Last month I joined the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society because I hoped it would be useful for finding documents and other information on historic equipment and buildings. I also sent an e-mail with a specific question about one of their monthly publications. They took my money (two years membership), but two weeks later I haven’t heard a peep.
Any other members of the SP Historical & Technical Society here have any experiences to share?
X
I’m not a member but have been to its website several times and was frustrated because so many of the links to other resources were no longer existing or quite out of date. If you are looking for information on equipment and buildings the California State Railroad Museum library is a wonderful resource and not a very far drive down the hill from Reno. About twenty years ago I did an extensive research project there (although it was on the Western Pacific) and the staff was great to work with, and I’m actually planning another visit soon to do some SP research. I’ve also been to the Nevada state museum but not sure what they have in archival material.
Another resource is Tony Thompson’s modelingthesp.blogspot.com. He works strictly in HO but does have a lot on SP history.
I have done a fair amount of research on the SP and would be happy to assist. What specifically are you interested in?
Greg
Yeah, that website is pretty out of date. They say the SP archives are at Sherman Gardens, not far from where I grew up and spent most of my life, but when you go to the Sherman Gardens website and look at their archive collections, nothing about the SP is listed.
I was sort of interested in the division point facility at Sparks, especially the big roundhouse and the locomotive shop. I was wondering if there were more photographs or architectural drawings available.
The big locomotive shop at left is still there, visible from the Interstate 80 which runs parallel to B Street (now Victorian) at lower right. The site of the roundhouse is under I-80, about where the big Nugget resort is today.
I’m also going to become more interested in SP rolling stock and livery from the mid century period.
Interesting! I’ll see what I can find.
Tony Thompson’s blog looks pretty good, thanks for the link. And I found a couple books at his publisher that I think will be helpful.
The California State Railroad Museum looks like a place I have to visit. The California Zephyr can take me there in a couple hours from Reno. I’ll have to do that one of these weekends.
Be sure to check the hours of the CSRM library when you go. It’s in the building right next door to the museum and its hours are different.
Visited California State Railroad Museum 2 years ago for a day. Wish I had been able to spend a few more days there.
It is pretty cool. Last time I was there a few weeks ago my three-year old granddaughter rushed through it so fast I didn’t get to see much, but, hey, she had a great time and that’s what mattered. I need to go back soon with just me …
Yesterday I got my first issue of the quarterly S-P Trainline. It’s really a very impressive little magazine, lots of color photos and detailed information. It is obviously put together with the rail modeler in mind.
I’ve never seen one but i’ll be sure to check it out. BTW, I recently saw that UNR has an archive of materials, as well.
The Nevada Historical Society is located across the street from UNR, and might be part of the university, hard to say. I spent some time there last year in their bookstore, which is pretty good, with a lot of stuff I couldn’t find on Amazon. When I get a chance I’ll go back and ask them what they have on the SP.
There’s a lot of other local history I want to check out, too. I’ve been reading about the emigrant trail that ran down along the Humboldt River and split off along the Truckee and Carson Rivers as well as the Black Rock Desert, and just found out the Truckee River branch of the trail ran just a few hundred yards from my house in Hidden Valley, and wagon ruts and swales are still visible in spots!