Railroads
Huntington, Hopkins & Company Hardware Store, Sacramento (established in 1855 by Collis P. Huntington and Mark Hopkins to import and deal in hardware); 1861 - they, Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford met on second floor, agreed to construct the Central Pacific Railroad.
August 4, 1852 - Sacramento Valley Railroad organized.
June 28, 1861 - The "big four" leaders of western railroad construction--Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker--organized Central Pacific Railroad Company of California.
July 1, 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signed Pacific Railroad Act of 1862; threw support of United States Government behind transcontinental railroad; authorized Union Pacific Railroad, first corporation chartered by National Government since Second United States Bank, to build westward from Missouri River to California boundary or until it met the Central Pacific (Congress fixed longitude, President named Omaha the terminus.); empowered Central Pacific, which already had a charter from California, to push farther east, connect with Union Pacific; strengthened loyal element in California, undoubtedly insured continued allegiance of Pacific Coast to United States during Civil War; provided key to conquering Indians, means of considerably improving coastal defenses on Pacific coast; quicker, cheaper transportation for Government supplies and mail; permitted vast, profitable trade to develop between East and West; hastened end of continental frontier.
January 8, 1863 - Central Pacific Railroad, run by the Big Four (Leland Stanford president, Charles Crocker president of construction company), broke ground at Sacramento, CA (planned by Theodore Judah); cost of construction estimated at $36 million; company received land grants and Government bonds valued at $38.5 million; Stanford admitted that $54 million in Central Pacific stock transferred to the Contract and Finance Company in payment of construction contracts represented virtually net profit; 1959 - merged into Southern Pacific.
December 2, 1863 - Union Pacific Railroad broke ground at Omaha, NE; dominant in UP management were: 1) Thomas C. Durant, vice president of railroad, president of Crédit Mobilier of America until 1867, construction company that built the road (bought by Durant in 1864 as the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency, a corporation loosely chartered by the Pennsylvania Legislature to engage in practically any kind of business); 2) Oakes Ames, Boston shovel manufacturer and Congressman from Massachusetts, 3) Grenville M. Dodge Chief Engineer; cost about $63.5 million to build, about half represented Government s loan; invested capital never exceeded $10 million; profit estimated at about 200 percent.
July 2, 1864 - President Abraham Lincoln signed Pacific Railroad Act of 1864; solved Union Pacific's financial problem: 1) soaring price of materials, 2) extremely scarce labor, 3) alternative investments with more immediate returns potential; doubled resources made available to UNP; doubled land grant; Government relinquished its first lien on railroad by authorizing companies, as they received Government subsidy bonds, to issue equal amounts of their own 6-percent, 30-year bonds (constituted first mortgage on road, U.S. bonds a second mortgage); abundant finances, abundant labor, material made available by end of the Civil War enabled companies to marshal forces for 10—year job, 1,085 miles from Omaha to Promontory, UT (took less than 4 years); May 10, 1869 - Golden Spike driven in Promontory, UT.
1865 - Group of businessmen in San Francisco, CA, led by Timothy Guy Phelps (first president), founded Southern Pacific Railroad to build rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego, CA; 1868 - acquired by The Big Four (Leland Stanford president); 1870 - merged Central Pacific Railroad into its system; April 1, 1885 - took control of Central Pacific; 1890 - Collis P. Huntington president; 1984 - merged with Santa Fe Railroad, formed Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation; October 13, 1988 - acquired by Rio Grande Industries.
May 10, 1869 - Golden spike is driven at Promontory, UT, completion of first transcontinental railroad in United States; U-S transcontinental railways (north to south) became: 1. Great Northern (later part of Burlington Northern). 2. Milwaukee Road (last one completed, no longer there). 3. Northern Pacific (later part of Burlington Northern). 4. original route (Union Pacific, Central Pacific). 5. Southern Pacific (formed from original Central Pacific).
