Old Postcard Wednesday--The Shasta Limited at Shasta Springs, California

This is a cut-out of lower left corner of postcard. Click on either image to enlarge.

Shasta Springs was the name of a popular summer resort on the Upper Sacramento River, during the late Nineteenth Century and early Twentieth Century. It was located just north of the town of Dunsmuir, and just north of Upper Soda Springs along the Siskiyou Trail in northern California.

The resort was on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and natural springs on the property were the original sources of the water and beverages that became known as the Shasta brand of soft drinks*.

The resort closed in the early 1950s when it was sold and continues to be owned by the Saint Germain Foundation, and is used as a major facility by that organization. It is no longer open to the public and the lower part of the resort- the bottling plant, the train station, the incline railway, the kiosk and the fountains are all gone. The falls that were visible from the railroad tracks and what ruins are left of the lower part of the resort are all overgrown by blackberry bushes. [Source: Wikipedia (emphasis added)]

It is not easy to hone in on concrete information about The Shasta Limited. I am tempted to check back later for this currently Out-of-Stock book printed by Southern Pacific Railroad titled: THE ROAD OF A THOUSAND WONDERS. The Coast line-Shasta Route of the Southern Pacific from Los Angeles through San Francisco, to Portland, A Journey of Over One Thousand Three Hundred Miles.

The sketchy information I found about The Shasta Limited is from the Mount Shasta Annotated Bibliography that mentions a book printed in 1914 by Southern Pacific Company titled, The Shasta Route, in which there is a list of photographs included in the book. One of them is "A Shasta Route Limited Train at Edgewood Station, California." Evidently The Shasta Limited was a small, scenic route spun off from or a part of the larger Coast Line-Shasta Route known as The Road of a Thousand Wonders.

Wikipedia has information about the train that replaced The Shasta Limited, known as The Shasta Daylight, in which The Shasta Limited is mentioned. The article is extensive and I'm posting only a portion here (some emphasis is mine):

The Shasta Daylight was an upgraded replacement for the famed Shasta Limited that had traversed the Shasta Route in various forms since October 21, 1895. The first Shasta followed the original routing through the Siskiyou Mountains, via Medford, Grants Pass, and Roseburg, Oregon. This line featured steep grades and sharp curves which proved a disadvantage to the Southern Pacific. . .

The Shasta Daylight was a train operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was inaugurated on July 10, 1949 between Oakland Pier in Oakland, California and Portland, Oregon and was SP's third set of "Daylight" lightweight streamlined trains. The new Shasta Daylight operated on a fast 15 hour 30 minute schedule in either direction for the 713 mile trip through some of the most beautiful and spectacular mountain scenery of any train in North America. The new Shasta Daylight replaced heavyweight trains named the Shasta on the same route that had required nearly a full day and night to complete the run. The Shasta Daylight was the first diesel powered Daylight to enter service and the first and only Daylight to operate in interstate service. All other Southern Pacific Daylights would operate solely within the state of California. The scenic route of the Shasta Daylight passed by its namesake mountain in daylight hours; in fact, the Shasta Daylights ran on the very flanks of Mount Shasta. . .

. . . 
Service withdrawn

Southern Pacific asked for permission to not operate the train in 1966 but, after hearings along the line, were ordered to provide service for that summer. This ruling, noting the train was to operate for 1966 was to prove to be a loophole when SP announced the Shasta Daylight would not operate in the summer of 1967. The Oregon PUC protested but the remains of the Shasta Daylight now ceased operations. Russell's handpicked successor, Benjamin F. Biaggini claimed "...the cold fact looms that the long-distance passenger train is dead and no amount of prayer or wishful thinking can bring it back to life."^... Labor Day saw the final runs of SP's former "sweetheart."

Chair cars from the Shasta Daylight had already been transferred to the Cascade, which after this time became the sole passenger service on the Shasta Route. But it too had already been downgraded from an all-Pullman service with a triple-unit diner and would itself become a triweekly train in 1970. That it was able to survive up to the creation of Amtrak proved a savior to west coast rail passenger service although Mount Shasta is passed in the dark of night. . .

Today's Coast Starlight is a reminder of what the Shasta Daylight once offered.

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