Books - Comments / Reviews by WPLives

Books - Comments / Reviews by WPLives

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Bill Talbitzer - The Gandydancers (1973)	Description A collection of stories about the Gandydancers of the West, the men who blasted the rock, graded the roadbed, drilled the tunnels and laid the steel to open a new artery of rail transportation to the East. The gandydancer got his peculiar name from the rhythmic, dancelike movement with which he accompanied the labor of forcing the ballast under the crossties that would hold the ribbon of steel. Oroville, California: Las Plumas Publications; 1967; 1st Edition; Paperbound; center-stapled format; 10.75"×8.25"; 47 pages; Many historic photo illustrations; plus a few drawings by Sal Casa.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Jeff S. Asay - The Iron Feather (2018)	*All copies are autographed by the author!* The Western Pacific Railroad, from its inception in 1903 until the Union Pacific takeover in late 1982, was always fending off one crisis or another, managing to remain independent through luck and clever financial maneuvering. Today, much of the WP has been abandoned and some has been sold, but the original Bogue main line from the Bay Area to Salt Lake City remains intact and in operation. This book also relates the parallel story of the Sacramento Northern Railway, an electric interurban that Alvin Krech acquired for the WP in the 1920s for its freight traffic base. Sacramento Northern suffered the same precarious ride as its parent company and was finally merged into Union Pacific along with the Western Pacific. Author Jeff Asay; hard cover; 512 pages; 450 photos; 80 maps and graphics.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Diesel Era Magazine - The Revolutionary Diesel (1994)	Description Following up on the success of its streamlined main line passenger diesels in the late 1930s, Electro-Motive Corp. challenged the century-long dominance of steam locomotives in freight service. The vehicle for this attack was a four-unit A-B-B-A demonstrator set of a new model, the FT. When it finished an 11-month, 83,064 mile tour over 20 railroads in 1939-1940, the contest was already over. Only the urgency of World War II traffic demands stood between the great steam fleet and the scrap yard. 250+ photographs with a four-color cover printed on heavyweight stock.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Ken Meeker - The Western Pacific (2011)	Description This well-illustrated volume examines the Western Pacific and its subsidiaries, Sacramento Northern and Tidewater Southern. The author diligently worked on the book for more than two decades. In the world of railroading, the Western Pacific was a late bloomer. From the outset, the upstart WP was fighting for its survival, competing against the mighty Southern Pacific. The SP (and its predecessor Central Pacific) was firmly entrenched in California, Nevada, and Utah 40 years prior to the arrival of the WP, which did not open for operation until 1909. For 73 years, the WP remained a fiercely independent carrier surviving in the shadow of the much larger SP. On the scale of modern mega-sized railroads, the Western Pacific might now be thought of as a regional carrier. In its day, however, the WP was a key link in the transcontinental rail network, forwarding traffic between the Denver & Rio Grande Western and union Pacific in Salt Lake City, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Also key was WP’s role of providing the middle link for Inside Gateway service, in conjunction with Santa Fe and Burlington Northern (and before that, Great Northern), offering competitive service between Southern California and the Pacific Northwest. In later years, WP was divided into seven operating divisions. Each subdivision had individual character, unique operating challenges, and distinct scenic elements providing variety at every corner of the railroad. In addition to the seven subdivisions, the WP also operated two wholly-owned subsidiaries; the Sacramento Northern and the Tidewater Southern. All seven of WP’s subdivisions, as well as subsidiaries SN and TS, are documented in the book. Hardcover; 256 pages; 410 color illustrations; 11 maps.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Western Pacific Railroad - Western Pacific Railroad Co. Sacramento Northern Ry. Tidewater Southern Ry. Co. (1957)	WESTERN PACIFIC Railroad Co. Circular #167-E WESTERN PACIFIC Railroad Co. Circular #167-E includes not only the WP, but also the Sacramento Northern and the Tidewater Southern Railways. This guide has 173 pages and appears to be from 1957. There are maps of the three railroads in the back pages of the book. While industries in large cites are listed such as San Francisco and Salt Lake City, covering several pages, there are also small town industries listed such as Tobar and Loyalton. All of the industries in a town are listed including those not served by WP, so many SP and ATSF customers are also listed at joint locations. The book has a comb binding, to open flat, along with protective clear front cover and heavy Leatherette rear cover.