January 17, 1871 - Andrew S. Hallidie received a patent for an "Endless Wire Ropeway", (an "improved method of obtaining power from weights carried in buckets, sacks or cars attached to an endless wire-rope moving over or around sheaves or pulleys"); June 2, 1873 - ground broken on San Francisco's Clay Street for world's first cable-powered railroad moved by motor-driven cables under city street; constructed from intersection of Clay and Kearny Streets to crest of hill, distance of 2,800-ft, a rise of 307-ft.; August 1, 1873 - first cable car for public transport began service as solution to problem of providing mass transit up San Francisco's steep hills.
June 4, 1876 - Transcontinental Express train arrived in San Francisco 83 hours after leaving New York City (vs. four days).
February 5, 1883 - Southern Pacific Railroad (the "Espee") completed its transcontinental "Sunset Route" from New Orleans to California by gaining full control of a number of smaller railroads; consolidated its dominance over rail traffic to the Pacific; 1869 - Big Four's (Crocker, Hopkins, Huntington, Stanford) western-based Central Pacific had linked up with the eastern-based Union Pacific in Utah, creating the first transcontinental American railway; 1870 - "Big Four" conceived plan to increase their control over West Coast shipping); 1877 - Southern Pacific controlled 85 percent of California's railroad mileage; 1881 - Huntington linked the Southern Pacific to the Santa Fe Railroad at Deming, New Mexico, created the second American transcontinental railway; termed "the Octopus" for its tentacled stranglehold on much of the California economy, Southern Pacific inspired Californians to create some of the first strong public regulations over railroads in American history; mighty Southern Pacific Railroad played an essential role in fostering the growth of a vibrant California economy for decades to come.
1886 - Santa Fe line, second transcontinental railroad, completed.
May 2, 1887 - Central Pacific (green), Southern Pacific (red) - into/out of San Francisco.
August 1895 - Los Angeles Railway Company organized to provide streetcar service (City Council passed first franchise ordinance for "...laying down and maintaining two iron railroad tracks and to run cars thereon, to be propelled by horses or mules, and to carry passengers thereon" on July 3, 1873); October 1, 1898 - acquired by Henry E. Huntington; 1944 - acquired by National City Lines; renamed Los Angeles Transit Lines; March 31, 1963 - Los Angeles ended streetcar service after 90 years.
February 6, 1903 - Walter Bartnett, George J. Gould signed agreement for formation of new company to take over various corporations each had previously organized, build and equip the railroad; March 3, 1903 - Western Pacific Railroad Company organized; March 6, 1903 - incorporated; March 26, 1906 - signed agreement with Toyo Kisen Kaisha (steamship company) to form through route with Gould System (previously interchanged with Harriman lines); November 1, 1909 - final spike driven; stretched 927 miles from San Francisco to Salt Lake City; part of 13,708-mile nationwide railway system from San Francisco to Baltimore; December 1, 1909 - freight service inaugurated; August 1910 - passenger service started; February 8, 1911 - first sailing direct from Western Pacific Mole as Nippon Maru pulled away with load of cotton for mills of Japan; March 1, 1915 - forced into receivership, unable to service debt on first mortgage bonds; June 28, 1916 - sold at auction on steps of Oakland station; Charles M. Levey, previously second vice-president, became president; December 28, 1917 - control seized by Woodrow Wilson; August 31, 1919 - Colonel Edward W. Mason, former WP car accountant, appointed Federal Manager; March 1, 1920 - railroads returned to private ownership; 1926 - control acquired by Arthur Curtiss James, last of great railroad financial giants (holdings in Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Burlington, other Western railroads); March 1, 1935 - defaulted; 1944 - reorganized approved; March 20, 1949 - California Zephyr went into service (discontinued March 22,1970); July 1, 1949 - Frederic B. Whitman became CEO; July 1, 1965 - Myron M. Christy became ninth President; October 14, 1980 - President Carter signed Staggers Rail Act of 1980, deregulated railroads, freed single-line route carriers to set rates (not extended to carriers required to participate with other roads in joint rates to same points served by single-line carrier); mid-October 1982 - acquired by Union Pacific Railroad; survives as Feather River Subdivision of Union Pacific's railroad empire.
