ROCKLIN, Calif. — A group seeking to preserve and promote the history of the Southern Pacific Railroad has a identified a site for a proposed museum and archives.
The Gold Country Media website reports the proposed Southern Pacific Rail History Center has identified a 7.6-acre site in Rocklin and plans to make an offer on the property once its capital campaign has sufficient funds, according to Scott Inman, CEO of the non-profit organization of the same name.
The center was originally planned for land to be leased from Union Pacific at a former roundhouse site in downtown Rocklin, but soil contamination rendered that site unusable. The new location is on Rocklin’s western edge, at the intersection of State Route 65 and Sunset Boulevard, adjacent to SP’s former Los Angeles-Portland main line.
Plans include an auditorium, museum, rolling-stock displays, exhibits, and interpretive displays.
More information on the organization, including how to donate to the project, is available at the History Center website.
In summary, the SPRHC [Southern Pacific Rail History Center] will be supported by themed exhibits, hands‐on public demonstrations, youth programs, a world‐class model railroad, guided interpretive tours, a research archive, web outreach, and a gift shop.
This facility -within 25 to 35 miles of the famed CSRM [California State Railroad Museum], in Rocklin with the precious help of the City of Rocklin- will be open to the public, school groups, railroad enthusiasts, historians, and researchers to provide a tourist destination for the community, generate local economic revenue, and create
a positive lasting impact.
As the CSRM is not so far away from the future SPRHC site, this proximity will encourage its visitors to try to visit the SPRHC, and vice versa. The CSRM is aware of this initiative and fully encourages it.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
The great and unforgettable Southern Pacific (reporting mark SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States.
It was represented by three railroads. The original company was called Southern Pacific Railroad, the second was called Southern Pacific Company and the third was called Southern Pacific Transportation Company. The third Southern Pacific railroad, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, is now operating as the current incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad.
The Southern Pacific’s exemplary and visionary story is precisely a legacy rich with economic, transportation, political, legal, and engineering influence in America west of the Mississippi River.
All these basic factors created an environment for the settlement of migrants and explosion of employment in the Western United States that provided skilled job and educational opportunities for hundreds of thousands of families during the historic railroad company’s existence.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Rocklin is East of Roseville on the Overland Route. Capitol Corridor timetable shows one train to San Jose via Sacramento and Oakland, and two bus connections at Sacramento to San Jose via Sacramento and Oakland. There is one train and four beeses Eastward on Weekdays.
Needless to say, the timetable was published by the Capitol Corridor, not by Amtrak.
I am all for rail museums and displays but this site is less than 50 miles from the California State rail museum which has a huge section devoted to SP equipment and info. Seems a bit redundant.