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Jeff S. Asay - Track And Time (2006)	Biography Jeff S. Asay was born in New Jersey on January 2, 1946. He began his railroad career as a Southern Pacific towerman in Los Angeles in 1966 while attending school. The Union Pacific Railroad hired Jeff Asay as a staff attorney in 1973 after he graduated from UCLA Law School. From 1978 to 1986 he was assigned to the Portland regional office where he developed an interest in the history of Union Pacific in the Northwest and collected research materials for his book UNION PACIFIC NORTHWEST: THE OREGON-WASHINGTON RAILROAD AND NAVIGATION COMPANY (Edmonds, Washington: Pacific Fast Mail, 1992). During his 36-year career with the railroad, Mr. Asay has worked in East Los Angeles, Portland, Kansas City and Roseville. He retired as senior regional counsel in Roseville in 2009. Mr. Asay has been active in railroad historical research for over twenty years. He has written for the National Association of Timetable Collectors, Railroad Station Historical Society, SP Trainline, and the Union Pacific Historical Society. Jeff Asay has been a volunteer at the California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives since his retirement from the Union Pacific in 2009. He also served as a Board Member of the CSRM Foundation.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Jeff S. Asay - The Railway History Monograph (1983)	Volume XII of "The Railway History Monograph. Research Journal of American Railways". 1983 112pp 44 pages of reproductions of timetables 7 maps 58 black & white photographs with descriptions. Stiff yellow wrappers printed in black. This entire volume is devoted to Asay's work. It is a major study and it appears this work might be the forerunner of the author's "Track and Time: An Operational History of the Western Pacific Railroad Through Timetables and Maps", published in 2006. In any case, a useful resource.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Newton Gregg - Train Shed Cyclopedia No.73 (1978)	Title: Train Shed Cyclopedia, No. 73, Freight & Passenger Cars, Shops & Terminals, 40's & 50's (Part 1) from the Railway Mechanical Engineer. 64 full-size pages reprinted from the original edition. Author: Newton K Gregg
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book David F. Myrick - Western Pacific (2006)	Description This carefully researched and well-written book by an eminent railroad historian gives a detailed account of the conception and building of the Western Pacific, which was in effect the Pacific extension of the Denver & Rio Grande. Coverage includes the northern California extension and Great Northern's 1931 entrance into the Golden State. Operations are described right up to merger with the Union Pacific.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Jim Eager - Western Pacific Color Guide To Freight And Passenger Equipment (2001)	Description "More than 300 vintage color photos of the equipment roster of 'the Feather River Route'. From the flashy orange, black and silver box cars on its freight roster to the glittering of its equipment contributed to the CZ pool, WP was a class act."
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book John B. Hungerford - Cab-in-Front (1959)	Cab in Front By John Hungerford The half century story of an unconventional locomotive. Soft Cover Copyright 1974 36 pages The Half-Century Story of an Unconventional Locomotive SOME DAY THE STORY of the golden age of American railroading-the period in the earlier decades of the twentieth century-will be completely chronicled and when it is a portion will certainly contain allusion to an unconventional creature which flourished in the West for close on 50 years. It belonged to a strain as rugged as the mountains responsible for its inception and it never strayed from the boundaries of its western habitat. Neither did it, in all the days of its usefulness, leave the corrals of its owners nor carry the brand markings of another ranch. That was the Cab-Ahead locomotive, conceived by Southern Pacific and born of necessity. Otherwise called the Back-Up, Cab-Forward, Cabin-Front, Cab-Fronter, Cab-First, Stack-in-Back, it was as distinctly Espee as the familiar herald showing the rails vanishing into the sunset. Throughout some 35 years 256 of these monstrous machines came west from the Baldwin works to serve SP diligently and well. No articulated Cab-Aheads ever operated regularly on rails other than Southern Pacific's. No other railroads adopted them, yet they were not freaks and their success as products of the minds of men unafraid to break with the past is one of SP's best chapters. There was something about the Cab-Aheads that struck a popular fancy, both among laymen and railroadmen. Possibly it was that note of nonconformity, a departure from accepted practice in design, that made these locomotives such favorites. They were not always thought of that way; when first introduced their crews were unwilling to ride in a front-end cab. They argued of the danger to engineer and fireman in head-on collisions and crossing accidents, but these objections soon passed.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Joseph Shine - Southern Pacific Transportation Co. Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad St. Louis Southwestern Ry (1991)	During the 1980s the Southern Pacfic Railroad, Cotton Belt Railway, and the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad merged to form the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. This book is profusely illustrated with photogarphs of the locomotives that served the new company as it moved into the 1990s. 200 pages
