19th century

Southern Pacific asserts that the named Del Monte service began in 1889, first appearing on a timetable as the Del Monte Limited. It replaced an apparently unnamed service (maybe known colloquially as The Daisy) which had operated on a similar schedule when Southern Pacific opened their Hotel Del Monte in 1880.^[2] The 1889 schedule showed train number 13 leaving San Francisco at 2:30 PM and reaching Monterey at 5:30. The return trip train number 12 left Monterey at 8 AM to reach San Francisco at 11:15.^{[citation needed]}

20th century

Early records of Del Monte service may have been lost in the 1906 San Francisco fire.^[2]

Trains were rerouted to the Bayshore Cutoff some time after its completion in 1907.

A sleeping car operated briefly over the 125-mile (201 km) route beginning in 1926.^[3]

After World War II a P-6 class 4-6-2 pulled a mail car, three or four coaches, a news-agent coach serving light snacks, and a parlor car. The parlor car was named Oliver Millet in 1947 when Millet retired after working 32 years as the Del Monte parlor car attendant. He was the only Southern Pacific employee recognized by a car name. Train number 78 left San Francisco daily at 4 PM, stopped at San Jose an hour later, and arrived in Monterey to unload mail at 7 PM. The locomotive and cars waited overnight at the Pacific Grove terminal to return as train number 77 leaving Monterey at 7:30 AM and reaching San Francisco at 10:30.^[3]

In 1948, the Del Monte Express fatally struck Ed Ricketts, a friend of John Steinbeck, while he was driving across the railroad tracks at Drake Avenue in Monterey.^[1][4][5]

In 1957, Southern Pacific successfully petitioned the state to discontinue passenger service to Pacific Grove. By 1961, operations were consolidated with the Peninsula Commute, with cars added north of San Jose.^[6]

• SP train 141 at San Jose, CA, in January 1968
• Interior of SP parlor car on Train 126, 1971
• Del Monte at Castroville, 1971
• The Del Monte in 1971, just before it was discontinued

Cancellation

The Del Monte ran until April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak took over intercity passenger train service.^[1] The tracks in Pacific Grove and Monterey were removed in the 1980s and the former right-of-way is now the Monterey Bay Recreation Trail.^[7]