Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Ernie Kiesel Collection of Southern Pacific Railroad Photographs

From: "‪Ed Gibson - SP Coast Division" sprr.coast@gmail.com


I have just begun a project for History San Jose to identify SP Coast Division (and "Coast-Side" of the later Western Division) railroaders in hundreds of circa 1900-1970 photographs that once were displayed on the Engineers Room wall of San Francisco's Seventh St. Diesel Shop, and at Mission Bay Roundhouse before that.

The trouble is, the majority of the people in the Ernie Kiesel Collection of Southern Pacific Railroad Photographs are lacking identification, as well as – importantly – biographic data. We anticipate that, in the future, the collection will become an important historical and genealogical reference pertaining to ALL Coast railroaders (employees and management alike), not only those depicted in the photos.

I have the honor of hosting the identification project on my personal website. A representative sample of 25 photographs is online now, with the balance of the collection scheduled to begin appearing in mid-summer, once cataloging and scanning is complete.

In particular to the CPRR Discussion Group, I'm hoping that, in the process of your pursuits, you might forward photos, biographic material, or links / pointers thereto of Coast people of any era as you run across them. These contributions will appear under the appropriate photo, and/or be added to the collection's Biographic & Subject index of all Coast railroaders.

I would greatly appreciate your help, if only in spreading the word!

Ed Gibson