On Dec 28, 2011, at 3:38 PM, Rupert & Maureen wrote:
Chuck
On the subject of the CB&Q's westward expansion, I found the following notes published in Railroad Gazette 1887
"A statement - which has been denied by the road's representatives – has been made to the effect that the South Pacific Coast road has been bought by the above company. The coast road is a narrow gauge line from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, Cal., and is controlled by Senator James G. Fair."
This is a new one for me. I have read the books on the South Pacific Coast RR and had never read anything about the Q buying it.
The SPC was bought out by the SP when James Fair needed money. They had crews out to convert the whole line from narrow gauge to standard gauge in one day when that morning the 1906 earthquake struck and they had to use the narrow gauge to rebuild the line before they finally converted to standard gauge two years later. The tunnel at Wrights was crossed by the San Andreas fault and when the quake struck the ground shifted 20 feet.
If these had been more than rumours, what effect would they have had on the CB&Q history? Obviously, the California Zephyr would have been a one company train. Would the company have grown enough to buy out GN and NP?
On page 230 of Overton's "Burlington Route" he says that when the UP went bankrupt int 1893 Perkins and Forbes tried to get the board to buy the Oregon Short Line (UP line Salt Lake to Portland) then build a connection. The board decllined but then later proposed buying the NP.
Who belongs to a train club in the SPC Agnew depot.