Welcome aboard Charity! By George I think they’ve got it! Lakeshore Limited New York to Chicago and Southwest Chief to Los Angeles are the modern Amtrak trains I believe. Have fun!
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Dunno, Mike, that is the whole point of the thread, the route that Valentino’s funeral train took from New York to Los Angeles in 1926. It is not totally clear from preliminary research. One thing that we know for sure is that the western portion of the journey was not likely on the Southern Pacific because the Southern Pacific never reached Chicago. It almost certainly was on the Santa Fe. Who knows why the funeral train even passed through Yuma. Are you saying that the Santa Fe could not physically pass through Yuma?
Rich
Edit Note: Well that sure explains Yuma, eh Mike? The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific RR.
Apologies - I reached my newbie reply-limit yesterday so had to wait before posting again!
Thank you - this is so great. I spent a lot of hours last night trawling through digitised newspapers and found some more helpful info. It was apparently the Lake Shore Railway from NYC to Chicago, which makes the Erie reference right. At Chicago they transferred the coffin to the next train. Then it was the Golden State Limited line of the
Southern Pacific, stopping in Kansas and El Paso on its way to LA.
So it looks like I have my journey - I’m Amtrak ready, just wish I could also time travel and get there by steam!
Thank you so much, I wouldn’t have known what to look for without understanding more about the train lines!
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A fascinating thread indeed. So much is said about the journey, yet very little really.
Following with interest.
David
Aww, geez, who knew?
C.R.I.P. - the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. Duh!
So, NYC to CRIP.
Rich
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I get to go to NYC, PA, Chicago, Kansas, El Paso and Arizona so I am thrilled!
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Make sure you see the sites on the way.
David
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Surely the train will have an observation car!
Rich
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so much written in the press focussed on the reaction of the crowds. I suppose it was one of the first famous movie-star deaths, so the reaction was possibly a surprise. But it would be so interesting to have more info around the technical aspects of the journey. There is a bit, but relatively little.
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I suspect that there may be more out there that we haven’t found.
Rich
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there’s a local Erie newspaper that was around then and still is, and I’d love to see copies of their coverage, but I can’t get the contact details to work on their website… I guess I could go there in person and ask…
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Yes. Speaking person to person generally works for me.
David
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I found a website called goerie.newsbank.com that has lots of articles about Valentino’s death, funeral and funeral train. Contact them.
Rich
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that’s amazing, exactly what I was after, thank you! This will keep me busy!
Thank you so much!
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Good find, Rich. Somewhere deep in the archives there is an answer or two. 
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For those of you who may be wondering why the funeral train passed through Yuma Arizona, Yuma was where he had recently filmed Son of the Sheik.
Rich
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Thanks, David. This is a challenging mystery to unravel.
Rich
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Don’t know why I thought of this, but I believe it was the late great layout builder extraordinare John Armstrong who said “once your pile of research reaches the same size as the project you’re intending to build you’re no longer under obligation to actually build the thing” or something similar. I guess he too enjoyed the mystery and treasure hunt aspects of the hobby immensely. Ynyswybl!
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