Spirit of California

Spirit of California is also the name of aNorthrop Grumman B-2 Spirit

Spirit of California

TheSpirit of Californiaat Glendale station in 1982
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	California,United States
First service	October 25, 1981
Last service	September 30, 1983
Former operator(s)	Amtrak
Route
Termini	Los Angeles, California Sacramento, California
Stops	11
Distance travelled	552 miles (888 km)
Average journey time	12 hours, 50 minutes
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	15, 18
On-board services
Seating arrangements	Reserved coach
Sleeping arrangements	Bedrooms and roomettes
Catering facilities	Café
Technical
Rolling stock	Heritagesleepers Amfleetcoaches
Track gauge	4 ft8+1⁄2in(1,435 mm)standard gauge
Track owner(s)	SP
Route map Dist. Station 0mi Sacramento 14 mi 23 km Davis 40 mi 64 km Suisun-Fairfield 58 mi 93 km Martinez 77 mi 124 km Richmond 87 mi 140 km Oakland 129 mi 208 km San Jose 197 mi 317 km Salinas 331 mi 533 km San Luis Obispo 449 mi 723 km Santa Barbara 486 mi 782 km Oxnard 547 mi 880 km Glendale 552 mi 888 km Los Angeles

TheSpirit of Californiawas apassenger trainoperated byAmtrakbetweenLos AngelesandSacramento, California.It operated from 1981 to 1983 with financial support from the State of California. It was the first overnight service between the two cities since theSouthern Pacific Railroaddiscontinued theLarkin 1968 and one of few state-supported Amtrak trains withsleeper service.The train used the Southern Pacific'sCoast Line,complementing theCoast Starlightwhich served the route on a daytime schedule.

History

See also:Lark (train)

The last overnight service on the Southern Pacific's Coast Line was theLark,which ended on April 8, 1968. During the 1970s Amtrak operated theCoast Starlight,which departed Los Angeles every morning forSeattle,Washington.The southboundCoast Starlightarrived in theSan Francisco Bay Areain the morning and in Los Angeles by dinnertime, and at the time did not serve Sacramento, the state capital.

The new train departed Los Angeles at 8:25pm, arriving in Sacramento at 9:30am the next morning. The southbound train departed at 7:55pm and arrived at 9:00am the next day. The California Department of Transportation,Caltrans,budgeted $1.7 million towards the train's first year of operation and expected 160,000 passengers the first year, rising to 300,000 in five years. The train carried coaches, a cafe, and twosleeping cars.Service began on October 25, 1981. Caltrans held a naming contest, with the winner "Spirit of California" announced on December 24.

GovernorGeorge Deukme giancut funding for the train after taking office in January 1983. The train's supporters scrambled to find additional funding. A proposal to get funding from the state ofNevadain return for extending the train toRenodid not pass the Nevada legislature. TheSpirit of Californiawas discontinued in 1983, running for the final time on the night of September 30 – October 1, 1983.

Equipment

TheSpirit of California's usual consist was:

• EMD F40PHdiesel locomotive
• Heritagebaggage car
• Heritagesleeper
• Heritage sleeper
• AmfleetI café
• Amfleet Icoach(60-seat)
• Amfleet I coach (60-seat)

External links

• A Railfan's Memory of the Last Run of theSpirit of California