Argonaut (train)

The Argonaut was Southern Pacific´s secondary transcontinetal train, which was inaugurated in the 1920´s, and operated between New Orleans and Los Angeles over Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson and Palm Springs until his discontinuance in 1961. While the Sunset Limited was the premier SP train on the Sunset Route and probably on the whole SP system, the Argonaut was always a secondary train, which ran on a slower timetable as the Sunset Limited. He needed 50 hours between New Orleans and Los Angeles, while the Sunset Limited needed only 42. Unlike the Sunset Limited, who was made for first class luxury passenger travel, the Argonaut was always a train for economy travel, carrying mostly standard coaches and few standard sleepers, allowing normal people to enjoy transcontinental rail travel at moderate prices but with full dining and sleeping car service. Too, he was one of the very last transcontinental passenger trains in the USA to be streamlined. This happened as late as 1955. Before 1955, the train was made of olive green and black heavyweight passenger cars, pulled by steam locomotives like the GS-1 4-8-4 or MT-4 4-8-2, sometimes even a Cab Forward 4-8-8-2. In his last years, the train was made of silver and red streamliner cars (like the Sunset Limited), and was pulled by EMD F-7 or Alco PA/PB diesel locomotives.