(California Western Railroad), Spencer Crump (1998). The California Western "Skunk" Railroad. (Corona del Mar, CA: Zeta Publishers Co., 111 p.). California Western Railroad--History; Railroads--California--History.
(California Western Railroad), Mark McLaughlin (2003). Western Train Adventures: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly. (Lake Tahoe, CA: Mic Mac Publishing, 208 p.). California Western Railroad--History; Railroads--California--History. Collection of true, railroad-themed adventure stories, from train robberies, wrecks, wild days at Lake Tahoe and the Comstock.
(Central Pacific), Cerinda W. Evans (1954). Collis Potter Huntington. (Newport News, VA: Mariners’ Museum, 2 vols., 775 p.). Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900.
(Central Pacific), Cerinda W. Evans (1954). Collis Potter Huntington: Volume I. (Newport News, VA: Mariners’ Museum, p.). Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900.
(Central Pacific), Cerinda W. Evans (1954). Collis Potter Huntington: Volume II. (Newport News, VA: Mariners’ Museum, p.). Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900.
(Central Pacific), Helen Hinckley (1969). Rails from the West; A Biography of Theodore D. Judah. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 207 p.). Judah, Theodore D. (Theodore Dehone), 1826-1863; Central Pacific Railroad Company.
(Central Pacific), John J. Stewart. (1969). The Iron Trail to the Golden Spike. (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Co., 297 p.). Central Pacific Railroad Company.
(Central Pacific), David Lavender (1970). The Great Persuader. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 444 p.). Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900.
(Central Pacific), Oscar Lewis (1981). The Big Four: The Story of Huntington, Stanford, Hopkins, and Crocker, and of the Building of the Central Pacific. (New York, NY: Arno Press, 418 p. [orig. pub. 1938]). Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900; Stanford, Leland, 1824-1893; Hopkins, Mark 1813-1878; Crocker, Charles, 1822-1888; Central Pacific Railroad Company--History; Capitalists and financiers--United States--Biography.
(Central Pacific), Mead B. Kibbey (1996). The Railroad Photographs of Alfred A. Hart, Artist. (Sacramento, CA: California State Library Foundation, 238 p.). Hart, Alfred A., 1816-1908; Central Pacific Railroad Company--Pictorial works; Photographers--United States--Biography.
(Central Pacific), Richard Rayner (2008). The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California. (New York, NY: Norton, 224 p.). Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900; Stanford, Leland, 1824-1893; Hopkins, Mark, 1813-1878; Crocker, Charles, 1822-1888; Central Pacific Railroad Company--History; Railroads--United States--History; Capitalists and financiers--United States--Biography; California--History. Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins ("The Big Four", "The Associates") - rose from middle-class merchants in Sacramento, CA to force behind transcontinental railroad; became very wealthy; epic drive for money.
(Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad), John W. Robinson (1978). Southern California’s First Railroad: The Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, 1869-1873. (Los Angeles, CA: Dawson’s Book Shop, 111 p.). Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad--History. October 1869 - began operations as LA's first rail line; financed through sale of $150,000 in county bonds, $75,000 in city bonds; depot located on corner of Commercial and Alameda Streets; November 1872 - acquired by Southern Pacific.
(McCloud River Railroad Company), Robert M. Hanft (1971). Pine Across the Mountain; California’s McCloud River Railroad. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 224 p.). Professor of Business Administration (California State University, Chico). McCloud River Railroad Company.
(Mount Lowe Railway), Charles Seims (1976). Mount Lowe, The Railway in the Clouds. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 234 p.). Mount Lowe Railway; Electric railroads--California. July 4, 1893 - Mount Lowe Incline Railway opened.
(Mount Lowe Railway), Charles Seims (1999). Last Days of Mount Lowe. (Los Angeles, CA: Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society, 60 p.). Mount Lowe Railway; Electric railroads--California.
