Older 2025-2026 blog postings are now located HERE.
New Arrivals prior to mid-2025 are HERE.

We've added a smattering of NYC and I-GN employee timetables to Tim Zukas's page(s).

The following comes from Railway Employees Magazine of October, 1912:

Speaking of HW&Co., we have added a new photo of Shay 2nd #2 to our lengthy California & Oregon Coast RR page , as well as an image of a Forney 1st #3 sister as built for South Side Rapid Transit (Chicago),. No. 3 apparently was the only one of the bunch that remained a Vauclain Compound until scrapping, BTW.

J. Nathan McDonald has kindly forwarded pdf's of a 1955 Virginian system public timetable (now in Section #3 of Tim Zukas's collection) and a 1967 Long Island Babylon suburban timetable (now on the cards84664 page).

• Sheldon Pery has forwarded a few more timetables for inclusion in his massive M&TTs page.
• With Wx4 Staff being half Canadian and all, we are pleased to receive an alert from Timetable Curator David Stremes of Ottowa's C. Robert Crail Memorial Library that his organization currently hosts 901 Canadian employee and public timetables online, plus large numbers of maps and drawings.

• Most importantly, we have split Tim Zukas's timetables page into three sections. Tim's early contributions were the impetus for creation of the Maps & Timetables pages, and since then his page has become so large as to overwhelm Wx4's ancient webpage editor. This continually caused links to randomly fail or misdirect, ultimatelt to your and our collective frustration. This was a lengthy project that involved testing all the links, as well as fixing various typographical errors and incorrect file dates. Note that you will find an index by railroad at the top of the first section. Now Tim's webpageX3 is running smoothly, at least on current version of Firefox. We no longer test Wx4 pages on other browsers, so your non Firefox results may vary.

We have just concluded splitting the SP maps & timetables page into two: Part 1, employee timetables; Part 2 maps & public timetables. In the process we have added >eight< supplements courtesy of Tim Zukas to Western Division Ferries/Suburban employee timetable #23 of 1911-08-01. Next, we are going to dive into Tim's page (2) with the intention of splitting it into three (?) based upon geography.

These supplements underscore the fact that any given timetable might have been partly obsolete by the time its ink was dry. Creating an entirely new timetable every time a schedule change occurred was understandably an unrealistic option, so SP resorted to other methods to alert employees to changes. Supplements such as we see with timetable #23, were fairly common, although so many associated with a single timetable is something that we have not run across in the past. It is quite possible that supplements were more frequent than now seems apparent simply because they were not tracked with an overall sequential numbering system. We don't know which supplements remain unidentified.

Another way to modify a schedule was by a combination of train orders and timetable bulletin. If a train was temporarily or permanently discontinued, a Form K train order was issued stating something akin to, "NO 51 DUE TO LEAVE FEB 3 IS ANNULLED IN ITS ENTIRETY" or "NO 51 IS ANNULLED IN ITS ENTIRETY FOR THE DURATION OF TIMETABLE NO 67". In the latter event, this order would appear for a certain number of days (we don't recall the precise number), after which the annulment notice appeared only in a timetable bulletin.

Ultimately, this meant that some employee timetables listed schedules for ghost trains, but sans any other info, one has no way of knowing when a train was discontinued. A good example of this is the last pair of passenger trains on SP's Ocean View Line in San Francisco. Although California Railroad Commission authored SP to temporarily suspend service on November 15, 1928 (while Bernal Cut was being widened), then in-effect Coast Division #129 was not superseded by #130 until June, 1930. This may be why some historians claim that these trains were discontinued in 1930. CRC did allow their permanent abandonment in March, 1930, however, some sixteen months after they stopped running.

And then there are trains that ran although no SP records have surfaced (so far) that authorized or governed their movements. SP's humble McKeen Car #7 is our favorite example. It was the one that made the nautical journey to Marshfield (Coos Bay) Oregon in January, 1913 to operate between there and neighboring North Bend to comply with a franchise agreement that mandated passenger service on this newly acquired stretch of railroad. The rails were owned by under-construction Willamette Pacific, but still isolated from the outside world. The trains were operated by SP's Coos Bay, Roseburg and Eastern, which connected with the line's southern end. According to timetables published in newspapers, #7 operated there several times a day until the line was physically connected to greater WP in early 1916. As regularly scheduled runs, one would assume that they would have appeared in either company's timetable, but nothing - not an employee/public timetable, supplement, train order nor timetable bulletin - has surfaced so far. At the time, SP's East San Francisco Bay Halvern Branch was ICC certified main track, but no listing of it ever surfaced in employee timetables, so one might conclude that SP did not dwell much upon operational legalities for lines of minimal import.

