Growing up in the 1940's and 1950's in Santa Barbara gave me a chance to experience the Southern Pacific operating along the coast.  As a youngster, I would spend many days walking along the tracks hoping to catch a glance of a steam engine, or a series of freight cars being "iced down" so they could carry the lemons and oranges back East.  The following pictures were painted by Wayne Scarpaci and are from the Ken Kelley collection. Here are a few scenes of the Southern Pacific as remembered.

The Daylight at Santa Barbara "Arrival from Los Angeles"	Train Number 99, a GS-4 "Daylight" has just made its way over the Santa Susana Pass and is about ready to board Santa Barabara passengers headed for San Luis Obispo and points north.  While not depicted in this picture, the famous Moreton Bay Fig tree would be just to the left of the station and was planted in 1877.  The gardens around the Santa Barbara station were maintained well into the 1940's but as always, to meet revenues of a dwindling number of travelers, both the Steam Daylight and the grounds would lose their attention with the F3 Diesels ready to take over in the middle 1950's.
Santa Barbara's Freight Station (at the corner of Santa Barbara Street and the railroad tracks) and the Ice Packing House (just behind the viewers position) controlled the "Freight and Fruit" from the orchards of Goleta, Santa Barbara, and Montecito.  The War years of 1942 through 1945 were the busy times for Santa Barbara's rail activity.  The Yard switcher on the left would be used to move cars around to make up long haul freights along the eight track yard just to the right of the picture.  The "Pacific" steam engine was generally used as a "helper" to get heavy trains over the passes to the South and North of Santa Barbara.  What a sight to see!	Santa Barbara Freight Station "Early Morning Rise"
Puritan Ice Company and Pacific Fruit Express "Icing Down California's Produce"	The Ice loading platform located a short distance across the tracks and east from the Freight station was able to support 14 PFE cars being loading with ice. Later on a second track was added to the south side of the platform allowing 27 PFE cars to be loaded with Ice. This provided California's "Fruit and Produce" to be shipped to eastern cities. A San Diego & Arizona Eastern consolidation steamer on loan to Southern Pacific through the WW-II period acted as a local and was used for preparing an loading PFE cars just prior to most of them heading northeast over Doner Pass on its way to eastern cities.
The building codes were tough back in 1925 (this is when the big Santa Barbara earthquake destroyed the original roundhouse) as S.P.'s design wouldn't pass until they made the exterior wall in a similar design as the Spanish Bull Ring in Seville.  Ken (the kid on the bicycle) would visit the roundhouse on weekends with the hope of seeing the turntable in use.  This picture shows shows one of those rare moments when Engine 4372 getting ready for service.  During the second World War, over 250 people were employed in the Santa Barbara yards of the Southern Pacific.	Santa Barbara Roundhouse "S.P. Mountain on the Table"
The San Joaquin Daylight "Headed to Tehachapi Loop"	These original "Coast Daylights" were downgraded to the inland route once modern diesels become common on the coast routes.  Train Number 52, engine 4449 a GS-4, and 4458 a GS-5, had their orange and red skirts removed so that engine maintenance would be easier.  These twins are struggling Eastbound through Bena Canyon as they approach the famous Tehachapi Loop where it was not uncommon to have the engines pass over their freight cars as they labored up the grade.  This artwork shows what the industrial revolution was all about.  Thank goodness we have engine 4449 still with us today.