Union Pacific Archives - Southern Pacific Railroad History Center

Union Pacific Steam Big Boy Portraits – Ehernberger Bush W-16

Chip Savoye — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 01:21:48 +0000

Handsomely done collection of black and white photographs of Union Pacific’s Big Boys: the 4000 Class locomotives. The photos show every Big Boy with views from both the left and right side to assist the modeler and also highlight any changes made. The authors have also made sure to include trackside facilities and repair shops to show the maintenance these behemoths received. Has chart detailing 1959 runs made by 4011, 4014, 4015, 4017, 4019 and 4023 between Cheyenne and Laramie with date, names of engineer and conductor, and times. Includes status chart for Nos. 4000-4024 including dates for those scrapped, and a list of where the remaining ones are displayed. 128 pages.

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MOTIVE POWER of the UNION PACIFIC by William Kratville and Harold E Ranks 1st ED W-2

Chip Savoye — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:59:59 +0000

The product is a first edition book titled “MOTIVE POWER of the UNION PACIFIC” by William Kratville and Harold E Ranks. This book is focused on the topic of motivation, likely providing insights and inspiration on how to maintain and enhance motivation in various aspects of life or within the context of the Union Pacific railway. With its special attribute of being a 1st edition, readers can expect a unique and possibly valuable perspective on the subject matter.

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Union Pacific The Reconfiguration America’s Greatest Railroad 1969 to Present Maury Klein W-41

Chip Savoye — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 23:05:08 +0000

Praised by the Chicago Tribune as “thoroughly and compellingly detailed history,” Volumes I and II of Maury Klein’s monumental history of the Union Pacific Railroad covered the years from 1863-1969. Now the third and final volume brings the story of the Union Pacific–the oldest, largest, and most successful railroad of modern times–fully up to date.

The book follows the trajectory of an icon of the industrial age trying to negotiate its way in a post-railway world, plagued by setbacks such as labor disputes, aging infrastructure, government de-regulation, ill-fated mergers, and more. By 1969 the same company that a century earlier had triumphantly driven the golden spike into Promontory Summit–to immortalize the nation’s first transcontinental railway–seemed a dinosaur destined for financial ruin. But as Klein shows, the Union Pacific not only survived but is once more thriving, which proves that railways remain critical to commerce and industry in America, even as passenger train travel has all but disappeared. Drawing on interviews with Union Pacific personnel past and present, Klein takes readers inside the great railroad–into its boardrooms and along its tracks–to show how the company adapted to the rapidly changing world of modern transportation. The book also offers fascinating portraits of the men who have run the railroad. The challenges they faced, and the strategies they developed to meet them, give readers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of one of America’s great companies.

A capstone on a remarkable achievement, Union Pacific: The Reconfiguration will appeal to historians, business scholars, and transportation buffs alike.

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Union Pacific – The Rebirth 1894 – 1969 – Maury Klein (1990) (E-2)

Rick Barton — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 14:34:18 +0000

A continuation of Klein’s excellent Union Pacific – Birth of a Railroad 1862-1893. In 654 indexed pages the author provides a comprehensive and scholarly history of the UP next 105 year including a bibliography and index. Published by Doubleday in 1990, this first edition in in very good used condition with a clean paper jacket.

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Union Pacific The Birth of a Railroad 1862-1893 Maury Klein (E-2)

Rick Barton — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 14:29:51 +0000

In 685 indexed pages the author provides a comprehensive and scholarly history of the UP’s first 31 years including a bibliography and index. Published by Doubleday in 1987, this first edition in in very good used condition with a clean paper jacket.

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History of the Union Pacific: A Financial and Economic Survey – (1966) Reprint of 1923 book (E-2)

Rick Barton — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 19:30:48 +0000

Handsomely done 1966 reprint of this early history of the Union Pacific (originally published in 1923). Provides a clear description of the UP’s origins from the Pacific Railroad Acts through the annual report of 1921. Illustrated with black and white photos, maps and numerous charts.

412 pages

Hard Cover

Published 1966 REPRINT (first published 1923)

Table Of Contents

I The Pacific Railroad Acts 3

Ii The History Of The Construction Contracts 23

Iii The Work Of Construction 55

Iv Congressional Scandals: Credit Mobilier; The Mulligan Letters 71

V The Decade From I870 To I880 99

Vi Disputes And Litigation Over The Interest Question I23

Vii The Kansas Pacific Consolidation 147

Viii Auxiliary And Branch Lines 175

Ix The Administration Of Charles Francis Adams . . 198

X Receivership And Reorganization 24.I

Xi The Growth Of The Union Pacific From The Time Of The Reorganization Down To 1905 273

Xii The Harriman System 307

Xiii The Dissolution Of The Union Pacific-Southern Pacific Combination 352

Xiv Recent Operations 373

Xv General Considerations 389

Bibliography . . 40i

Index 405

PREFACE

The railroad situation today constitutes a problem of far greater moment than ever before. Permanent business prosperity cannot exist unless we have a healthy and permanent solution of the railroad problem. The story of the Union Pacific shows the vitality of a rightly located railroad, and its power, under competent management, of working free from the handicaps of financial exploitation, and becoming a source of profit to its stockholders and of service to the entire community.

