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The mission of the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society is to preserve and disseminate the historical record of the Southern Pacific Railroad and its affiliates by promoting preservation, industrial archeology and accurate scale modeling of this great pioneer company which built the Western United States.
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Southern Pacific’s San Antonio Division 1960-1996
by David M. Bernstein
The San Antonio Division stretches 1,289 miles from Glidden to El Paso, Texas, and southward to the Rio Grande Valley. This territory encompasses the vast expanse of western Texas, the ports of Corpus Christi and Brownsville, the rich agricultural lands of southern Texas and the urban centers of San Antonio and El Paso. While focusing on the final four decades prior to Southern Pacific’s merger with the Union Pacific Railroad in 1996, Southern Pacific’s San Antonio Division: 1960-1996 also contains detailed history of the companies and lines constituting the San Antonio Division. For continuity, the small portions which constituted the Austin and the Houston Division in 1960 have been included.The author worked in SP’s Operating Department from 1979 until 1994 and was granted access to company files, records and internal memoranda. This book is a very detailed and well researched insight into the operation of the San Antonio Division. Included are 480 photographs, many depicted in full page size, 25 maps and 24 detailed yard and terminal diagrams.
This is the first comprehensive book published on the San Antonio Division and will appeal to anyone interested in the history and operations of the Southern Pacific. Two future companion volumes are planned, the first covering the Dallas and Austin Divisions, the second covering the Houston and Lafayette Divisions.
600 pages, 11" x 8 ½" library bound with dust jacket, 480 photographs, 25 maps, 24 yard and terminal diagrams.
Published by the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society.
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New at the Company Store
Los Angeles Division by John R. Signor
From the first stirring of a Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad locomotive in January 1869, to the merger with Union Pacific on September 11, 1996, Southern Pacific’s Los Angeles Division in all of its manifestations was an engine of growth and prosperity in Southern California. It employed many thousands over the years in its offices, shops and trains. It brought settlers west, established towns, brought war workers in and sent the troops home.
Much has been written about the Southern Pacific and its subsidiaries in the Southland. This volume was conceived to augment these works by tracing the long and involved operating history of the Southern Pacific as it first helped to create Southern California, then later adapted to cope with its explosive growth. Accompanying the text are over 1,000 photographs—most never published, including 456 in color—timetables and other ephemera, and 76 maps, many of which are rendered in the author’s unique “bird’s eye view” style.
With Los Angeles as a destination of significance from the beginning, the author has been able to draw from a wealth of historic material on the subject, preserved by the railway itself, official repositories, interested employees and other individuals which includes photographs, first hand experiences and the day-to-day paperwork that documented how SP operated in Southern California. Southern Pacific’s Los Angeles Division is sure to find a place on the book shelves of those interested in the SP, or the history of Southern California as a whole.
584 pages, 8½ x 11 library bound with dust jacket, 1,043 photos, 76 maps, Bibliography and Index.
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