(Mount Lowe Railway), Michael A. Patris and the Mount Lowe Preservation Society (2007). Mount Lowe Railway. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 128 p.). Founder of the Mount Lowe Preservation Society, Inc. Lowe Railway; Pacific Electric Railway Company --History. Built by Civil War balloonist Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, railroad engineer David J. Macpherson in mountains above Altadena, Pasadena in Los Angeles County; operated for 43 years, served nearly 4 million passengers from around world.
(Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad Co.), Theodore G. Wurm and Alvin C. Graves (1983). The Crookedest Railroad in the World; A History of the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad of California. (Glendale, CA: Trans-Anglo Books, 135 p. [rev. end enl. ed.]). Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad Co.
(Northwestern Pacific Railroad), Fred Codoni and Paul C. Trimble (2006). Northwestern Pacific Railroad. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 128 p.). Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company --Pictorial works; Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company --History; Railroads --California --History.
(Ocean Shore Railroad Company), Barbara VanderWerf (1992). Granada, A Synonym for Paradise: The Ocean Shore Railroad Years. (El Granada, CA: Gum Tree Lane Books, 208 p.). Ocean Shore Railroad Company--History--20th century; Landscape--California--El Granada--History--20th century; Landscape--California--San Mateo County--History--20th century; El Granada (Calif.)--History; San Mateo County (Calif.)--History, Local.
(Pacific Electric Railway), Spencer Crump (1970). Henry Huntington and the Pacific Electric; A Pictorial Album. (Los Angeles, CA: Trans-Anglo Books, 112 p.). Huntington, Henry Edwards, 1850-1927; Pacific Electric Railway; Street-railroads--California, Southern--Pictorial works; Capitalists and financiers--United States--Biography.
(Pacific Electric Railway), Donald Duke (2001). Pacific Electric Railway: Volume I - The Northern Division. (San marino, CA: Gem Guides Book Company, 88 p.). Pacific Electric Railway Company; Street railroads --California, Southern.
(Pacific Electric Railway), Donald Duke (2001). Pacific Electric Railway: Volume II - The Esastern Division. (San marino, CA: Gem Guides Book Company, 112 p.). Pacific Electric Railway Company; Street railroads --California, Southern.
(Pacific Electric Railway), Donald Duke (2004). Pacific Electric Railway: Volume III - The Western Division. (San marino, CA: Gem Guides Book Company, p.). Pacific Electric Railway Company; Street railroads --California, Southern.
(Pacific Fruit Express Co.), Anthony W. Thompson, Robert J. Church, Bruce H. Jones (2000). Pacific Fruit Express. (Berkeley, CA: Signature Press, 464 p.). Pacific Fruit Express Co.; Refrigerator cars.
(Sacramento Northern Railway), Ira L. Swett (1998). Sacramento Northern: Through The Sacramento Valley. (Pasadena, CA: Media Group, 296 p.). Sacramento Northern Railway Company; Electric railroads.
(Sacramento Northern Railway), Paul C. Trimble (2005). Sacramento Northern Railway. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 128 p.). Sacramento Northern Railway Company; Electric railroads --Pictorial works. 1905 - began service on 186-mile route between California’s northern Central Valley communities, state capital, Bay Area; 1941 - service ended due t car culture, competing diesel railroads.
(San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company), Robert M. Hanft (1984). San Diego & Arizona: The Impossible Railroad. (Glendale, CA: Trans-Anglo Books, 224 p.). San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company.
(San Diego & Southeastern Railroad), Ralph Forty (1986). San Diego’s South Bay Interurban. (Glendale, CA: Interurban Press, 95 p.). San Diego & Southeastern Railroad; Street-railroads--California--San Diego.
(Southern Pacific), Stuart Daggett (1966). Chapters on the History of the Southern Pacific. (New York, NY: A.M. Kelley, 470 p. [orig. pub. 1922]). Southern Pacific Railroad.
(Southern Pacific), John R. Signor (1985). Donner Pass: Southern Pacific’s Sierra Crossing. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 290 p.). Southern Pacific Railroad Company--History; Donner Pass (Calif.)--History.