The Union Pacific together with its western connection, the Central Pacific, was the first and for many years the only transcontinental railroad. The sixty years of its existence saw the opening up of the western half of the country, and in this vast development the Union Pacific bore a chief part. In later years, as a Harriman road, the Union Pacific has been identified with perhaps the greatest of American railway operators. Yet though the road has often been in the limelight, its dramatic story has never been assembled in its entirety. The present work gives a general account of the Union Pacific Railroad from its birth during the Civil War, in 1862, to the annual report of the directors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1921, after the return of the railroads to private control following the World War.

Many important lessons are to be learned from the successive stages of Union Pacific history : the launching of the road with fervid but hasty enthusiasm arid in a peculiar degree with national backing; the profligacy and chicanery of old-time railroad management, by which resources and good will were alike thrown away; the collapse and receivership; the speedy revival and expansion in the hands of a competent management; the final stage of close governmental supervision of private initiative culminating in the Railroad Administration and the Esch-Cummins Law of 1920.

The peculiar relations long subsisting between the United States government and the Union Pacific bring out the bungling, bureaucratic processes of government and the great dangers of uninformed public opinion, often demanding legislation the effect of which is to punish the men of today for the misdeeds of the former generation and, in the process, imposing a heavy handicap on legitimate business development.

The personal testimony of the early promoters, of the Credit Mobilier people, of Jay Gould, Russell Sage, and other speculators of the past generation, and in more recent times of E. A. Harriman, Otto H. Kahn, and their associates, is voluminous and readily accessible among the government publications. There exists also a mass of documentary evidence in the shape of reports, court records, and similar data. This abundant source material makes it possible to present the full financial and economic history of this great railroad company, the character of its relations with the federal government, and the account of the process by which the Union Pacific expanded from a single stretch of main line a thousand miles in length to the great system which the road controls and operates today.

NELSON TROTTMAN. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 25, 1923.

The book is in Very Good condition. There are no marks, writings or tears, the binding is strong. Almost no shelf wear.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0007DNMXM
Publisher ‏ : ‎ A.M. Kelley; First Edition (January 1, 1966)

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Smoke Down the Canyons James L. Ehernberger and Francis G. Gschwind (W-35)

Chip Savoye — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 01:51:43 +0000

Smoke Down the Canyons: Union Pacific, Idaho Division Hardcover – January 1, 1966

ASIN ‏ : ‎B0007EKMBQ. Publisher ‏ : ‎ E & G Publications; First Edition (January 1, 1966)

64 pages of Steam Photos on Union Pacific’s Idaho Division

Very Good Condition. No wear on the binding or cover.

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Smoke Along the Columbia James L. Ehernberger, Francis G. Gschwind (W-35)

Chip Savoye — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 22:23:04 +0000

Smoke Along the Columbia is a look at Union Pacific’s Oregon Division in the Steam Era. Good Quality Black and White Photographs. Nice map of rail lines of Washington and Oregon inside the front cover. Introduction by George Baker, General Manager, Northwestern District, Union Pacific

1968. Endpaper maps of Union Pacific routes. Spine cover detached at edge of front cover but binding is sound

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000NPRJXI Publisher ‏ : ‎ [E.G. Publications]; First Edition (January 1, 1968)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 64 pages Union Pacific Steam on the Oregon Divsion

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.8 ounces

Fair Condition. White cover slightly smudged. Binding is tearing

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Classic American Railroads byMike Schafer (W 40)

Gene Harmon — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 15:27:51 +0000

This 160-page, all-color, indexed title has sections on 15 railroads, including the Southern Pacific, Santa Fe, Burlington, Rio Grande, Union Pacific, and midwestern and Eastern lines. This volume was published by Motorbooks International in 1996 and has excellent captions and photo reproduction. The book is in excellent condition with a jacket and slight edge wear.

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Empire Express by David Bain (W 18)

Gene Harmon — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 15:40:27 +0000

This 776 page history covers all aspects of the building of the transcontinental railroad including the political machinations leading to actual construction and the many subsequent controversies, bankruptcies and struggles. Published by Penguin Books in 1999 as a paperback volume with maps, this book is in good used condition.

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