I’m looking for diagram sheets for the C30-5 or C30-6 cars built in 1951. So far, searching the web results in zero results.

Any ideas on where to find such drawings?

Hi everyone! I’m a newb here, so I appreciate your patience. I’m writing a book about my Gr Grandfather, who worked 50 years as an agent for the SP (most of the time) and left behind a large amount of memoirs of his experiences. He worked from 1892-1942 in Colorado and California and saw some crazy stuff, including train Colorado train robberies.
I am curious if his employee file still exists somewhere in an archive. And if his stories would be of interest to this society.

My name is Jonathan Campbell.
He was John Milton Campbell. 1873-1962.

I am trying to get started on a special project for a DIY Trackless Train ride. I’m recreating Southern Pacific 1221 in a Garden Scale train without trackless, using a used riding lawn mower and converting it into the Locomotive replicating the current tender and a couple 1913 Pullman cars and a Southern Pacific Caboose. 1221 is my most favorite steam locomotive, not only cause it’s the closest steam locomotive to me here in New Mexico but I feel a connection to the Locomotive. It is unlikely that 1221 will be restored back into operating condition, so this will be the closest thing I can do to bringing 1221 back to life.

Southern Pacific 1221 is a notable example of the S-10 Class 0-6-0 switchers built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA, in 1913. Here are some key points about its history:

Modern Steam Switcher: The 1221 was one of the first “modern” steam switchers on the Southern Pacific Railroad, equipped with superheating and piston valves.
Service Role: These switchers were versatile, working in various settings such as making up freight trains or hauling rail cars to customers’ yards. The 1221 specifically served as the depot switcher at the San Jose, CA, depot, both at the Market Street and Cahill sites.
Technical Specifications: The 1221 is an oil burner with 51” drivers and 19” x 26” cylinders, operating at a boiler pressure of 190 psi and delivering 29,720 lbs of tractive effort. It weighs 154,600 lbs.
Preservation: In 1960, the 1221 was donated to the City of Deming, NM, where it is currently on display at the Deming Visitors Center.
This locomotive represents a significant piece of Southern Pacific’s history, showcasing the advancements in steam technology during the early 20th century.

I’m looking for drawings or blueprints for 1221 so I match the details as close as I can, I also am looking old video footage of 1221 if there is any.I want to use an actual small whistle and a small bell instead of the soundboard to add authenticity. This will be a fun ride for the younger generations to not only learn about history but provide a way to keep a part of Southern Pacific history alive.

Back in 1992, I worked at the Union Pacific yard in Rolla, CO. I worked for a contractor named Port Services Company, and they had the contract to unload new autos for the railroad. Now one of the automakers we serviced was Toyota, and I became our location’s representative on a Quality Control team named the Damage Eliminators. Basically, the railroads were in hot water with Toyota, and the team was formed to make sure that both the UP and the Southern Pacific railroad kept their lucrative contracts. The final team was comprised with a mix of UP, Southern Pacific, and contractor personnel. Pretty normal, right?

Here’s where I need help. In late 1991, I flew from Colorado to a rail yard in Northern California for a big meeting involving both railroads, Toyota, and our Quality Control Team. First, I’m not here to go over what happened in the railyard that day. If you want to hear that, talk to somebody else who was there. Every time I tell this part of my story, people ask me if I’m smoking crack. And by people, I mean my wife. I’m hoping that since the Chairman of the UP and the Chairman of the Southern Pacific, and the President of Toyota USA (and all their attending flunkies) were there that day, there’s a pretty good chance somebody might remember this event. It was unforgettable to me anyway…

A couple of weeks later, we were notified our mission was successful and victory was declared. The quality control project had achieved all its objectives and Toyota was happy. So, they scheduled a ceremony at Rolla to give our team an award for our achievement. The UP loved giving out awards and they have awards for everything. Attendance, safety, good grooming. Our team had gotten a milestone award about 6 months before and basically it was a 5-minute speech, a nice certificate, and a free jacket.

