"Would this be an earlier photo, as the new station was not built yet. Maybe 68-72? Also maybe special consist due to an event "big game"?"


Not necessarily. Construction on the station wasn't started until late-1974. Although, SP started phasing out the 2-tone grey paint on the harrimans in 1959, many remained in that paint until late-1960s to early 1970s. It's not conclusive, but the 1974 date seems reasonable.

128 was a weekday limited-stop rush hour train leaving SF at 4:55. It wouldn't have any special consists or stops. The "Big Game" special was on a Saturday and had 12 cars in later years. I saw it with 12 galleries, or 1 harriman and 11 galleries. Extra galleries were added to some other weekend trains due to Stanford football games, but train 128 was strictly a weekday rush hour train.

SP put extra cars on earlier afternoon trains (1:50pm, 3:00pm and 4:15pm) on several holidays such as Good Friday, Christmas Eve day and New Years Eve day due to people getting off work early. They then shifted those cars off some later rush hour trains from 124-140. So again, I know of no reason why that train would be longer. I still believe that last three cars in the photo are on an adjacent track and 128 in the photo has 6 harrimans, as always.