1951 Sunset Corridors

With Amtrak's 1998 Business Plan discussing primarily Corridors, rather than long-distance trains, it may be instructive to look at the "corridor" and long-distance services which Southern Pacific offered along the Sunset Route in 1951.

City Pair	1951 Roundtrips per week	1998 Roundtrips per week
San Antonio - New Orleans	21	3
Houston - New Orleans	28	3

Condensed from SP timetable dated April 29, 1951:

		# 4	# 2	# 44	# 6	# 40	# 4	# 8
		Golden State	Sunset Limited	"Passenger"	Argonaut	Imperial	Acadian	Alamo
		******	******	******	******	******
Los Angeles CA	Lv	1:30p	8:00p	8:05p	8:30p	11:30p
Phoenix AZ	Lv	10:40p	5:50a	8:15a	[via Gila]	12:30p
El Paso TX	Lv	7:15a	3:00p	8:35p	8:05p	10:50p
---------------		\|	\|	\|	\|	\|		******
San Antonio TX	Lv	\|	4:30a	\|	3:00p	\|	*****	11:00p
Houston TX	Lv	\|	8:40a	\|	10:00p	\|	8:30p	9:05a
New Orleans LA	Ar	\|	4:00p	\|	7:00a	\|	6:45a	7:45a
---------------		\|	*****	\|	******	\|	*****	******
Tucumcari NM*	Lv	2:49p		----------------->		7:20a
Kansas City MO*	Lv	1:50a				11:59p
---------------
Minneapolis MN*	Ar	6:30p				5:00p
---------------		******				******
Chicago IL*	Ar	11:45a
		******

* Via Rock Island Lines

NOTES:

Both the Acadian and the Golden State, quite different routes, were #3/4.
Sunset Limited carried through sleeper Dallas-LA via T&P (through Midland).
Today's Sunset Limited (dp LA 9:55p, ar NO 6:50p) follows the route of the 1951 Argonaut via the Gila Line (bypassing Phoenix), Lordsburg and Deming (the 1951 Sunset went through Douglas AZ and Hermanas NM, part of which is the modern-day SPSW and the rest of which was removed in the 1960s).

Population:

	ca. 1950	1994
	---------	---------
Los Angeles CA	2,243,901	3,448,613
Phoenix AZ	141,512	1,048,949	2,551,765 +
El Paso TX	130,485	579,307
San Antonio TX	408,442	998,905
Houston TX	596,163	1,702,086
New Orleans LA	570,445	484,149
Tucumcari NM	8,419	6,765 ++
Kansas City MO	456,622	443,878
Minneapolis MN	521,718	354,590
Chicago IL	3,620,962	2,731,743

Sources:

1959 Encyclopedia Brittanica World Atlas (1950 figures)
1998 Information Please Almanac (1994 Census Estimates)
+ 1995 Special Census, Phoenix Metro Area
++ 1988 Gousha Travel Planner