77-D-3/4 DINERS
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| GGD's 77-D-3/4 Diners announced 20250701 |
Well, this is a treat. So five paint schemes! I'm going to crop and zoom in to see what I can see for car numbers.
SP 10116 - Two-Tone Gray - This looks like the later TTG, as in the General Service TTG scheme of 1954. It has the car type "DINER" in large letters below the reporting marks and car number. These cars are interesting for SP passenger train operators because they were used in many of the remaining SP's HW passenger trains into the early 1960s which weren't converted to Hamburger-Grill service. My Painting Graphic (link) shows that the SP 10116 was one of the interesting Diners, being painted into TTG in February, 1947 and a repaint in February, 1956, then lasting until retired in 1957. The 10116's sister, SP 10010 lasted in the TTG scheme into November, 1960!
SP 10006 - Simulated Stainless Steel - Aluminum & Red Stripe, Gray Underframe - This is the typical post-1958 General Service scheme. According to my Diner Painting Graphic, three SP 77-D-4s were repainted into this scheme in 1958 (one in April and two in August). The SP 10006 lasted until February, 1962, making it the longest lived arch-roof Diners not converted to Hamburger-Grill service!
SP 10507? or 10513 - Daylight Hamburger-Grill 1956 or 1955 - I'm sorry but I can't quite make out the lettering on this car. It could be either 10507 or 10513.
The 10507 was converted earlier, but painted TTG for about a year before being repainted to Daylight scheme in June, 1956. The SP 10507 is kind of an interesting car as it shows up in the 1957 Farewell to Steam trip over Donner Pass behind the SP 4274's last trip of an excursion behind a cab-forward. As many modelers have various manufacturers models of the 4274, this would make a nice consist to run on layouts of Donner Pass.
The 10513 was already painted in Daylight scheme as a diner since June, 1950. It was then out-shopped as H.G. in June, 1955. My research doesn't show when it was repainted into Yellow, but I'm guessing around May, 1958 when the H.G. SP 10512 was retired and it was painted Yellow at the time. The SP 10513 lasted in Yellow until November, 1961.
SP 10115 (probably) Daylight Diner 1947+ - No date or car number's clearly stated on this offering yet. I'm guessing that the second Daylight painted Diner is SP 10115 or 10117.
The SP 10115 would make since as the SPH&TS Vol.4 Dining Car book shows it was repainted Daylight in 1947, but not a specified month. I'm guessing it certainly could have been the next diner coming out of repair and getting repainted after the devastating Kingsburg wreck of February, 1947, where a gasoline truck was hit at 45 MPH in a grade-crossing collision. Amazingly the SP's two LW full diners, SP 10200/10201, weren't in the consist that day, but the SP 10150, a DOG HW Diner, a 77-D-9 clerestory protection car. However, the Coffee-Shop SP 10400 was in the train that day, and it was badly burned out in the resulting fire. I'm not sure how long the SP 10400 was out of service, while it was being repaired, but it's fair to say that the SP 10115 stayed in Daylight colors quite a while, at least through April 1953's list in SP Trainline No.116, Summer 2013, pg 44. I'm guessing, SP 10115 lasted in Daylight colors until it's conversion to Hamburger-Grill in May, 1955.
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| GGD artwork for SP 10116 Two-Tone Gray Diner |
SP 10116 - Two-Tone Gray - This looks like the later TTG, as in the General Service TTG scheme of 1954. It has the car type "DINER" in large letters below the reporting marks and car number. These cars are interesting for SP passenger train operators because they were used in many of the remaining SP's HW passenger trains into the early 1960s which weren't converted to Hamburger-Grill service. My Painting Graphic (link) shows that the SP 10116 was one of the interesting Diners, being painted into TTG in February, 1947 and a repaint in February, 1956, then lasting until retired in 1957. The 10116's sister, SP 10010 lasted in the TTG scheme into November, 1960!
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| GGD artwork for SP 10006 Simulated Stainless Steel Diner |
SP 10006 - Simulated Stainless Steel - Aluminum & Red Stripe, Gray Underframe - This is the typical post-1958 General Service scheme. According to my Diner Painting Graphic, three SP 77-D-4s were repainted into this scheme in 1958 (one in April and two in August). The SP 10006 lasted until February, 1962, making it the longest lived arch-roof Diners not converted to Hamburger-Grill service!
