Fallen flags

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

I have been looking for information on fallen flags in California, with little success, particularly those acquired by Sonthern Pacific.Can someone point me in the right direction please ? Thank’s for your help, Riley seerilefixit@sbcglobal.net

2

Fallen Flag Railroad Photos is a good one for starters!

3

I would start with the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical society (http://www.sphts.org/) and the California State Railroad Museum (http://www.csrmf.org/).

Robert A. Kelly

Waterloo Region Model Railway Club

www.wrmrc.ca

4

Although Wikipedia can occasionally be unreliable, the information on the SP predecessors and acquirees in California is reasonably complete. What are you looking for beyond that?

Note that some of these companies were short-lived or purely “paper” companies incorporated for the purpose of building a section of railroad and then were immediately acquired by the SP (which may have been one of the original financial backers).

[Also, it’s not a good idea to post your email on this or any other forum – the bad guys use automated spiders to glean email addresses for SPAM lists.]

5

I know of a number railroads missing from the Wikipedia entry

California Railroads by Alvin A. Fickewirth would be a good starting point :

Some copies available through Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-author=fickewirth&field-title=&field-isbn=&field-publisher=&node=&field-p_n_condition-type=&field-feature_browse-bin=&field-subject=&field-language=&field-dateop=&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevanceexprank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=32&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=8

6

Which railroads acquired by the SP are you thinking of? I can’t think of a major one that isn’t included in that list – maybe arguably the North Pacific Coast, which went into the NWP first.

There are certainly many smaller (many Interurban) lines like the Chowchilla Pacific Ry, the Peninsula Ry (San Jose), the Fresno Traction Co., and the Petaluma & Santa Rosa RR that are missing. Some of these smaller roads were rolled into acquired companies like the VE or NWP by the SP (many of these are found on the Wikipedia pages for those railroads linked from the suggested page).

Since we don’t know exactly what the Original Poster is looking for or why, it’s hard to how far down into the minutiae to go. That’s why I suggested the Wikipedia entry to begin, even recognizing its limitations.

7

Iam new to modeling and the forum. I recently found an interesting site that may help you, try american-rails.com hope this helps

8

Dan - Welcome to trains.com! [C):-)]

9

You listed some of them. There were a number of small lines which became SP branches without passing through ownership by the railroads listed in the Wikipedia entry. The book I referenced is not detailed, some of the entrys confusing, and a few wrong, but the names of many of them can be determined, if the OP is interested, he might find the information useful as a starting point for further research…

An example the Northern California Railway, incorporated in 1888, acquired by the SP in 1898. It built the line from Marysville to Orovile and after acquision by a prominent Marysville citizen (Rideout) built a line from Knights Landing to Marysville which was completed in 1891. ( The original Califo

10

Good information,thank’s.

11

Great, that’s the kind of information I was looking for. I am thinking around the 30’s-40’smaybe 50’s.

12

Thank’s for your help and the word of caution. It’s too bad we have to keep looking over our shoulder to keep safe.

13

Please see reply below. It’s1 AM and I am going to hit the sack