When Freight Trains Were In the Timetable

SP Train Number 378, the Pacific Coast Expediter at Salem, Oregon - August 1970

In the late Sixties and early Seventies, SP carded three eastbound mainfests to Portland. Above is train number 378, the Pacific Coast Expediter. This train was a staple of afternoon train watching on the Brooklyn Sub. It is one of those freight schedules that persist to the present day. Later incarnations of the this train would be called the LABRT, which would morph into the PCX. What UP calls it today, I don't know, but there is a good chance you will see an LA train enter Brooklyn in the late afternoon. Also in the timetable in 1970, were train 365 the Starpacer, and an Advance Starpacer. These were timed for early a.m. arrival in Portland. The Del Monte cannery on the left is long gone. In season it would fill the area with the aroma of green beans.