Forty-Niner Farewell
The Sierra Forty-Niner
Express
Not many outside of California
ever heard of the Forty-Niner Express, and not surprisingly! This
privately-owned and operated luxury train, which ran between San Jose California
and Reno, Nevada, operated for less than six months before being discontinued
due to passenger disinterest.
The Forty-Niner Express,
owned and operated by Transisco Tours (which also operated the successful
Texas
Southern Dinner Train), featured three ex-Burlington Northern F45 locomotives
and a trainset of rebuilt ex-Southern Pacific gallery cars that had previously
seen service on SP's San Francisco-San Jose commuter operation.
Though the train was well-publicized,
passenger loadings were disappointing from the start. This was due mostly
to Transisco's lack of understanding of the market they were trying to
serve. While Bay Area residents indeed wanted a comfortable and worry-free
means of traveling to the gambling dens of Reno, they didn't want to spend
a lot of money to get there. And the Forty-Niner Express was no economy-class
service. Those that did ride (including this author's parents) were treated
to full-length dome-lounges and picture-windowed booth seating in the dining
car. One could even dance to a live band on the Forty-Niner's dance car.
In spite of the lavish
amenities on the Sierra Forty-Niner Express, the train ran up huge amounts
of red ink for owner Transisco. Thus, on April 28, 1991, a scant five months
after its December 7, 1990 inauguration, the Sierra Forty-Niner Express
made its final run between Reno and San Jose, a full week before the advertised
"last run."
In the photo above F45
No.1002 leads the final westbound Express out of Tunnel --
at Newcastle, California, in the Sierra foothills. The photo below illustrates
the poor passenger loads, with a live band playing to an empty dance floor
in the train's Dance Car.
- Ken Rattenne
Photo Details
The main image was shot with a Nikon FM2
using a 75-210 Nikon E-Series lens using Kodachrome 64, exposed at 1/500th
at 5.6. The second photo was shot with a Minlta SRT 101 with a Rokkor 50
mm lens using Kodak 400 print film. Exposure is unknown.
Text
and photographs copyright © 1999-2018 by Ken Rattenne & KPR Media
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