Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Railroad {{Reporting mark|SP}} was an American railroad. The railroad was founded as a land holding company in 1865, forming part of the Central Pacific Railroad empire.

Locomotive paint and appearance

Like most railroads, the SP painted the majority of its steam locomotive fleet black during the 20th century, but after the 1930s the SP had a policy of painting the front of the locomotive's smokebox light silver (almost white in appearance), with graphite colored sides, for visibility.

Related Topics:
Steam locomotive - 20th century - Smokebox

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Some express passenger steam locomotives bore the Daylight scheme, named after the trains they hauled, most of which had the word Daylight in the train name. This scheme, carried in full on the tender, consisted of a bright, almost vermilion red on the top and bottom thirds, with the center third being a bright orange. The parts were separated with thin white bands. Some of the color continued along the locomotive. The most famous Daylight-hauled trains were the Coast Daylight and the Sunset Limited.

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Southern Pacific was famous for its cab-forward steam locomotives. These were essentially 2-8-8-4 locomotives set up to run in reverse, with the tender attached to the smokebox end of the locomotive. Southern Pacific used a number of snow sheds in mountain terrain, and locomotive crews nearly asphyxiated from smoke blowing back to the cab. After a number of engineers began running their engines in reverse (pushing the tender), Southern Pacific asked Baldwin Locomotive Works to produce cab-forward designs. No other North American railroad ordered cab-forward locomotives, which became a distinctive symbol of the Southern Pacific.

Related Topics:
2-8-8-4 - Tender - Baldwin Locomotive Works

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During the early days of diesel locomotive use, they were also painted black. Yard switchers had diagonal orange stripes painted on the ends for visibility, earning this scheme the nickname of Tiger Stripe.

Related Topics:
Diesel locomotive - Switcher

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Road freight units were generally painted in a black scheme with a red band at the bottom of the carbody and a silver and orange "winged" nose. The words "SOUTHERN PACIFIC" were borne in a large serif font in white. This paint scheme is called the Black Widow scheme by railfans.

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A transitory scheme, of all-over black with orange "winged" nose, was called the Halloween scheme. Few locomotives were painted in this scheme and few photos of it exist.

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Most passenger units were painted originally in the Daylight scheme as described above, though some were painted red on top, silver below for use on the Golden State (operated in cooperation with the Rock Island Railroad) between Chicago and Los Angeles. Later, SP standardized on a paint scheme of dark grey with a red "winged" nose; this scheme was dubbed Bloody Nose by railfans. Lettering was again in white. After the merger with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, the side lettering became often done in the Rio Grande "speed lettering" style.

Related Topics:
Golden State - Rock Island Railroad - Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad

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Unlike many other railroads, whose locomotive numberboards bore the locomotive's number, the SP used them for the train number.

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