(Southern Pacific), Don L. Hofsommer; foreword by Richard C. Overton (1986). The Southern Pacific, 1901-1985. (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 373 p.). Southern Pacific Railroad--History.
(Southern Pacific), Loren Nicholson (1993). Rails Across the Ranchos: Celebrating the Southern Pacific Railroad Coastal Line. (San Luis Obispo, CA: California Heritage Pub. Associates, 197 p.). Railroads--California--San Luis Obispo County--History; San Luis Obispo County (Calif.)--History.
(Southern Pacific),George H. Drury (1996). Southern Pacific in the Bay Area: The San Francisco-Sacramento-Stockton Triangle. (Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Books, 128 p.). Southern Pacific Railroad Company; Railroads --California.
(Southern Pacific), Jim A. Loveland (1996). Dinner Is Served: Fine Dining Aboard the Southern Pacific. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 241 p.). Southern Pacific Railroad Company; Railroads--United States--Dining-car service.
(Southern Pacific), Richard J. Orsi (2005). Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 647 p.). Professor Emeritus of History (California State University, Hayward). Southern Pacific Railroad Company--History; Southern Pacific Company--History; Railroads--California--History; Water resources development--West (U.S.); Land use--West (U.S.)--History; West (U.S.)--Economic conditions--20th century; West (U.S.)--Economic conditions--19th century; West (U.S.)--Environmental conditions--History.
(Southern Pacific), Monte George Kim (2006). The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Making of Place and Community in California. (Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest/UMI, 387 p.). Southern Pacific Company--History; California--development. Transformative role of railroad in California during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; role of Southern Pacific Railroad in making (and remaking) of places and communities throughout the state.
(Union Pacific), Donald Duke (2005). Union Pacific in Southern California: 1890-1990 . (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, p.). Union Pacific Railroad Company --History; Union Pacific Railroad Company --Pictorial works; Railroads --California, Southern --Pictorial works.
(Virginia and Truckee Railroad), Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg (1957). Steamcars to the Comstock; The Virginia & Truckee Railroad, the Carson & Colorado Railroad: Their Story in Picture and Prose. (Berkeley, CA: Howell-North, 74 p.). Virginia and Truckee Railroad; Carson and Colorado Railroad.
(Virginia and Truckee Railroad), Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg (1963). Virginia & Truckee, A Story of Virginia City and Comstock Times. (Berkeley, CA: Howell-North, 67 p.). Virginia and Truckee Railroad.
(Virginia and Truckee Railroad), Ted Wurm and Harre W. Demoro (1982). The Silver Short Line: A History of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. (San Diego, CA: Howell-North Books). Virginia and Truckee Railroad--History.
(Virginia and Truckee Railroad), Ted Wurm (1992). Rebirth of the Virginia & Truckee R.R.: Amazing Revival of a Steam Railroad. (Ross, CA: May-Murdock Publications, 78 p.). Virginia and Truckee Railroad; Railroads--Nevada.
(Western Pacific Railway Company), Spencer Crump (1963). Western Pacific; The Railroad That Was Built Too Late. (Los Angeles, CA: Trans-Anglo Books, 48 p.). Western Pacific Railway Company; Western Pacific Railroad Company.
(Western Pacific Railway Company), Norman W. Holmes (1996). My Western Pacific Railroad: An Engineer’s Journey. (Reno, NV: Steel Rails West Publishing, 128 p.). Western Pacific Railroad Company--History; Railroads--California--History; Railroads--California--Pictorial works.
(Railroads), Lynwood Carranco and Henry L. Sorensen (1988). Steam in the Redwoods. (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 224 p.). Logging railroads --California --Humboldt County; Railroads --California --Humboldt County.
