Freelancing a Train: Meet the 'Gateway Passenger' #109/110

Setting the Stage

In the real world of the 1950s passenger and freight trains were made up for the needs of the cities, towns, passengers and customers they served.  In a freelanced world, such as my layout, trains should exist and operate to the exact same rules as the prototypes on which they are based.  The Overland Terminal Railway, the freelanced independently-operated terminal railway company, manages the busy depot at Cascadia, a fictional city in the Pacific Northwest based on Portland, Oregon.  At the other end of the operation is Monte Vista, also a fictional town in Central California based loosely on Stockton, the Central Valley with architectural accents of San Bernardino in its depot and the packing houses of Riverside and Orange Counties. 

Being two major hubs connecting several railroads to points east and north/south, the mainlines connecting Monte Vista and Cascadia, and on to Washington, generate a lot of passenger and freight traffic.  In Monte Vista, much like Stockton, Western Pacific (WP) interchanges with Santa Fe (ATSF), while Southern Pacific serves the town too.  My fictional version of this town also grants Union Pacific (UP) trackage rights because, well, I like UP.

Cascadia is a major fictional city, about the same size as Portland or Seattle, set somewhere near the Washington-Oregon border.  Operating primarily on the north/south corridor, Cascadia is the intersection of SP/UP mainlines to the south and east with Northern Pacific (NP), Great Northern (GN), Spokane Portland & Seattle (SP&S) to Seattle and Spokane.  Major competitors who share track and customers, UP/SP have a virtual monopoly of passenger and freight business between Cascadia and Monte Vista.  Similarly, the Hill Lines (NP, GN, SP&S) have a monopoly on traffic between Cascadia and the Washington hubs.  Necessity means these lines interchange to get passengers and freight up and down the West Coast.  

Enter the Competition

The lucrative business between the three major hubs of my model railroad - Monte Vista, Cascadia and Washington - requires competition to serve it.  The route between Chicago, St. Paul and Seattle, for example, was a fierce battle between GN, NP and Milwaukee Road.  Each had famous passenger trains:

• GN: Empire Builder, Western Star and Fast Mail
• NP: North Coast Limited, Mainstreeter
• Milwaukee: Olympian Hiawatha, Columbian

Because GN and NP had the same owner and controlled both the SP&S and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q), creating a virtual monopoly on its corridor, Milwaukee was its only real competitor for traffic on this route.

Similarly, Southern Pacific (SP) had a virtual monopoly on all traffic between Portland and California, while UP had the most direct east-west line into Portland from Chicago.  Name trains on these routes were:

• SP: Shasta Daylight (all coach), Cascade (overnight), Klamath (Mail &Express)
• UP: City of Portland (premier coach and Pullman), Portland Rose (secondary passenger, Mail & Express), Idahoan (M&E to Omaha)

To compete for north-south traffic against the SP octopus, GN, WP and ATSF formed an alliance and built a mainline, opening in 1931.  Called the 'Inside Gateway,' this corridor competed with SP by giving ATSF and WP, with partner GN, a direct route into Portland.  Similarly, as a condition of the full merger of the Hill Lines (NP, GN, SP&S, CB&Q) into the Burlington Northern in 1970, the ICC stipulated that they grant Milwaukee trackage rights into Portland in the interest of healthy competition.

Now, using the history of California to Portland and Washington as a guide, the same competitors would be in play, but the freelanced reality of my operation forces some interpretation of how this competition would play out in my railroad hubs. The exigencies of passenger and freight business, along with its geography, necessitates some unique trains among these competitors.  In this freelanced world, necessity dictates that the Inside Gateway is a major line for both passenger and freight traffic, while the line to Washington grants Milwaukee Road direct access to Cascadia via trackage rights agreement.  (Note: For its entire life, the GN mainline between Seattle and Portland was shared with NP, SP&S and granted trackage rights to rival UP dating to 1888 and operating to this day).  Railroads being highly regulated, maintaining healthy competition is at the core of so many of these regulations.