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Neill C. Wilson - Southern Pacific (1952)	Description The historical story of the creation of the Southern Pacific Railroad. There are lots of old photos with the inside of the cover a map of the line.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Donald V. Jewell - Southern Pacific 1977-1980 Motive Power Annual (1981)	Description SP Motive Power Annual for 1977-1980. Includes discussion of Foreign Road Power on the SP, Amtrak on the SP, locomotive pools, upgrading program, rosters, renumbering, retired and vanished units, switch engines, passenger units, and system uniques. Illustrated on almost every page with black and white photos. 88 pages.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Tom Dill - Southern Pacific's San Joaquin Valley Line (2001)	Southern Pacific's San Joaquin Valley Line (1950s-1960s) "See SP's last steam stronghold during the mid-1950s. Travel from Oakland to Los Angeles via Tracy, Fresno, Bakersfield and Tehachapi. Many first generation diesels as well as some early second generation units." Hardcover; 128 pages; ALL Color.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Irma Dotson - Southern Pacific's San Ramon Branch Line (1991)	Handsomely done and serious history of the Southern Pacific's San Ramon branch line. The book provides detailed information on each station and how the railroad affected the growth of the surrounding community, providing invaluable information for anyone interested in Contra Costa County history. The book also illuminates how the local farmers' original push for the line and SP's very success in hauling passengers and freight opened the area up to development that replaced agriculture with residential living which eventually killed the line. Illustrated throughout with black and white photos as well as numerous maps. Includes list of SP station agents and employees for the branch, SP alignment map and station plats, as well as a bibliography. 288 pages; index.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Jack Herris - Southern Pacific's Second-Hand Steam (2018)	Description This book is a pictorial anthology of used steam locomotives purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad, supplemented by historical information and technical specifications. Class MM-3, B-1 and Mk-10 steam locomotives are featured. 126 pages 223 photographs.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Jack Herris - Southern Pacific's Streamlined Articulateds (2019)	Description This book features a photographic anthology of Southern Pacific’s iconic AC-9 class articulated steam locomotives. Unlike SP’s famous cab-forwards, the AC-9 class was designed for operation as coal burning engines on the Rio Grande Division. Ordered shortly after SP’s streamlined Daylight locomotives, the dozen AC-9s from Lima also featured a skyline casing and were the only semi-streamlined articulated engines ever produced. Many previously unpublished images are supplemented by historical information, technical specifications, and tender records. 174 photos and 152 pages.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Donald Sims - Southern Pacific Country (1987)	Trans-Anglo sent Don Sims out in the late 1980s to capture the Southern Pacific on the assumption that it was soon to be merged into the Santa Fe. These pictures of the SP's glorious rails through mountains, tunnels, deserts, forest and across coastlines from San Francisco to New Orleans celebrate the railroad as it was in its last heady years of independence. Massive fleets of six-axled locomotives, double-stack containers, Oregon logging trains, long drags and sugar beet trains -- they're all here. The SP disappeared into the UP a few years later but at least on these pages, the Espee rolls onward. Illustrated throughout with black and white as well as color photos. End papers show system map. 199 pages.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Richard K. Wright - Southern Pacific Daylight (1970)	Probably the most comprehensive and interesting book ever written about a single train, this book examines the Southern Pacific's "Daylight" train in every possible detail. Packed with black and white photos, you can see every part of the train as well as the stations, passengers, furnishings, etc. Over 1000 illustrations, including schematics of the equipment, maps, time tables, interior color schemes and mixing lists, rosters and consists. 656 pages.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Stephen M. Hayes - Southern Pacific Depots In California, Vol.1 (2010)	Description A fascinating new hard cover book.(pictorial) with over 600 historical black and white photographs of the depots that were located on the Coast and Western Divisions of the Southern Pacific Railroad. . Includes Division maps and the end pieces also include maps drawn for the book of each division showing the locations of the photographs included. 260 pages