But not this time:

A large stage had been erected near the employees parking area, and two small trailers had been moved in overnight. When I got out of my car, I saw two camera men and a videographer. One of the photographers starts taking multiple photos of me. I have no idea what’s going on. That’s when our team leader, Jack rushes over and asks me where the hell I’ve been. He grabs my arm and leads me to one of the trailers. When I enter there are two men waiting for me. They are tailors from Brooks Brothers, and they immediately start undressing and measuring me. They were good. Ten minutes later I walk out of the trailer in a brand-new suit wearing a pair of Gucci shoes. I still have no idea what is going on. I am literally in shock. When I get over to the stage, the rest of my team is already there. They’re in regular clothes, I’m in a suit. The rest of the ceremony is a blur to me. I do remember the Chairman mentioning my name a couple of time while he was speaking. Everybody received a special commiserative pin for their work, and I was singled out and given a beautiful desk clock and stand by the Chairman himself. The clock had a beautiful metal cover that features a hand-etched logo of the Union Pacific.

After the ceremony, I went back to the trailer to return the suit and put my street clothes on. Then Jack comes in and starts talking all this crazy s**t to me. Really crazy s**t! First, he tells me some cock and bull story about the clock I had just received, and then he tells me the railroad was going to hang my portrait in their beautiful, wood paneled boardroom — right next to their founder. Just crazy talk. I didn’t believe a single thing that he said. Too fantastical even for me. I got fired by Port Services the very next day and didn’t even think about any of this for years.

I kept that beautiful clock on my desk until my wife and I moved to a new house in 2007, and then it disappeared for another 8 years before I found it in a moving box. The stand was broken and there was some kind of gunk on the Union Pacific cover. So, I took it to a local jewelry store to be cleaned. I tell the jeweler what I need, and we go into his lab. I hand him the clock, and he looks at it–really hard. He tells me the clock cover is solid gold. I ask him how much gold were talking about and he says about 2 and a half POUNDS. I ask him is it 24k and he says no. Tells me it’s 18k.

That’s then I wrote the Union Pacific Museum to see if they have any information and they write back and say no. They said the Union Pacific hands out hundreds of awards every year and they don’t keep track. And also, they confirmed my portrait was not hanging in their boardroom. Once I got their reply it confirmed my theory: Jack was pulling my leg the entire time. You see Jack had told me that the clock cover was made from the leftover gold from the pouring of the Golden Spike. That Jack!!

So last night I’m reading a history of the gold rush in California and they’re a section about the Southern Pacific Railroad. The author talked about their headquarters in San Francisco and mentioned a “wood paneled boardroom filled with historical portraits and railroad memorabilia”. The guy I mentioned earlier, Jack, was the Railmaster for the UP. I always assumed he was talking about the UP boardroom. Now it turns out I might be wrong.

I looked to see if there were any images of the Southern Pacific boardroom on the Internet, but I couldn’t find any. If anyone has any, I would appreciate it if you could pass them along. I’m not going to publish them or anything like that. I just want to see if there’s a portrait of me hanging on the wall.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by gwalter@equalityis.com.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by gwalter@equalityis.com.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by gwalter@equalityis.com.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by gwalter@equalityis.com.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by gwalter@equalityis.com.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by gwalter@equalityis.com.

Adopt A Branch

I have published my latest monograph on “Wanted on Voyage”

“Favored, Fated & Flawed: s.s. MOMUS, ANTILLES & CREOLE”

https://wantedonthevoyage.blogspot.com/2024/09/favored-fated-flawed-ss-momus-antilles.html

This details the careers of the largest trio of liners ever built for a U.S. coastal service, that from New York to New Orleans, operated by Southern Pacific Steamships (“The Morgan Line”): MOMUS (1906-1933) and ANTILLES )1907-1917), built by Cramps of Philadelphia; and CREOLE (1907-1933) built by Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, the latter famous for being the first American-built twin-screw turbine liner and unsuccessful as such and re-engined in 1910… a saga that will be recounted in some detail for those interested.