In the world of my railroad connecting big fictional cities of Monte Vista and Cascadia, the SP built a dedicated mainline out of Klamath Falls, the Cascade Line.  Similarly, GN+WP+ATSF built a competing Inside Gateway line from Klamath Falls to Cascadia.  Accordingly, this Inside Gateway is a busy line, where ATSF and WP operate both passenger and freight trains between Monte Vista and Cascadia.  Milwaukee's trackage rights on the GN fiercely competes with the Hill Lines for passenger and freight business between Cascadia and Washington.

Introducing the 'Gateway Passenger' Trains #109/110

The major fictional cities on my layout - Monte Vista somewhere in Central California and Cascadia somewhere near the Washington-Oregon line - are major markets and cities with their own mainlines.  Cascadia being a major interchange between the northbound Hill Lines (Northern Pacific, Great Northern mainly, but also SP&S) and southbound Southern Pacific and Union Pacific, there is fierce competition for routes north, south and east.  Often, the Hill Lines interchanges with Southern Pacific (SP) and Union Pacific (UP), but competition gave rise to a new player: The Inside Gateway.

Trains 109 (timetable 'west', compass north)/110 (timetable 'east,' compass south) began life in 1949, as the volume of Mail & Express (M&E) and overnight passenger between Monte Vista, Cascadia and Washington demanded a line competing with SP/UP.  Throughout the 1950s, Trains 109/110, called the 'Gateway Passenger,' handled all north/south mail traffic for ATSF, connecting with Fast Mail (#7/8). M&E accounted for most of the consist and the train's profitability, while through sleeper service provided a vital connection for passengers from the Southwest to the Northwest.

The train also provided interline service with ATSF's crack San Francisco Chief, picking up through sleepers (typically 10-6 'Pine' Series and/or 6-6-4 from the through sleeper pool), and the WP California Zephyr (CB&Q 'Silver Butte' 10-6 sleeper was assigned to this pool) in Stockton.  Additionally, the train carried a heavyweight sleeper from Monte Vista from either the Pullman or ATSF pools.  Most often, a 12-1 heavyweight sleeper acted as rider coach/tourist accommodation with the conductor occupying the car's drawing room.  As an overnight train, the Gateway Passenger rarely offered lounge or food service.

Typical Consist - Motive Power

WP being the primary operator north from Stockton, one of its locomotives was typically on the point, having the cab controls necessary to handle the line's signals.  Occasionally a GN locomotive performed this role.  The rest of the train, however, was predominantly Santa Fe, who supplied its equipment.  Here is a typical power lashup for the Gateway Passenger awaiting departure from Monte Vista depot:

Western Pacific 801-D, acquired as reserve power for the California Zepher, rarely saw service on that train.  This is the perfect unit to lead the Gateway Passenger, being frequently seen on trains on this route.  Sans steam generator, this workhorse carried a WP crew to operate on the line from Monte Vista to Cascadia.  Trailing 801-D is a pair of ATSF F-7s in Warbonnet livery and an passenger GP-7.

ATSF 2652 was modified in Santa Fe shops in 1952 for local and auxiliary passenger duty in the Road's Los Angeles Division.  As passenger locals were vacated from the timetable in 1953-54, these units were released for pool duty.  #2652, a customized Athearn Genesis F-7, has steam generators removed from FTs, along with water tanks and other appropriate modifications for passenger duty exactly like its prototype.  Here the unit is regularly assigned to the Gateway Passenger pool when extra power is needed.

Typical Consist - Revenue Service

Today's train, dated November 20, 1956, is moving holiday passengers for Thanksgiving and M&E to Cascadia and sleeper transfer onto the GN Streamliner to Seattle and Spokane.  Some M&E will transfer onto the GN Streamliner and NP Mainstreeter, while much of it will terminate in Cascadia.  Today's consist is typical of holiday trains in 1955-56:

Gateway Passenger #109 to Cascadia

November 20-21, 1956

Car                                 Road Name/#              Routing                                Lading     

Express Reefer               WP  258                       San Jose to Cascadia            Fruit

Express Reefer               WP 253                        San Jose to Cascadia            Fruit

Express Reefer               REA 7788                    Monte Vista to Cascadia      Citrus

