"Union Pacific Museum has 'hidden gem' from Golden Spike ceremony"

"Union Pacific Museum has 'hidden gem' from Golden Spike ceremony" by Tim Rohwer, © The Daily Nonpareil, October 18, 2015. (News Article)

" ... On display ... is one of the three ceremonial golden spikes ... that were tapped into place by a special silver ... hammer into a laurelwood tie ... a fine wood ... you would use for furniture ... the Golden Spike and the Nevada Silver Spike [were] given to Central Railroad President Leland Stanford. ... The Arizona Gold and Silver [spike] was given to [Union Pacific Railroad] President Oliver Ames, who took it back to New York City, then the railroad’s headquarters. Years later, after Ames’ death, his family donated the spike to the Museum of the City of New York, which owns the spike. ... The spike has been on display since the UP Museum opened in 2003 on a permanent loan ... [with] a ring featuring gold that came from the Golden Spike, as well as watchfobs used on pocket watches. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Train Travel in 1925

From: "Anne Louise Bannon" anne@annelouisebannon.com

I'm writing a novel in which my character is travelling in October, 1925 from New York to Los Angeles (or Pasadena? Some other L.A. station? I know the Los Angeles Union Station didn't open until 1939). The fun part is that she's riding first class for the first time in her life. And I mean the kind of first class that an uber-millionnaire would be taking. So in addition to schedules, I need to get a sense of what it would be like from the time she arrives at the train station (Grand Central or Pennsylvania?) to the time she gets off the train in L.A., plus some sense of what a similar trip would be like for someone of considerably more modest means. While I don't need to know the exact cost of the trip, I would need to know how much of any incidental expenses, such as meals, would be pre-paid or on her husband's tab, as it were. He will not be with her at the time since he's gone ahead of her to California.

Is there a good online source for schedules, photos of 1920's Pullman cars and diners, perhaps a menu or two? Would she be changing trains in Chicago? One of your notes suggested that folks on the Pullman cars didn't necessarily. If she doesn't change trains, would the car be hooked up to another train. To the best of my knowledge, it wasn't a straight shot. ...

—Anne Louise Bannon, Writer and Columnist