William Deverell (1994). Railroad Crossing: Californians and the Railroad, 1850-1910. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 278 p.). Professor of History (University of Southern California), Director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. Railroads -- California -- History; Southern Pacific Company--History. Chaos that was industrial America from middle of nineteenth century through first decade of the twentieth. Americans clamored for progress, prosperity that railroads would surely bring, and no railroad was more crucial for California than the transcontinental line linking East to West; Californians looked to railroad as state's new savior; social upheaval, economic disruption came down tracks along with growth, opportunity; contradictory roles of technology, industrial capitalism in lives of Americans.
Richard V. Dodge (1960). Rails of the Silver Gate: The Spreckels San Diego Empire. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 143 p.). Street-railroads --California --San Diego --History; San Diego (Calif.) --History.
Donald Duke (1998). Incline Railways of Los Angeles and Southern California. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 240 p.). Railroads, Cable --California --Los Angeles --History; Railroads, Cable --California, Southern --History.
Donald Duke (1999). Electric Railways Around San Francisco Bay: Volume I. (San Marino, CA.: Golden West Books, 2 vols.). Electric railroads --California --San Francisco Bay Area. Bay Area Rapid Transit-East Bay Transit, Interurban Electric (SP)-Key System.
Donald Duke (1999-2000). Electric Railways Around San Francisco Bay: Volume II. (San Marino, CA.: Golden West Books, 2 vols.). Electric railroads --California --San Francisco Bay Area. Market Street Railwy, Municipal Railway of San Francisco, Northwestern Pacific Railroad, Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad, Sacramento Northern Railway, San Francisco, Napa & Calistoga Railroad, Shipyard Railway.
Ward McAfee (1973). California's Railroad Era, 1850-1911. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 256 p.). Railroads --California --History.
Gregory Lee Thompson (1993). The Passenger Train in the Motor Age: California’s Rail and Bus Industries, 1910-1941. (Columbus, OH, Ohio State University Press,, 247 p.). Florida State University. Railroads --California --Passenger traffic --History --20th century; Buses --California --History --20th century. Trains and buses.Trains and buses
Business History Links
California State Railroad Museum
Opened in Sacramento, CA in 1976; California State Railroad Museum is one of Sacramento’s largest and most popular visitor destinations (over 500,000 visitors annually); primary exhibit building, the Railroad History Museum, totals 100,000 square feet; over 225,000 square feet of total exhibit space, stimulating exhibits, enthusiastic and knowledgeable docents, and beautifully restored railroad cars and locomotives to illustrate railroad history in California and the West.
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Stereoviews, engravings, maps, and documents illustrating the history of the first transcontinental railroad. This is a VIRTUAL museum.
Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation
Non-profit educational corporation established in 1999; built on three elements: preservation, adventure and education; mission is to diligently preserve and dynamically present the history of railroading in Los Angeles through its three core programs: public outreach, archival preservation, and multiple-media publishing.
Railroad & Ferry Depot Museum
http://www.landmarks-society.org/landmarks/railroad_ferry_museum.php
1884 - Peter Donahue, Irish immigrant and industrial tycoon, completed the extension of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad to Tiburon with a ferry fleet to provide faster passenger and freight service between the City and Northern California. Twenty-three years later, the Donahue Line merged with competitors to become the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The last train left Point Tiburon September 25, l967.1884 - Peter Donahue, Irish immigrant and industrial tycoon, completed the extension of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad to Tiburon with a ferry fleet to provide faster passenger and freight service between the City and Northern California. Twenty-three years later, the Donahue Line merged with competitors to become the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The last train left Point Tiburon September 25, l967.
Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society
Dedicated to preserving and disseminating the historical record of the Southern Pacific Railroad and its affiliates. We support railfanning, industrial archeology and accurate scale modeling of this great pioneer railroad of the western United States.
Southern Pacific - A Working List of Books and Booklets on the Southern Pacific and Related Subsidiaries
http://sphts.org/pmcclosky/spbooks.html
Western Pacific
An underdog built to compete with one of the giants of the railroading world, the Western Pacific earned the wrath of industry titan Edward H. Harriman before it even got started. Once complete, it forever faced long odds, economic difficulties and the forces of nature as went about its task of moving people and products.
