Indeed , the history as stated by rmadison and Viewliner is correct, I know, being alive and kicking at the time..
And I agree with Alan's thoughts that daily operation would help it, if we had enough equipment, etc, etc,etc.
The Southern Pacific was one of the most publicly adament against the passenger train of any road. Too bad, too, because it was a far flung empire with quite a few neat trains. The present day Coast Starlight route, for example, was actually SP from Portland(not Seattle) to LA. The present day California Zephyr route from Salt Lake City to SF was actually SP tracks. The pre-Amtrak CZ ran a different route, Western Pacific, for that final leg of the westward trip.
Funny thing,my own experiences of SP travel were quite pleasant. I personally did not experience any of the "automats" or that foolishness. Passengers loathed those automat cars.
One light note of something good about the old SP, which Amtrak took over. That is this: the neat carafe of coffee we get today on Amtrak. So far as I remember that was only done on the SP. On other roads, if you ran out of coffee, you had to signal a waiter to come over and pour some more for you, bouncing around. But with that carafe, we can sip two or three refills. That is especially helpful if you are served in your room.
I guess I worry---actually worry----more about the poor beleagured Sunset than any other train.....such beautiful equipment, (hauling living breathing human beings, by the way, just for the record,FWIW ) , sitting around on sidings for hours at a time. What a horror.