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| GGD artwork for SP 10507/10513? Daylight Hamburger-Grill |
The 10507 was converted earlier, but painted TTG for about a year before being repainted to Daylight scheme in June, 1956. The SP 10507 is kind of an interesting car as it shows up in the 1957 Farewell to Steam trip over Donner Pass behind the SP 4274's last trip of an excursion behind a cab-forward. As many modelers have various manufacturers models of the 4274, this would make a nice consist to run on layouts of Donner Pass.
The 10513 was already painted in Daylight scheme as a diner since June, 1950. It was then out-shopped as H.G. in June, 1955. My research doesn't show when it was repainted into Yellow, but I'm guessing around May, 1958 when the H.G. SP 10512 was retired and it was painted Yellow at the time. The SP 10513 lasted in Yellow until November, 1961.
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| GGD artwork for SP 10115 (?) Daylight Protection Diner |
The SP 10115 would make since as the SPH&TS Vol.4 Dining Car book shows it was repainted Daylight in 1947, but not a specified month. I'm guessing it certainly could have been the next diner coming out of repair and getting repainted after the devastating Kingsburg wreck of February, 1947, where a gasoline truck was hit at 45 MPH in a grade-crossing collision. Amazingly the SP's two LW full diners, SP 10200/10201, weren't in the consist that day, but the SP 10150, a DOG HW Diner, a 77-D-9 clerestory protection car. However, the Coffee-Shop SP 10400 was in the train that day, and it was badly burned out in the resulting fire. I'm not sure how long the SP 10400 was out of service, while it was being repaired, but it's fair to say that the SP 10115 stayed in Daylight colors quite a while, at least through April 1953's list in SP Trainline No.116, Summer 2013, pg 44. I'm guessing, SP 10115 lasted in Daylight colors until it's conversion to Hamburger-Grill in May, 1955.
The other car that could be done is SP 10117, which was painted into Daylight in June, 1950 for the San Joaquin Daylight protection service. The 10117 was in Daylight in April, 1953. The 10117 was converted to Hamburger-Grill in June, 1955 as SP 10513 (discussed above). Given that GGD has announced the SP 2929 in Daylight, I hope that the Daylight Diner is going to be the SP 10115 from 1947 as well. - On a personal note, I like this option better, as a modeler of the 1949 San Joaquin Daylight, I look forward to having the chance to get a pair of HW protection cars to model other versions of the train.
SP 10112 Overland (Yellow) Diner 1957 - This is another "late" scheme, the SP repainted four HW Diners from the 77-D-3/4 series to SP Yellow scheme for service on the Overland. A fifth car was repainted into SP Yellow to cover for one of the original four yellow diners being retired. The SP 10112 was repainted in May, 1957 and remained in yellow until it was retired in September, 1960, which I believe makes it the longest lasting of the SP Yellow Diners. A couple of the Yellow Hamburger-Grills lasted into 1961 and 1962.
SP 10107 - Dark Olive Green, 1946-1958 (General Service) - The majority of the 77-D-1/3/4 class stayed in Dark Olive Green until converted to Hamburger-Grills in 1955. The cars not converted to H.G. or retired earlier, lasted into 1956-1957 before being repainted into other special schemes (listed above). SP 10008 and 10103 actually lasted into 1959 still in DOG before being retired. SP 10107 lasted into February, 1958. Considering most of the SP's HW clerestory Dining car (not the arch-roof cars) fleet was retired in 1954, and even assignments on the remaining HW trains, such as the Owl, lost their HW food service cars by 1956, there weren't many assignments left for DOG Dining cars by that time.
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| GGD artwork for SP 10112 - Diner - Overland Yellow scheme |
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| GGD artwork for SP 10107 - Diner - DOG scheme |
SP 10107 - Dark Olive Green, 1946-1958 (General Service) - The majority of the 77-D-1/3/4 class stayed in Dark Olive Green until converted to Hamburger-Grills in 1955. The cars not converted to H.G. or retired earlier, lasted into 1956-1957 before being repainted into other special schemes (listed above). SP 10008 and 10103 actually lasted into 1959 still in DOG before being retired. SP 10107 lasted into February, 1958. Considering most of the SP's HW clerestory Dining car (not the arch-roof cars) fleet was retired in 1954, and even assignments on the remaining HW trains, such as the Owl, lost their HW food service cars by 1956, there weren't many assignments left for DOG Dining cars by that time.
75-CS HW LOUNGES
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| GGD's 75-CS Lounges announced 20250701 |
Ok, this is the other group of cars that I've been very interested to see.
