Sacramento's Southern Pacific Shops

by Kevin W. Hecteman

Overview

In 1862, the Central Pacific Railroad was founded and began building eastward from Sacramento as part of the transcontinental railroad. This required a shop capable of keeping the railroad's equipment in running order. So in 1867, in the swamps just north of town, the Sacramento shops were born. For well more than a century, this massive complex kept the Central Pacific and its corporate successor, the Southern Pacific, operating smoothly. For many decades, the shops were the largest employer in the Sacramento area, employing carpenters, painters, draftsmen, boilermakers, electricians, clerks, upholsterers, and others. The shops' forces designed, built, and maintained locomotives, freight and passenger cars, and other railroading equipment. The complex closed in 1999. Most of the area, popularly known as the Railyards, is set for redevelopment. The California State Railroad Museum handles maintenance and restoration of its collection in two of the shops buildings and plans to develop a Railroad Technology Museum on the site.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738580524
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	05/10/2010
Series:	Images of Rail
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Kevin W. Hecteman, author of Sacramento Southern Railroad, has mined the collections of the California State Railroad Museum, the Center for Sacramento History, and other sources to tell the story of the Sacramento shops and its people.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 Origins and Evolution 11

2 Scenes and Happenings 25

3 China Slough and Chinatown 37

4 Shops People on the Clock 43

5 Shops People off the Clock 77

6 Sacramento Built (or Rebuilt, or Invented) 87

7 Into the Diesel Era 107

8 The Railyards, Present and Future 119