For the NMRA National Train Show last year in Philadelphia, we published a booklet that had a little blurb about Southern Pacific Daylight passenger cars that we are planning. There has been little else said about this, and it's time to be a bit more specific about what we are planning.

Basically, we are making the 1937 Southern Pacific Daylight. These were two specific trains that traveled daily between San Francisco and Los Angeles via the SP Coast line.

Train #98 and Train #99 had specific consists that will be faithfully recreated with the Athearn Genesis Daylight cars.

Train #98

Chair Baggage #3300 (Class 77-CB-1)

Chair #2400 (Class 77-C-1)

Articulated Chair #2402-2403, #2404-2405, #2406-2407 (Class 64ACW-1 and 64-ACM-1)

Tavern Coffee Shop #10310 (Class 77-T-1) Diner #10200 (Class 77-D-10) Parlor #3000 (Class 77-PR-1) Tavern #10312 (Class 77-T-2) Coffee Shop #10400 (Class 77-D-11) Parlor Observation #2950 (Class 77-PRO-1)

Train #99

Chair Baggage #3301 (Class 77-CB-1)

Chair #2401 (Class 77-C-1)

Articulated Chair #2408-2409, #2410-2411, #2412-2407 (Class 64ACW-1 and 64-ACM-1)

Tavern Coffee Shop #10311 (Class 77-T-1) Diner #10201 (Class 77-D-10) Parlor #3001 (Class 77-PR-1) Tavern #10313 (Class 77-T-2) Coffee Shop #10401 (Class 77-D-11) Parlor Observation #2951 (Class 77-PRO-1)

Tooling for the Chair car, #3300 and #3301 is nearly complete. To whet your appetite, we have a few photos of the car, showing how we are progressing. We have some "tweaks" still to do, but we are definitely making progress. It's a long and arduous process to get a good passenger car designed, tooled, finished and into your hands, and we think they'll be worth the wait. Enjoy these photos?we'll have more when we get decorated samples.

Note also the photos of the de-skirted version. We'll have those in the future, with all the appropriate road names and paint schemes. Also look for these cars (both with and without skirts) as the 77' General Service passenger car variant, in the original pullman green livery, or in the two-tone gray of the Challenger and Overland, the yellow and gray of the City trains and the Overland, and even in the red and silver scheme of Golden State.

Check out these un-retouched photos (of a REAL car, actually in our office).

Note the working full width diaphragm.