Lines in California with pre Amtrak intercity service that Amtrak never served

I curious as to what routes in California possibly had passenger service prior to Amtrak and no longer do(I am excluding the Desert Wind as that was cutback under Amtrak).

The list I could come up with is actually pretty short compared to other regions of the country like New England.

1. Feather River Canyon route
2. Service from Niland off the Sunset Route to El Centro and Calexico in the Imperial Valley
3. Tehacapi Pass
4. San Diego & Arizona Eastern
5. Central Valley service on the SP now UP line(Present day service exists on the parallel BNSF line)

Anyways curious as to what I might have missed.

Los Angeles to San Bernardino via Riverside on the UP.

SP DEL MONTE service (on the coast line) from Salinas to Pacific Grove ... losing Monterey
AT&SF Tehachapi from Bakersfield to Barstow ... San Francisco Chief

If you mean exactly 50 years ago, some of them are here, such as San Francisco-Monterey, California Del Monte mentioned above:
https://csanders429.wordpress.com/passe ... n-pacific/ Look at the sidebar for other lines. I imagine there is a complete source somewhere, or maybe that is it.

Earlier times, you'll find many routes, when trains were the common way to travel. There were two different trains to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, for example: https://www.santacruztrains.com/2019/09 ... ecial.html

Northwestern Pacific?

Barstow to Bakersfield (AT&SF) part of the SF Chief's route.

The Del Monte left the main line at Castroville, less than 10 miles north of Salinas. I was on the last run of 126 from Castroville to Monterey, with stops at Ord (Fort Ord), Del Monte and Monterey.

Today's San Joaquins use ex-SP from Emeryville to Port Chicago, then ex-AT&SF (The SF Chief used AT&SF Richmond to Port Chicago). The Sacramento trains use ex-SP tracks to Stockton.

tpsmyth01 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:52 amThe list I could come up with is actually pretty short compared to other regions of the country like New England.

Actually, as a side note, New England didn't really lose that much on A-Day. Passenger service on the B&M outside the Boston commuter zone ended by 1967. That included the joint NH/B&M/CV Montrealer/Washingtonian and all service to Maine. The only routes that lost service completely in 1971 were Danbury-Pittsfield on the ex-NH Berkshire Route (served at that time by a Fri-Sun only train to/from GCT), Springfiled-Albany on the B&A, and Worcester-New London on the ex-NH. Everything else was either gone already or operated by the Canadian Pacific and thus not folded in.

The real serious train-offs occurred in the Midwest, so far as I know, with places like Columbus losing all rail service.

Mr. Ridgefield, Columbus, OH had Amtrak service A-Day to Carter Cuts Nov '79

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:58 am Mr. Ridgefield, Columbus, OH had Amtrak service A-Day to Carter Cuts Nov '79

National Limited, trains 30/31. Some of the worst track in intercity passenger service.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:58 am Mr. Ridgefield, Columbus, OH had Amtrak service A-Day to Carter Cuts Nov '79

Bigger point is still valid though, no? Bulk of A-day cuts were to Midwestern routes of the PC/IC/GTW/CNW/etc.

Just to add some I missed and this may be in more the category of the Desert Wind i.e. post-Amtrak, you also had the conversion of the LA Union Station to Pasadena line( and the removal of the Southwest Chief) to light rail. Also the SD & AE between San Diego and the Mexican border was also converted to light rail.

Quick question did the SD & AE use the Santa Fe Station currently used by Amtrak or did they have a different terminal in San Diego?

SP from Fresno to Oakland via the West Side of the valley through Los Banos, Dos Palos, Newman, and Patterson, traversed by Nos. 57 and 58 (?), the Owl, during nighttime hours, from LA to Oakland. I don't know whether it lasted until A-day minus 1. I've sometimes wondered whether it handled anything besides mail at those points.