 9250 or 9251 (Rivarossi LW duplex sleeper painted either in UP yellow or TTG with letterboard redecalled as SP car.)
If the modeled consist needs to be shorter, a train of 7-8 cars could be easily made by dropping the Coffee Shop and additional chair cars. A six car consist could be made by also dropping one of the two sleepers.
This is certainly one of those consists that can start small and grow as the passenger fleet collection grows and more models are finished.
I'll probably do update blogs for each car individually as I complete my models for them and update some of the picture in this blog. I've delayed posting this long enough, hopefully you've enjoyed a look at the options to model the
Starlight in 2017!
Edit 2026: I've added the new options for GGD Diner and Lounge to be used as protection food service cars in the train. Surprising it's already been nearly 10 years since I posted this originally, and I've not really moved forward on any of the cars for this consist. However this consist commentary was always for a train that wasn't really "primary" to my area of modeling focus and would have, at best, been a detoured train off the Coast Line to the San Joaquin Valley route, also being a night train, detouring the Starlight would have also meant that I would have had to get a
Lark trainset pulled together too, and that's a LOT more work.
Jason Hill
Related Links:
Modeling SP Road Engines (Part 4) - Articulated Engines
.jpg)