Express Box                   GN 2532                      Monte Vista to Cascadia       Merchandise

60' Mail/Express            PRR 2548                    Stockton to Cascadia             Newspapers & Magazines

Mail Storage                  GN 225                        Monte Vista to Washington   Locked Mail

Express Messenger        CB&Q 1031                Monte Vista to Washington   Messenger Express

Express Baggage           ATSF                            Los Angeles to Cascadia       REA Express

Express Baggage           NP 1594                       Monte Vista to Washington   Express

12-1 Sleeper as Coach   ATSF  McGrady          Monte Vista to Cascadia       Rider Coach

6-6-4 Sleeper                 ATSF  'Valley'              Stockton to Cascadia            Through from SF Chief

These rare Western Pacific REA Express Reefers are typically assigned to the Gateway Passenger to carry citrus from San Jose, via Monte Vista to Cascadia's express terminal for grocery and restaurant customers.  Following these is a REA express Reefer carrying citrus for these customers.

These two special duty cars frequently appear on the Gateway Passenger.  Great Northern 2532 in Merchandise Service is an Express box equipped for passenger trains and carries holiday retail merchandise for Cascadia's department stores.  PRR 2548 is one of its pool of 60' Mail/Express box cars carrying newspapers and magazines from New York to Cascadia.  When empty it is deadheaded back to the PRR on special foreign road deadhead movements. Following this car is GN heavyweight mail storage car #225, which will transfer onto the GN Streamliner in Cascadia to Spokane.

CB&Q #1031, a recently-delivered Havelock 85' streamlined star baggage car in Pullman Green is a regular on the Gateway Passenger.  The Star designating messenger service, this car picks up and drops express parcels at stops along its route.  These cars frequently appeared on NP's Mainstreeter, and today's car will transfer onto this famous NP train in Cascadia.

                                    

Just outshopped and freshly painted in NP's new Loewy two-tone green scheme, truss-rod braced #1594 carries express parcels bound for Washington on NP's Mainstreeter.  This pristine car will transfer onto the famous NP train in Cascadia.  NP, like most Western railroads, maintained and operated its heavyweight fleet well into the the 1960s. Such cars were the bulk of their secondary train fleets throughout the 1950s, often getting updated livery to promote their railroad's modern passenger train image.

Concluding Remarks

Every passenger train timetable has its remarks section, and here's mine.  Competing directly against Southern Pacific's near monopoly of north-south passenger and freight service between Monte Vista and Cascadia, the GN+WP+ATSF Gateway Passenger train was a frequent visitor to Cascadia until its termination in 1960.  Created according to the needs of this fictional town, the largest city in Oregon outside Portland, Trains 109/110 were the workhorses of the Inside Gateway into Cascadia.  Equipped with cars and power pooled from its partner roads, the Gateway Passenger was always a colorful 'Rainbow Train' of the 1950s.  In fact, such rainbow trains were not an Amtrak invention, as it is so often asserted, but rather the norm of secondary trains of the 1950s with interline service to the east, south and north.  

The Inside Gateway Passenger is just one of the unique trains serving the vital line between Monte Vista and Cascadia.  Future posts will introduce the Milwaukee Olympian and Columbian, UP and SP's partner trains to Washington that competed with  the Hill Lines for lucrative passenger and mail business between St. Paul/Chicago and Seattle.  If Cascadia were a real place, these Milwaukee trains would have been very likely players on this route.  

Also to be introduced will be SP's Cascadia Daylight and Cascadia Lark - both operated separately from the famous Shasta Daylight and Cascade between Oakland and Portland, while the Klamath operated Cascadia-bound sections.  As a major market in its own right, SP offered separate trains to this terminus, just as the Owl, San Joaquin Daylight and West Coast served the San Joaquin Valley Line while their more famous sisters served the scenic Coast Line.  Operating over the fictional 'Cascade Division,' which diverged from Klamath Falls to Cascadia, the Cascadian sisters to the more famous Portland trains were far more interesting to see in action because of their varied consists of second-hand equipment.  

Stay tuned for more colorful passenger trains. . .