The California coast by Daylight

Transcribing letters to my Mom, I came across one from Ruby, who was stationed in Shoemaker, California and awaiting his discharge from the Navy. He brought his wife and baby from San Francisco to Los Angeles on January 18, 1946, on this famous train, the Daylight.

Here's what he writes:

We had a very pleasant trip for we traveled on a very good train, the Southern Pacific "Daylight." They've named the train very aptly for the entire trip is made in the daytime. We left San Francisco at 8:15 in the morning, and arrived in L.A. at six that day. The train is entirely air-conditioned and has two dining cars attached. The meals were very reasonable, but not very satisfying. They are just about enough to keep one from starving, but what more could one ask.

Sounds like a long but comfy trip. The food--well, as long as he was with his wife and daughter, who had only arrived in November after months and months of separation, he could tolerate anything.

On February 23, Sarah (Ruby's wife) sent Mom this postcard of the Daylight, raving about the train. Just a day or two earlier, she and the baby had taken the Daylight from L.A. to San Francisco, on their way to Sebastapol to live with cousins on a chicken farm. Quite a change for a girl from the Bronx.