Colors of the cars

From: "Jim Ritter" jritter@riteboiler.com, Jritter1@verizon.net

I would like to paint some 1800's era passenger cars for a Golden Spike diorama but can't locate any accurate information as to what the colors of the cars may have been for both the Central Pacific and Union Pacific at that period. Have you some information on this available? ...

—Jim Ritter

"CP" Cast Iron plate

From: "Scott Chaney" schaney@g.clemson.edu

I am a collector of railroad memorabilia from across the country. I recently picked up a yellow cast iron plate with huge cast letters "CP". I have been unable to identify that this is truly a CPRR piece or just some other iron plate. Is there anyone there that can help me correctly distinguish this piece as CPRR. ...

—Scott and Charles Chaney

---

How did rail passenger reach San Francisco in 1908?

From: "Jeanne Crawford" jeannecrawford@gmail.com

... My grandmother took the train from Oregon down to San Francisco in 1908. Then she took a train from San Francisco on south to Pasadena. I am curious how she got into San Francisco. I tried to do some research myself but am unsure. Did she go into Sacramento and the whole train went on a ferry to San Francisco? Or did she get to Oakland and have to switch to a passenger ferry? Or did her train from Oregon go down to San Jose and then up the penninsula to San Francisco?

... I have the letter my grandmother wrote from San Francisco in September 1908 but she doesn't explain how she got into the City via train/ferry/???

—Jeanne

Railroad retirement records

From: "Millie Guinup" pices11@twcny.rr.com

Did the railroad keep records of all those that worked on the railroad ... Like Social Security of today?? That would fall under the F.O.I.A. so that we can look up our ancestors .. I would like to find where they last worked, if they collected any benefits after retiring.. who their benefactors [sic] are, children.. ETC.. ...

—Millie Guinup

Biographical information on Andrew J. Russell

From: "Perry, Shannon" PERRYS@si.edu

I am doing some research on photographer Andrew Joseph Russell, and we are trying to verify his place of birth. Your site lists the birth place as Walpole, New Hampshire - I was hoping you might tell me what your source was for his birth place. ...

Shannon Perry
Permanent Collection Database Administrator
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Chair, Smithsonian Institution Art Collections Information Systems (ArtCIS) Committee

Railroad crate wanted

From: "Michael Kissinger" shaun_boy37@yahoo.com

... I have been looking and looking for just a plain old used railroad crate for me to purchase and can't seem to have any luck on the internet search. Is there anyway you can help me out? Do y'all know of any one that might be selling a crate that I may purchase ... I just need one.

Waterfowl hunting from hunting cars; commercial shipping of waterfowl before 1918?

From: "Chuck Berry" cberry@brookings.net

Waterfowl hunting from hunting cars; commercial shipping of waterfowl before 1918?

I see reference to railroad cars that brought hunters to the prairies as the tracks progressed westward. I have heard that Pullman had special cars; and that rich men could hook their own car on the end of the train to be dropped off anywhere, also heard that a side track could be built for a hunting car to stay for a while. I would like to know more about how railroads shipped game, especially waterfowl from the prairies to eastern cities before 1918 when interstate transport of migratory waterfowl was outlawed. Is there some record of shipments of barrels of waterfowl? I understand that refrigeration cars helped this quite a bit – did these cars have ice or actual refrigeration? I wonder if waterfowl were served on the dining cars – any menus? Could you refer me to articles or books on these subjects? ...

—Chuck Berry, Brookings, SD

"Bear River Canal has 150-plus year history"

"Bear River Canal has 150-plus year history: Sections of canal still formed by china walls alone" by Nancy Hagman, © Colfax Record, May 12, 2011. (Newspaper Article)

"... As river gold 'panned out' in just a few years, miners turned to hydraulic mining that required huge amounts of water fed to the large monitors – very big hose nozzles. These would blast away hillsides and reveal gold located in ancient riverbeds deep in the hillsides. Enterprising men organized the South Yuba Water Company to supply this demand. They built arterial systems of hand-dug ditches and wooden flumes diverting water from its natural course. After completion of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869, many skilled Chinese laborers went to work for the ditch company. They constructed new and improved older structures with their knowledge of building dry-stack rock walls. Known as 'china walls,' there are many examples around Colfax. They still stand today as a testament to the capability of the builders. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Survey Field Notes of William F. Hood, Chief Engineer

From: "Robert L. Thompson" rthompson777@sbcglobal.net

Can you tell me where the archived field notes of William Hood would be located. Every engineer surveyor usually has a set of field books.

Specifically, the dates would be between 1905 and 1913 and dealt with the Mojave to Keeler or Owenyo line. ...

—Robert Thompson

Transcontinental Travel Times in 1869

Little Rock Morning Republican, May 11 and 12, 1869, Little Rock, Arkansas.

PROMONTORY SUMMIT.

PROMNTORY SUMMIT, UTAH, May 10.
The last rail is laid and the last spike driven. The Pacific Railroad is complete to Point Junction, 1086 miles west of the Missouri river and 690 miles east of Sacramento.
Signed: Leland Stanford, C. P. R. R.; T. C. Durant, Sidney Dillon, John Duff, U. P. R. R.

---

THE GREAT PACIFIC RAILROAD. —The near completion of the great Pacific Railroad attracts such general attention, not only throughout our own nation but in Europe, and inquiries are so frequent regarding the particulars of travel, that we have compiled the following table from the best material at hand, showing as nearly as possible the various distances run, from point to point, and the ordinary running time consumed in making the trip from New York, over each section of road, to San Francisco, the great metropolis of the Golden West:

	Miles.	Hours.
New York to Chicago, Ill.	911	36 1/2
Chicago to Omaha, Nebraska	491	25 1/2
Omaha to Bryan	858	48
Bryan to Ogden, Utah	233	10 3/4
Ogden to Elko, Nevada via Central Pacific Railroad	278	12 1/2
Elko to Sacramento, Cal., via Central Pacific Railroad	465	31
Sacramento to San Francisco, via Western Pacific Railroad	117	3 1/2
Total	3,323	161 1/2

Thus a total distance of 3,353 miles is made according to the present schedule, in six days, seventeen and a half hours, actual time, by a traveler's watch, from which we deduct three and a half hours, difference of time, when going west, leaving the apparent time consumed in making the trip six days and fourteen hours.

At San Francisco the mails will connect with the various steamship lines running on the Pacific, and may be landed at Honolulu in nine days from that city or fifteen and a half days from New York. They can reach Japan in nineteen days from San Francisco, or twenty-five and a half days from New York, or thirty-three to thirty-four days from Great Britain, thus beating the British mails sent via Suez by the Peninsular and Oriental steamers by from three to four weeks. The trip between Yokohama, Japan, and either Hong Kong or Shanghae, is readily accomplished by the Pacific Mail steamships in from five to six days, which added to the time in reaching Japan, will give the through time necessary to reach either of the above named ports in China. —Toledo Blade

---

---

CPRR and UPRR Display Advertisements, May, 1869.
Courtesy of the Bruce C. Cooper Collection.

CPRR Discussion Group

Welcome to the CPRR Discussion Group at the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum.

See HOW TO POST to the CPRR Discussion Group.

© 2011 CPRR.org. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the User Agreement which permits personal use web viewing only; no copying; arbitration; no warranty. Only send content intended for publication. Links are not merchant endorsements – caveat emptor. If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate.

CPRR Museum Category Tags:
Transcontinental Railroad
Central Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad
Railroads, Trains, Locomotives
History of the American West, Chinese railroad workers
Photography, Photographs, Stereoviews, Stereographs
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum

---

---

Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum.
Copyright © 2011, CPRR.org