Mountain railroading in Southern California has always been synonymous with names like Tehachapi, Cajon Pass and Beaumont Hill. While the two former passes have been the subject of several published histories, Beaumont Hill, Southern Pacific's gateway to Southern California, from the east, has been largely overlooked. The publication of this book fills that void. After years of exhaustive research, John R. Signor presents the full story of over a century of history and operations at Beaumont Hill. From its fragile beginnings in the 1870's up to today's heavy double-stack traffic, every facet of Beaumont Hill's long and colorful history has been explored. In the early days, learn about the desperate search for water to satisfy thirsty locomotives, of flashfloods and sandstorms, and how the blistering heat affected day-to-day operations. Trace the evolution of motive power from the diminutive American and Consolidation-type engines of the late nineteenth century through today's high-tech diesels. Follow the rise and decline of such name trains as the Sunset Limited, the Golden State Limited, the Argonaut, and the Imperial. Get the inside scoop on management decisions concerning double-tracking, signal systems, Centralized Traffic Control, and electrification. Beaumont Hill: Southern Pacific's Southern California Gateway takes you trackside to witness the pageant of over a century of train operations. See multi-engined freights charge upgrade, first, with the sturdy Consolidations of the early 1900's, followed by the mighty cab-forward Mallets of the late steam era and finally on into the diesel age. See Kaiser ore trains struggle upgrade with 20 locomotives, alone. See the ponderous beet drags moving west from the Imperial Valley, and streamliners of another era - in black and white and in color. Not to be overlooked are the more pastural activities of the branch lines radiating out of Colton (including Pacific Electric's electrified operations), and the agricultural oriented operations in the Imperial Valley and along the Inter-California Railway. Crisp maps detail the activities of places like Beaumont, Colton and Indio at their zenith, be it in the 1910s or the late 1940s.

Beaumont Hill: Southern Pacific's Southern California Crossing

Literature & Fiction

John R. Signor

Literary

Golden West Books

Cloth with dust jacket, 9.5x12", 320 pages, 415 photos incl 81 color images, 52 maps, bibliography, index. 2020. "Union Pacific is one of the most modern railroads in the country. The road’s 780-mile line from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles is no exception. To the uninformed it would seem as if the railroad was built just yesterday, yet the history of this, the Salt Lake Route, now spans more than a century rich in the annals of railroading and the American West. "As far as transcontinental railroads are concerned, the Salt Lake Route is a late bloomer, yet it is a true pioneer. The location of the railroad, connecting the City of Saints (Salt Lake City) with the City of Angels (Los Angeles) was built through largely undeveloped country more or less following the Old Spanish Trail. It even founded the City of Las Vegas, Nevada. "Laid out in chronological format, this volume covers in detail every aspect of the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad’s construction and operation, its merger with Union Pacific in the Twenties, and the challenges of competition, wartime and coping with the demands of the country it traversed. "The San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad; Union Pacific’s Salt Lake Route was first published in 1988 and has long been out of print. However, since the initial printing, much has happened on the old Salt Lake Route and considerable additional material has come to light. A desire to revise, correct, update and expand the first edition has resulted in this volume, and, with modern printing methods available today, it includes a great deal more color than the original and 64 additional pages, 48 period graphics and timetables, 52 maps, 415 photos of which 81 are in color, bibliography and index."

Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company, The: Historic Union Pacific Salt Lake Route

Engineering & Transportation

Transportation

Southern Pacific Lines - Pacific Lines Stations, Vol. 2: Rio Grande Division, Sacramento Division, Salt Lake Division, San Joaquin Division

Southern Pacific Historical Technical Society

The Sunset Limited: Southern Pacific's Premier Train with a Southern Accent

Dennis, Ryan

Michael Jarel

Southern Pacific Painting and Lettering Guide 1913 to 1996

Jeffrey Alan Cauthen

Southern Pacific Historical Society

Southern Pacific Freight Car Painting and Lettering Guide, 2nd Edition

Southern Pacific Los Angeles Division

Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society

Southern Pacific In San Francisco

Southern Pacific H&t Society

Southern Pacific's Shasta Division: Over a Century of Railroading in the Shadow of Mt. Shasta

Signature Press

"The Oakland Pier, hub of the Western Division, was among the most recognizable Southern Pacific locations. Activities across the Division were directed from headquarters at the Pier. This book describes the construction, history, and operation of this vital part of the SP. "With lines connecting Oakland with Sacramento by way of both the Carquinez Strait via Martinez, and Altamont Pass via Tracy, and lines radiating to the Napa Valley, San Jose, and Fresno, as well as branch lines like the Kentucky House, Winters, and San Ramon branches, this was a highly varied and extremely busy division. "Rail passengers from and to such varied destinations as Portland, Chicago, and Los Angeles and beyond, funneled through the ferryboat connections to San Francisco. Freight business was intense, with profuse local industry shipping and receiving enormous numbers of carloads. Local passenger trains and local freight switching handled a great volume of business. "From its beginnings in 1869, the Oakland 'waterfront wars' at the turn of the century, the struggle in the Suisun Sinks, the vast West Oakland yard and terminal facilities, the passenger operations on the Oakland Mole (as the Pier was often called), construction of the magnificent Carquinez Straits bridge, the final demolition of the Pier facilities in 1960 and to the recent revival of the Western Division with the schedules of Amtrak California- all here. "This volume joins a distinguished series of works by SP authority John Signor addressing specific geographical segments of the railroad. The coverage is thorough and detailed, with many specifics drawn from operating personnel. The outstanding Signor maps we have come to expect, and voluminous photographic illustration- from Southern Pacific files and amateur photographers- enrich the story. With 711 photos (84 color), 23 maps (most by Signor), 39 timetable pages, a station list, and bibliography, this is an extensive and complete presentation."

Southern Pacific's Western Division

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Books by John R. Signor