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Southern Pacific Lines
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Here is the Southern Pacific in all its glory and in its final years before merging into Union Pacific. Such great passenger trains as the Sunset Limited, The Daylights, Cascade, and others are all covered here as is the famous fast freight train known as the Blue Streak Merchandise and its assorted running mates.

1994 Profile of Southern Pacific Lines

Mileage: 8991

Locomotives: 1665

Freight cars 32,363

Company Service: 1154

Passenger cars(1970) 407

Major Terminals: Roseville, Eugene, Portland, Los Angeles,Tuscon, San Antonio, Dallas,Houston, New Orleans,

Memphis (via Cotton Belt),St.Louis,Chicago.
The principal subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad was the St.Louis Southwestern Railway, better known as the Cotton Belt Route, whose profile for 1994 is as follows:
Mileage: 2375
Locomotives: 307
Freight cars, 17,407
Major Terminals: Memphis, St. Louis, Texarkana, Pine Bluff,Fort Worth. The Cotton Belt gained fame for its Blue Streak Merchandise family of fast freight trains headed up by the Blue Streak Merchandise itself. This freight train operated for 60 years hustling high priority freight from Memphis and St. Louis to Los Angeles and other points on the Southern Pacific system. For many years right up to the end, the two railroads operated essentially as one in operation.Southern Pacific train symboling was done as follows:
First Number was the blocking code:
0 pure   train
1first alternate
2.second alternate
3.third alternate and so  on.
Second number was the section number   for the train,whenever it was run in 2 or more sections. This was  followed by two pairs of letters of which the first indicated the originating terminal and the  second,  the train's final destination while the  last letter indicated the  type of     train. The  following are the train type codes used by SP:
AB loaded autoparts
HJ empty autoparts
K-chemical
D-drag
E-general   service empties
FG   forwarder
L-loaded unit trains
N-empty unit  trains
M-mail
P-perishable
R-empty reefers
S-sugar  beets
Q sugar beet empties
TC-Trailers and Containers
YZWV  General  merchandise
This was revised in 1985 as follows:
A-Amtrak
B-M/W
C-unit coal  train (loaded or empty)
D-Detour
F-Forwarder
G unit   grain train (loaded or empty)
I-Interchange
J-Joint  operations
L-Local
M-General Merchandise
O-Officer special
P-paper or unit  potash train (loaded or empty)
Q-Sprint  Train
R-Road Switcher
S-Unit sulphur train (loaded or empty)
T-TOFC/COFC
U- other unit train   (loaded or emtpy)
V-Perishable
W-work  train
X-extra or   drag  train
Y-yard job
Z-light engines
Thus, 01BRLAT is   first section of Brooklyn-Los Angeles TOFC/COFC if train to be run in  more than one sectionn. The famous oddball exception to this rule would be the MBSMFF, Memphis Blue Streak Merchandise Freight Forwarder,which was one member of the Blue Streak Merchandise fast    freight train family,which by 1985,contained  several members.

Sample Freight Schedules-SSW-SP
Table 1.BSM  Pine Bluff-Los Angeles-Portland
Lv Pine Bluff     0545     Day 1
Lv Corsicana    1225     Day 1
Ar San Antonio 1740    Day 1
LvSan Antonio  1750   Day 1
Ar El Paso (CT)  0430   Day 2
Lv El Paso (MT) 0400   Day 2
Ar Tuscon           1135   Day 2
Ar Phoenix          2330   Day 2
Ar Los Angeles  2230   Day 3 PT
Ar San Francisco 0100 Day 4
Ar Oakland          0300   Day 4
Ar Portland          1130  Day 5
Table 2. ABSM Pine Bluff  to  Los Angeles
Lv Pine Bluff               1400  Day 1
Lv Corsicana              2245  Day 1
Lv San Antonio          0700  Day 2
Ar  El Paso (CT)         2200  Day 2
Lv El Paso  (MT)        2200   Day 2
Ar Tuscon                   0845   Day 3
Ar Phoenix                  2330   Day 3
Ar Los Angeles          2000   Day 3
Table 3.MSE Los Angeles   to East St. Louis
Lv Los Angeles          0700  Day 1
Ar El Paso (MT)           0400  Day 2
Lv El Paso (CT)           0530  Day 2
Lv San Antonio           1930  Day 2
Lv Corsicana               0200  Day 3
Ar Pine Bluff                1000  Day 3
Lv Pine Bluff               1700  Day 3
Ar E. St. Louis             0500  Day 4