Finally, "regular" trains sometimes were operated before a timetable listing them went into effect, although they operated as extra trains. This was simple enough to do using a "column wait" and "right over" train orders. The elusive-to-history Dumbarton Bridge passenger service was initiated this way, as passenger and mixed trains that operated as extras from December 26, 1911 until Western Division timetable #142 became effective on January 15, 1912. Even so, they may have been ghosted before #143 became effective on April 28, 1912, as neither pair of trains is listed. The mixed trains later resurfaced in employee timetables, which further adds to the uncertainty.

This all is the long way of pointing out that, by themselves, timetables were not final authorities about what actually was taking place out there in the ballast in ancient times. - Staff

From all this, it is easy to deduce that this is the Sequoia in late afternoon during its daytime layover in between runs . Eastbound #58 was scheduled to terminate there at 9:35am, and the opposite number was carded to leave after dark at 7:45 pm.

The consist undoubtedly is sitting near the one stall enginehouse located inside the wye at the bottom end of town. The the steam pipe allowed the fire to be killed to save fuel and eliminate the need to mind a fire. Awhile before departure the fire will be lit, and the train will pull up to the depot at Olive Street for loading prior to departure for Oakland via Goshen and Martinez.

Sometimes it is a blessing to encounter an old photo lacking in descriptive data. In the case here, this allows us to immerse ourselves in an simply glorious moment, sans the distraction of burdensome details. We are left free to speculate.

click on image for larger version; postcard photo from Wx4 Collection

Whatever the event it was, it exemplified a time when railroads were integral to small town life, and catered to 'the locals' in befitting home spun fashion. The big city Main Office held minimal sway here. The occasion of this humble little excursion may have been Easter, Mayday, or merely a daisy picking expedition. Regardless, the preponderance of fedora hats on the gents, rather than straw boaters, suggests that this was a celebration of spring. And the shirtsleeves in those formal times indicate a warm day at that. The festivities may have been held at one of Southern Pacific's Great Central Valley towns, perhaps on the San Joaquin Valley's West Side, but why should we care?

How can this scene not make one lament that there is no time machine that would ferry us back amid the crowd of men in their "good" suits, women in their holiday finery, curious children and wandering fidos. Hey, is that Aunt Ivy ensconced in the caboose cupola and cousin Hope peering out the back door? For myself, I would rather be there up atop, leaning over the cupola with Uncle Clarence, perhaps sharing a secret snort out of his ever present hip flask. Where are we going? It does not matter. It is a most delightful day to be appreciated on its own terms.

Shasta Division Archives

Our latest batch of files from Tim Zukas includes more Southern Pacific horse blankets, some East Coast miscellany, plus more street and Port Authority maps for the New York Metropolitan Statistical Area (NYC-New Jersey.

Jeff Asay has forwarded a couple of SP's final regional timetables from 1996, along with several Northern Pacific employee timetables which now reside on Sheldon Perry's page.

Tim Zukas has turned out another large bunch of maps and employee timetables, including SP (tt's & SF industrial map), AT&SF, SCL, NYC&HR, among others.

NOTE: Several SP timetables that appeared on Tim's page in late 2024 somehow failed to male it to the dedicated SP timetables page. They now appear as 2-16-26 listings.

Also now on his page: a collection of 1920's & 30's Port Authority and Manhattan street maps, plus 22 scans of 1998-2006 Union Pacific employee timetables kindly contributed by Gary House.

It has been awile since we added to Wx4's extensive "Railroad Rules and Regulations" and "SP/Western Railroads Seniority Rosters" pages. The latest:

Pacific Electric Rules and Regulations for 11-15-43, as amended 6-1-46 - This one is a monster with 238 pages plus 24 pages of amendments, and includes everything but the kitchen sink, including "Motor Coach Operation" (page 149). By way of comparison, SP's 1943 rule book is 100 pages lighter.

1954 SP Coast Division seniority rosters for enginemen, trainmen and switchmen - We've been looking for a mid-1950's list containing all of these crafts, and here it is.

Jon Habegger has sent us 22 more ETT's, this time for Milwaukee Road in the Midwest, circa 1926-1973.