Peter Kohler

Of possible interest here, I have published a monograph on the last of the Southern Pacific Steamships (Morgan Line) coastal liners: s.s. DIXIE (1928-1941):

https://wantedonthevoyage.blogspot.com/2024/08/down-south-in-ss-dixie.html

This will be followed by another monograph on s.s. MOMUS, ANTILLES and CREOLE

Peter Kohler

Can someone tell me the identity of the 1945 steam locomotive on the Chico, CA to Sterling City run please.
Thanks. Doug

With the emphasis of reducing cost and bringing more dollars to the railroad companies’ bottom line, “Precision Scheduled Railroading” (PSR), became the necessary mantra to implement and operate on all major rail routes. When this first was initiated on the UP and not officially on the BNSF, I started thinking about some of the monster trains we built and operated on the Southern Pacific in the 70s and 80s just to survive a challenging environment. On the Los Angeles Division, I don’t think we ever operated a train with 200+ cars. I could be wrong. But we did operate some 150+ car trains between Los Angeles and West Colton when we didn’t have sufficient locomotives to operate all of the required schedules. I recall a four unit SW1500 locomotive set attempting to pull a 150+ car train from Los Angeles to West Colton. It stalled on the grade between Walnut and Pomona and one of the City of Industry jobs had to be put into helper service to shove the train up to Pomona. Of course, trains this size didn’t fit in any sidings and could tie up an entire dispatching district so they had to be planned when there were few conflicting movements.

I’m sure these weren’t the longest trains SP operated. Does anyone else have stories about long trains while working on the SP?

Pete

Thrust into Southern Pacific management ranks as an Assistant Trainmaster working for Mike Mohan at City of Industry in 1974, I was quickly “baptized by fire” learning how road switcher crews worked, where they hid to sleep, how they slowed their work down to claim 12 hours every time they worked, and how, in some cases they worked 7.5 hours and claimed 12 hours on their time slips. What? Crews stealing time claiming they worked but really didn’t??? I wondered what I had gotten myself into! This was never more apparent than when I was assigned to Tweedy Yard, the SP yard that supported the General Motors South Gate, California production facility. There were seven to nine jobs officially assigned as going on and off duty at 92nd Street, about 1/2 mile west of the Tweedy Yard Office, but no one every officially showed up at 92nd Street and always came to work at the Tweedy Yard office. A couple of the road switcher jobs were “haulers” taking cars to City of Industry or Los Angeles and bringing back loaded auto parts cars for the GM plant. The remainder of the jobs were assigned to switch the GM plant at various times of the day. With a two shift operation, the plant always needed to have its 6 tracks pulled and spotted at least twice a day, and always prior to the time the next shift came to work. The most critical pull and spot was early in the morning and had to be complete no later than 600am. If it was, then the assembly line would be delayed until the switching process was complete. Every job that worked at Tweedy claimed 12 hours even if they only worked 5 or 6. The practice was called a “Quit.” The GM plant was always spotted on time and everyone was happy! And, this was an acceptable practice until one day Superintendent Bob Thruston decided he had had enough. Costs on the Los Angeles Division had risen and the pressure was on from San Francisco to cut costs so Bob proclaimed the “Quit” was dead. I remember pushing back and telling Mike Irvine, who had replaced Mike Mohan as Trainmaster at City of Industry, that we’re going to be in trouble with GM when the plant doesn’t spotted on time in the morning. He agreed, but said I had to tell the crews that if they were going to claim 12 hours, then they would work 12 hours! I put the word out and all the crew members just shook their head at me and said I didn’t know what I was doing. I told them the Superintendent had issued the edict, it was out of my hands. Well, guess what? The crews all slowed down their work, the GM plant was spotted very late the first morning and the GM Traffic Manager, Vic Briscoe, called Bob Thruston the Superintendent. Bob attempted to explain what was going on but Vic would have none of it. Bob convinced him it would be straightened out the following day. It wasn’t, and the plant was spotted about 3 hours late. This time Vic Briscoe really let Bob have it and told him a San Francisco call was next. It wasn’t long after that call that Mike Irvine called me and said go back to the former way of working at Tweedy and get the plant spotted on time. I told the crews and they were happy. They did agree with me to claim 11.5, 11.75 or some total time below 12 hours each day instead of the maximum each day, so the whole painful time did result in a small change of what was called the “Quit”.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by Bill Fowler.