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Stephen M. Hayes - Southern Pacific Depots In California, Vol.2 (2012)	Description Laminated hardcover, horizontal format 11x8.5", 312 glossy pages, 625+ photos, color maps, list of all stations and still-extant stations. 2012. "Following on from his highly successful book detailing the construction and history of the depots and stations along the Western Pacific route from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, the author has compiled the companion set covering Southern Pacific Depots in California. Table of Contents - Volume 2: Chapter 1. Sacramento Division; Chapter 2. Sacramento Branches; Chapter 3. Shasta Division; Chapter 4. Shasta Branches; Chapter 5. San Joaquin Division; Chapter 6. San Joaquin Branches; Chapter 7. Los Angeles Division; Chapter 8. Los Angeles Branches; Appendices: Existing Sacramento & Shasta Branches; Existing San Joaquin & Los Angeles Branches; Full List of Division Stations. Laminated hardcover horizontal format 11x8.5" 312 glossy pages 625+ photos color maps list of all stations and still-extant stations. 2012
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Guy L. Dunscomb - Southern Pacific Steam Pictorial (1999)	Dunscomb, Guy L., Donald K. Dunscomb and Robert A Pectich Southern Pacific Steam Pictorial volume I snd II: 1000 series to 2800 series, and 2900 Series to 5000 Series. Privately published by authors, Riverbank CA, 1991, 1999, hardcover. Oversize 17 in. oblong hardcovers. Also included a loose color print matching the illustration on vol 2 dustjacket plus a large b/w photo print.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Fred W. Frailey - Southern Pacific's Blue Streak Merchandise (1992)	The Blue Streak -- the Great American Freight Train -- holds records as the world's fastest freight train and for hauling freight for a remarkable 60 years. Tells how the Southern Pacific built and developed this extraordinarily fast freight, and the stories that surround it. By Fred W. Frailey. 8-1/2"×11-1/2"; 168 pgs.; 180 photos; 25 illus.; includes dust jacket.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Tom Dill - Southern Pacific's Colorful Shasta Route (1996)	History of the Southern Pacific Shasta Route the name for the railway line from Portland, Oregon to Sacramento, California. The line passes within view of Mount Shasta thus the namesake.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Tom Dill - Southern Pacific's Historic Overland Route -Color Pictorial- (1999)	Review Review I own and have consumed both books. The Tom Dill book, while excellent, is a photo book with excellent captions. Tom is very accurate with his work. That said, I would recommend John Signor's book for the purpose you outline. It is a complete history and description of operations on the Salt Lake Division (roughly Reno-Sparks to Ogden). Lots of text, good photos, outstanding maps. This book is a companion to Signor's Donner Pass book. It will give you many hours of reading and studying photos. I'd love to recommend both, but your limits were clearly stated. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Robert J. Church - The 4300 4-8-2's (1996)	Description Well-done history of the Southern Pacific's Mountain class which many consider the best general purpose steam locomotives of the railroad. This book provides a detailed look at the design, construction (all but two classes were built by the SP at its own Sacramento General Shops), class differences, and use throughout the system. Includes specific information on locomotive components, shoppings, maintenance, etc. Illustrated throughout with black and white photos that include rare shop scenes of the locomotives being erected as well as builder's record's photos and action shots taken on each route that show the locomotives under a variety of conditions. There are also many schematic diagrams for locomotives and tenders (including 4 oversized fold-outs that should be invaluable for modelers.) 147 pages plus the foldouts.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Lawrence K. Hersh - The Central Pacific Railroad Across Nevada (2000)	How many times have you imagined what a specific area looked like, in regards to, perhaps one hundred and thirty years ago? Specifically I wondered about the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad as it progressed across Nevada, circa 1868-1869. Selected photographs of Alfred A. Hart - those which captured the events of the period are compared with author's photos taken in 1997 at the original photo locations of Hart's.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Robert J. Church - Those Daylight 4-8-4's (1976)	Photo-illustrated endpapers and title page. Profusely illustrated throughout with numerous b/w photographic reproductions, and a large folding plan, this fascinating volume is a striking pictorial history of America's most popular steam locomotives, the Southern Pacific Daylight trains. Photo-illustrated dust-jacket over decorative paper covered boards.
WPLives 30th Jul 2021		Book Donald V. Jewell - Trackside Around San Francisco 1956-1976 With Donald V. Jewell (2014)	Description A delightful two-decade long look at Southern Pacific, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe and Western Pacific locomotives and operations in the Bay area. Some rarities! Table of Contents: Introduction----------pp. 4-5; Southern Pacific in SF-------------pp. 6-33; Other Rail Operations in SF----------pp. 34-42; Bayshore Yard to San Jose---------------pp. 43-60; North Bay----------pp. 61-71; Oakland----------pp. 72-98; Other Rail Operations in Oakland-----pp. 99-100; Richmond----------pp. 101-111; Streetcars in the Bay Area----pp. 112-120; Special Events----------pp. 121-128. Hardcover with jacket, 128 pages, standard portrait size, Color images with captions.

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