For the large and vocal Rock Island in Manley, Iowa contingent, Wx4 has a new photo of the yard and shops, circa 1912. Note, Wx4 has at least the second-most popular Manley page on the entire Internet! Actually, we have not encountered any others, but we don't want to take chances on overstating our case.

We say "nominally", because some intensive investigations by Evan Josa led us to conclude that the map's creator, one R. F. Morton, must have performed his cartographic efforts using liquid tools provided by an Antioch watering hole.

Over the years, the page has blossomed to include all things related. Now, Ken Martin has forwarded a significant find, two pages pertaining to the Pittsburg Railroad that appeared in the February 17, 1871 issue of the journal Engineering. As you shall note, these pages contain a wealth of data about the Sampson and its operations over the depicted profile. Mention is also made of an "engine of the same class and dimensions" operating on the nearby Black Diamond Mining Company railroad. Great stuff!
- Teodoro Gusano, Wx4 Honorary Assistant Editor

1) A June, 1993 SP Mechanical Department Locomotive Data Book to accompany the 1994 one further down this column.

2) List of SPINS TAG numbers generated for Oakland Terminal by TOPS (the acronym for Total Operations Processing System used from 1960-1980): TOPS perf edged, dot matrix printouts containing consists (aka conductor's work or "wheel" reports), and train tonnage profiles were given to road crews during this period, and to the novice who is lucky enough to have one of these vintage pieces of history, they can be a bit confusing.

The SPINS (Southern Pacific Industrial Numbering System) TAG column is one of the easier ones to figure out, if you know the locations corresponding to the three digit numbers. These numbers denoted the terminals to which the cars were headed, and once delivered, switch lists were created using SPINS spot numbers found in those orange SPINS books that you have been hoarding.

The Oakland Terminal example is not an all inclusive list of destinations for reasons Staff does not ken. At least one heavily used local location, Shin Siding at Niles, TAG #315, which we have added to the list. Once WP shut down its trans-bay car ferry service Shin became the major interchange point for cars headed to WP at San Francisco. Also, on wheel reports you will note "setouts" with five digit numbers, for instance 30210 and 30200 for San Jose Yard. The first three digits correspond to the list. The last two indicate the west and east end of the yard, respectively. The 313 TAG, again not on the list, covered the lower San Francisco Peninsula. Setout 31335 was Sunnyvale; 31310 was Menlo Park. Hopefully you modeler "operators" will find some use for all of this.

3) SP 1972 Train Handling Instructions: The first thing that new hire fireman wanted to learn about in a training class of old was the mysteries of train handling. Conversely, train handling is the last thing that instructors want to teach. This is because a rookie needs a thorough immersion in the basics of a host of equipment mechanical, electrical and pneumatic systems, plus a thorough grounding in operating and air brake rules. Otherwise, train handling instructions will not make much sense.

This said, we are offering a shortcut here in the form of a 1972 version of SP's Train Handling Instructions book. A separate pdf shows a large chart included with the manual, "Universe of Physical and Dynamic Characteristics Affecting Train Performance".(below) Beyond questioning the chart's practical utility, our wonder if it really is a roadmap to earth for alien space invaders.

We assess that posting this is a rather passive-aggressive act towards you otherwise unversed railfans, but we suppose that enginemen of today might find it interesting to investigate how things were officially done back then. Real world operating techniques may have varied, however.

In return, we hope that one of you current engineers writes us about how you balance a grade nowadays. Staff worked the mountains long before electrically controlled air brakes, PTC and DPU's. For instance, can you guys still crack off an additional one pound reduction to your existing set?

Michael Lowe recently sent us a heads-up about an intriguing a 644 page 1920 California Railroad Commission document that he found in Google Books, entitled Railroad Grade Crossing and Terminal Investigation Los Angeles.

As the title suggests, it is comprised studies looking into the reduction railroad grade crossings in downtown LA, as well as investigations upon constructing a new union passenger terminal. Beyond the mounds of information - including a history of LA railroads -the volume includes several score of photos and nearly 90 maps and other drawings. Unusual for Google is that many of the maps were scanned in color at reasonably high resolution.

Looking at this volume sends one down the rabbit hole, so what Staff has done is separate the photos and maps into separate files at original resolution, along with creating a 36 meg reduced size copy of the original 88 meg behemoth. Hopefully this will make things more manageable.

Railroad Grade Crossing and Terminal Investigation Los Angeles - low resolution
Maps - original resolution
Photos - original resolution