Historical Photographs - Earliest railroad photo/photographer?

From: Two23@aol.com

For the past year I've been using historical lenses (e.g. pre-Civil War) and a c.1885 tailboard camera [i.e. "1885 Watson & Son tailboard camera and 1855 George Wood meniscus lens using ISO 25 film"]. I shoot mostly railroad photos with this gear. I'm a member of Center for Railroad Photography & Art. I've been trying to figure out two things:

(1) What was the first railroad photo?

(2) Who was the first railroad photographer?

I think the answer to the second question is Edouard Baldus, who began photographing railroads in 1855. If you have any insight, I'd appreciate hearing it.

I'm also interested in buying a book of the photos in the Lightfoot Collection. I like these very much and find them interesting. If such a book exists, do you sell it?

—Kent Staubus, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Visiting Historical CPRR sites

From: "Karl Moellmer" karlmoellmer@frontier.com
cc: "John Moellmer" jmoellmer@q.com

My brother and I are considering a road trip from Ogden to Sacramento next summer. The purpose of the trip will be to visit as many transcontinental railroad sites as possible. We'll visit Promontory and the museums in Ogden, Carson City and Sacramento, but we also want to visit all the fills, cuts, tunnels and trestles sites to which we can gain access. Do you know of a "tour guide" or any similar document(s) that would help us plan our trip? Please reply to both me and my brother.

—Karl Moellmer

Buffalo Hunting

Did passengers on the Central Pacific Railroad shoot buffalo out the windows of the train?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

To understand the history and significance of the first Thanksgiving in November, 1623 read the journal of Pilgrim Governor William Bradford. The Mayflower Compact set up a commune at the Plymouth Bay Colony with equal collective ownership, hence destroyed all incentive and half the Pilgrims starved to death. This disastrous socialist experiment was successfully replaced with capitalist individual farm plots on their plantation according to Bradford so that the Pilgrims would be incentivized by benefiting from their own individual efforts, and with farming knowledge learned from the local Indians, food became abundant leading to the first Thanksgiving celebration and subsequent success of the colony.

Southern Railway is not the Southern Pacific Railroad

From: "pswanson" zeropen@comcast.net

I have several vintage photos of steam engines labeled "Southern" with several different numbers ranging from 325 to 1349. Is this the same railway company as Southern Pacific? Other photos I have seen of "Southern Pacific" engines have both Southern and Pacific written on them. Are they two separate entities? ...

—P. Swanson

Nitroglycerin bottles

From: "Montgomery Pollack" Monty@hpr.com

I own a motion picture prop house in Los Angeles, CA. and we are working on a film right now that takes place in 1872 and there is a scene where some nitroglycerin bottles are being delivered and unpacked. It is our job to supply the period correct bottles for this scene. Do you have any pictures of what a nitroglycerin bottle looked like or if it even came in a bottle when they were using it to build the railroads. ...

—Montgomery Pollack, Vice President, The Hand Prop Room LP

Questions

From: "Tonya Dooley" dtdooley@frontiernet.net

1. How much would a train ride cost in the 1870's, and what would be included with that price of ticket?

2. How would the people eat and sleep on a train in the 1870's?

3. In the 1870's what land would be for sale along the train ride, and what would be the advantages for settling on this land?

4. What exciting towns and cities would have been seen on a train ride from Omaha, Nebraska to California?

5. What landscape and animals would people see along the train ride starting from Omaha, Nebraska and ending in California?

6. What would be some significant places on a train ride starting in Omaha, Nebraska, and ending in California?

7. How long would it take to get from Omaha, Nebraska to California without the train? ...

"Donner Pass Route Gets Added to Train Simulator 2012"

"Donner Pass Route Gets Added to Train Simulator 2012." © Gamers Daily News, 11/18/2011. (News Article – Windows Software)

"Railsimulator.com Ltd is pleased to announce the Donner Pass: Southern Pacific add-on for RailWorks 3: Train Simulator 2012 will be available Thursday, November 24 [2011] ... This challenging route puts you at the controls of Southern Pacific diesels in the early-1990s ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

News from Transcontinental Chautauqua

From: "Chris Graves" caliron@cwnet.com

Being the rail/historical fans you are, the following most likely will be of interest. As to the film, the historical challenges in the first draft have been corrected. I do think you will like it!

—GJ Chris Graves, NewCastle, MP32, AltaCal'a

Click to see Transcontinental Railroad Chautauqua News and Information about ... the documentary film, "The Hidden Wonder of the World; the Transcontinental Railroad Today from Sacramento to Donner Summit."

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Artwork of John MacQuarrie courtesy of Chris Graves.

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"On October 7, 1867, after Tunnel 6 was holed through and before the first locomotive went through, Federal Rail Inspectors reported the following:"

... The crest of the Sierra is pierced by a tunnel 1659 feet in length, 16 by 20 feet, through the hardest kind of blue granite, and the line opens on the slope facing the east upon the precipitous side of a high granite peak, ... and is a wonderful achievement in Railroad Engineering. ... The laborers on the tunnel have been principally Chinese. They worked in gangs of three shifts of eight hours each per day laboring steadily day and night during the storms of one of the severest winters ever known in California, upon the summit of the highest mountain range in the United States and at an elevation greater by several hundred feet than the top of Mount Washington. The drilling is done entirely by hand laborer. Drilling machines were tried, but proved a failure.

A trip West before the railroad

Where can I find information about a trip West before the railroad?

UPRR yellow passenger cars

From: "Robert Anderson" rha90272@mac.com

I am involved with model railroading, and have passenger cars like the one shown below. Where can I get more information about the years these cars were used, and the routes they were used on? ...

—Bob Anderson

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UP Madison passenger car

USGS California Historic Topo Maps Online

"More than 13,000 online maps provide historic view of state" by Agustin Armendariz, © California Watch, November 9, 2011. (News Article)

"This week, the U.S. Geological Survey added 13,688 historical California topographic maps to its online archive, hundreds of which date back to the 1800s. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Railroad ties per mile

From: "Donna Munro" creationsbydonna@shaw.ca

How many rail ties are in an average mile of standard gauge (4' 8 1/2") track?

—Donna Munro

"Hell on Wheels" TV show

The new fictional "Hell on Wheels" TV series about building the Union Pacific Railroad premieres Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 10/9c on AMC.

CPRR Discussion Group

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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

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