http://www.trainweb.org/mccloudrails/index.html I found this link looking for info on some nothern californian SP routes. I combed through the whole site and was really taken back by all the info found on the page as well as some of the links posted on the website. Anywho this is a great website for any McCloud RR fan, but I was hoping there might be something like this for SP routes. All the ones I’ve found have been mostly on the history in written form with little help as far as what I am looking for. What I’m looking for are actual track diagrams or route maps as well as pictures, diagrams, drawings, maps, and information on yards, structures, industries, towns, and anything else that would be used by the SP along the routes used by them.
Welcome to the world of prototype research! Since you found your way to the McCloud site, one might think you are researching Northern California–at least at this point. Several resources–printed and website should be listed as general references for perhaps you and, more likely, for others.
A place to begin is with the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society website:
http://www.sphts.org/ The Links button will get one to a number of sites, including Pete McCloskety’s compilation of useful SP links.
Of the printed word–books-- the usual place to begion is with John Signor’s excellent series of books on various Divisions of the SP. His Shasta Route book (originally “Rails in the Shadow of Mt Shasta”) covers the SP in the reginon of McCloud. Austin and Dill pick up the route in Oregon: “The Southern Pacific in Oregon” and their second volume, the “Pictorial”. Both from PFM Books. Tom Dill also did a picture book for Four Ways West: “Southern Pacific’s Colorful Shasta Route.”
For the SP in Oregon, I’ve found a couple of sites useful:
Joel Ashcroft’s Southern Pacific in the Cascades: http://spcascades.railfan.net/home.html
has much of what you seek for the Cascade Line.
John Mossbarger has additional material at: http://shastaroute.railfan.net/home.html#Postcards
A resource for NorCal railroads, probably linked from the McCloud site, is Barnhill Web Designs:
http://ncespee.railfan.net/
Most of these sites have links to the “usual suspects” of more general SP stuff.
These are places to begin. Much more detailed material will come from basic historic research in libraries and government reecords.
Good Luck!
My website is mostly about my HO layout which models the SP in Oregon in the 1980s. However, I do have a section with prototype info on the SP Siskiyou Line.
You can find the link to my web site in my signature, below.
WOW joe thats a great website! What did you do for research for your layout and how long did it take you to plan things out for your design. Most of my research has been online from various sources. Do you have any recomendations for online sources that would help me in designing a nor-cal SP layout.
derailed:
First, I grew up next to the Siskiyou Line as a kid, so I have first-hand railfan knowledge of the line, including some photos I was smart enough to take. I’ve also railfanned the line as an adult many times, even though I no longer live in southern Oregon.
Next, I have both of the SP in Oregon books, and the Backwoods Railroads book, which covers mostly the SP branches in Oregon.
I also reference the web sites already mentioned above since they’re a great resource too.
I also have the SP Common Standard Plans books which includes lots of railroad blueprints for everything you can imagine from trestles, bridge abutment standards, grade crossings, signals, right-of-way signs, turntable blueprints, tunnel portal common standard plans, the list goes on and on. The SP Common Standard Plans books (4 volumes) are a wealth of detailed SP information that makes modeling the SP prototype much easier than it might otherwise be.
Finally, I have spoken with various prototype railroaders who have operated on the SP Lines in Oregon and gotten further information from them.
I doodled with track plan ideas for the Siskiyou Line all through the 1980s and built a small test bed layout to experiment with techniques. By the time we moved and I finally got my large empty basement (January 1991), it took me 5 months to draw up and finalize the plans before construction began (May 1991). All the preparation and homework paid off! [swg]
I have bookmarked the following forum thread from late December 06 that has led me to a wealth of information that would be helpful to anyone modeling SP in northern CA. particularly Chuck Geiger’s post dated 12/31/06:
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/990774/ShowPost.
Peter Smith, Memphis
Sorry the full address on my recent post is:
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/990774/ShowPost.aspx
Peter Smith, Memphis