After the wreck, the lightweight Coffee Shop-Tavern SP 10311 was out of service for 11 months until it was brought back into service in January, 1948 as a full Tavern. So the comment until "about 1/49" fpr the ending date of the 2929 in Daylight is interesting. I went back through the SPH&TS Vol.5 book, and see what GGD means. There is no detail of when the car was taken out of Daylight colors, but there is a photo of the 2929 in January of 1949 back in Dark Olive Green (DOG). So, I'm guessing that the Daylight paint could have been repainted back to DOG after the SP 10311 was returned to service (1/48), or maybe the 2929 lasted in Daylight until sometime later in 1948. Which would make sense as that would be when it's next shopping was due. I guess the best thing to say about this car is that it is up to the modeler to imagine when the car came out of Daylight colors. I'm not sure how the San Joaquin Daylight's Tavern/Lounge was covered when the SP 10310 was rebuilt in 2/50. But as that date overlaps when the SP 2920 was painted into Daylight, and SP 2920 lasted in Daylight into at least April 1953, per the Premier Painting chart in SP Trainline No 116 pg.44, Summer 2013. So that certainly would also follow. I should add that by 1950, the SP had shuffled their dining and lounge/tavern cars around again with the dropping of the Noon Daylight and shifting to the Starlight in 10/49, plus the introduction of the Shasta Daylight around the same time. Sadly the 2920 is not suitable to be modeled with this GGD offering, as the windows were different.
SP 2931 San Francisco Lounge 5/1937 - An interesting choice. Some of the 75-CS Lounges when out-shopped in 1937 were assigned to the SF Overland with special lettering for the assignment. The other cars in this series were assigned to other premier HW trains such as the Golden State and HW Sunset Limited, allowing the older 2918-series Lounges to cover the secondary HW passenger trains.
SP 2933 Golden State 1947-1953 - This is one of the more famous premier train protection assignments for the 75-CS Lounges. It certainly is one of the most striking paint schemes with the whole upper part of the car painted Daylight Red to match the 1947 Golden State scheme. The SP 2933 would be used when one of the SP's LW Golden State 83ft Lounge cars was in the shops. Sadly this scheme only lasted into 1953 before the powers that be in SP Passenger Dept, a.k.a. Russell, pushed for a simpler scheme with better longevity and consolidation of the protection equipment between the Budd Sunset Limited and the Golden State Limited trains.
SP 2938 Dark Olive Green - 1946-1958 - This is the general service scheme for the era. Most of the SP's HW Lounges were in this scheme. Most of the SP trains upgrading to LW equipment in 1942 and TTG paint didn't need these cars, although a handful were painted in TTG to match their regular assignments. A number of these cars were still painted in the this DOG scheme when these cars were retired.
It may seem plain, but this scheme is one of my personal favorites for the 75-CS Lounge cars, with the larger "LOUNGE" lettering directly below the car's reporting marks on the car side. It probably provides the most flexibility to the prototype model/operator of any scheme that GGD will be offering for the 75-CS Lounge cars.
It may seem plain, but this scheme is one of my personal favorites for the 75-CS Lounge cars, with the larger "LOUNGE" lettering directly below the car's reporting marks on the car side. It probably provides the most flexibility to the prototype model/operator of any scheme that GGD will be offering for the 75-CS Lounge cars.
I should add that I've fielded a number of questions about the SP 2946, "Oliver Millet", which was a 'famous car' regular on the Del Monte to Monterey, named for the car's regular attendant for over 20 years. Sadly the 2946 was a very unique HW Lounge, one of only two I know of that were fitted with "Daylight-style" wide picture windows. However, I do believe that the SP 2937 was used as it's regular protection car on the Del Monte assignment, per my discussion on the SP 2946 in my blog on the SP's HW Lounge Statistics.
SP 2940 Two-Tone Gray - 8/1954 - And this is the replacement general scheme for all SP HW cars in 1954. Some of the 75-CS Lounges were repainted before they were retired. From photos, it looks like the SP stopped putting the "LOUNGE" car type lettering under the car number and put the smaller "LOUNGE" at the ends of the letterboards.
72-O-1 SMOKER-OBSERVATIONS
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| GGD's 72-O-1 Observations announced 20250701 |
Oh, I like this version of the announcement with notes of what cars are planned.
O-WRR&N 1590 - this is the last scheme that the Oregon - Washington Railroad & Navigation Company observation wore before it was converted into a coach in 1943. I wish I knew a bit more about O-WRR&N and how they used this car. It would also be interesting to know more about what happened to the O-WRR&N's passenger trains relating to the curtailment of the lounge and observation cars and also the discontinuance of many secondary passenger trains in January 1942 due to the war.
SP 2804 & CP 2902 1913-1917 - the early SP lettering scheme with the car number only over the trucks. I'm not sure how many modelers will be surprised to learn how elements of this lettering plan resurfaced in the SP's June 1946 scheme, but with the reporting marks centered on the car-side. While the details of this scheme scream early 20th century. I'm sure many modelers will pick this scheme up and use it post-1946 too.
I believe that the only time post-1930 that SP used this lettering arrangement was on trains like The Challenger, which placed a train logo mid-car, forcing the reporting marks to move back over the trucks. Some 60-P-series full RPOs also went with reporting marks over the trucks too into the 1950s.
I believe that the only time post-1930 that SP used this lettering arrangement was on trains like The Challenger, which placed a train logo mid-car, forcing the reporting marks to move back over the trucks. Some 60-P-series full RPOs also went with reporting marks over the trucks too into the 1950s.
SPL 2807 & (SPL) CP 2903 1917-1924 - the later SPL lettering scheme with reporting marks over each truck, this would be the scheme before these cars were rebuilt to 77-D-2s between 1921-1924. This is the pre-1928 version, which has the subsidiary's reporting marks. After 1928-1930 the SP consolidated the whole of the Pacific Lines under the SP's reporting marks, some cars taking a couple years to get the lettering changes worked in to actually being applied to the cars.
SP 2901 TTG 1946 - interesting, looks like this is marked as "Fict" so GGD is recognizing that this is a fantasy scheme. The model looks good for anyone really wanting to have a TTG observation car. Prototypically, the SP really only had clerestory-type observations, with the post-1930 observation cars (80-O-1, etc). Those cars lasted into the TTG era, but they started by reusing the (then) consolidated 72-O-1 numbering series at SP 2902. So, I can see how an offering of the SP 2901 would work to try to shoe-horn this fantasy car into the rest of the SP's numbering system.
Edit 20250705: I did poke around a bit more and found that the SP did have a couple of Cafe-Observations - totally different floor plan - which were built as wooden cars, continued into WWII and were rebuilt as dining cars. The later group of those Cafe-Observations were built as steel cars and lasted as rebuilt (closed-end) Cafe-Lounges into the early 1950s. So until yesterday, I didn't know that the SP even had Cafe-Observation cars! Yes, they do look weird.
Edit 20250705: I did poke around a bit more and found that the SP did have a couple of Cafe-Observations - totally different floor plan - which were built as wooden cars, continued into WWII and were rebuilt as dining cars. The later group of those Cafe-Observations were built as steel cars and lasted as rebuilt (closed-end) Cafe-Lounges into the early 1950s. So until yesterday, I didn't know that the SP even had Cafe-Observation cars! Yes, they do look weird.
72-IC-1 COMMUTE "SUB"s - New announcement 2025-07-07!
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| GGD's 72-IC-1 "Subs" announced 20250707 |
This looks like most of the announcement for the GGD V2.0 "Subs" or "Commute" cars that the SP used for nearly 60 years on the Commute district between San Francisco and San Jose, California. The cars have the expected paint schemes: from SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES before 1946, to the SOUTHERN PACIFIC of June 1946, to the Two-Tone Gray of 1954, then the "Solid" Dark Lark Gray of 1958/59 through till the end in 1985. A number of tourist lines still own these cars after they were retired from SP/CalTrain service in 1985.
It looks like they're also doing the military recruitment cars. There was one for the Navy, one for the Marines and one for the Army, effectively operating in the Commute pool as rolling billboards for Uncle Sam going into the Korean "conflict" (cough-war-cough).
IN CLOSING
As not everything on the GGD website's drop-down ordering menu is shown in these announcement artworks, I'm guessing there's still more on the way... (?) If there are, I'll come back to this blog-post and break down the artwork that is announced.
Jason Hill
Jason Hill
Related Articles:
SP Passenger Car Statistics - (Part 1) Dining Cars (1930s-1950s) - More in-depth car-by-car research on the SP's HW Dining Cars (data-roster info from SPHTS Passenger Cars Vol.4 book), with extra assignment data from various sources.
SP Passenger Car Statistics - (Part 2) Lounge Cars (1930s-1950s) - More in-depth car-by-car research on the SP's HW 'Full' Lounge Cars (data-roster info from SPHTS Passenger Cars Vol.5 book), with extra assignment data from various sources.
I'll do a Part 3 of the SP Passenger Car Statistics blog series on the prototype history when I see a bit more on the GGD 72-C-1 series coaches.
SP Diners 1937-1960 Timeline Graphic of SP Paint Schemes - A chart for a more visual formatting of the SPH&TS Passenger Car Vol.4 Dining Car data.
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