UPHS 2021 Mini-Convention – In lieu of a full convention this year, we held an on-line Mini-Convention 10am – 430pm Pacific time Saturday August 21, 2021. We used the Microsoft Teams software to hold the mini-convention. Attendance of the on-line Mini-Convention was free to UPHS members and $25 for non-members. The Mini-Convention included hour-long clinics on a variety of topics; the program is posted on the Convention tab. Rob Leachman, Vice President and Chair of the Membership Committee.
Calendar Call – It is time to put together images for the 2022 UPHS calendar. The calendar is sent out with the Fall issue of The Streamliner at no extra charge to all Sustaining and Preservation members. Copies from print overruns will be put on sale in the Company Store. Good images, be they color or black and white, and be they steam, diesel or turbine, from all eras of UP history are welcome. Please submit small JPEGs for consideration to me at leachman@berkeley.edu. I will get back to you about submission of TIFF files of the selected images. Cut-off for submissions is Sept. 5 but I will have to start making selections around August 25, so please submit as early as is convenient. Rob Leachman, Vice President and Chair of the Membership Committee.
UPHS 2021 Annual Membership and Business Meeting – Because of the pandemic, we will hold the Annual Membership and Business Meeting on-line at a date to be announced. A link for attending the meeting will be posted later. The presentation slides from the UPHS 2020 Annual Membership and Business Meeting are here: UPHS Member Meeting Aug 2020. Rob Leachman, Vice President and Chair of the Membership Committee.
UPHS Archives at the American Heritage Center of the University of Wyoming – The American Heritage Center is developing a digital library of the images and diagrams in the UPHS Collection at AHC. This is a long-term, gradual process; only a fraction of our images are digitized at this point. A long-run goal is to develop an indexed, searchable digital library of small scans of our images for the benefit of our membership and others. Some of the completed small scans have been posted on-line by AHC. You can take a look at https://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/luna/servlet/uwydbuwy~107~107 .
UPHS Office Closed – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UPHS Office in Cheyenne is now closed to the public at least through April 17. UPHS staff are continuing to answer mails and phone calls, and we will continue to prepare shipments of items ordered from the company store. We are monitoring the situation and will post updates as needed. Our prayers and best wishes go to the membership to avoid contracting this virus.
In Memoriam – James W. “Jim” Watson passed away on May 15, 2021. Jim was one of the founders of UPHS and served as our first president. Art Lockman passed away on May 4, 2021. Beginning his career with UP in 1949, Art was a member of the UP Steam Crew from 1981 until his retirement in 1991. The Steam Crew’s tool and supply car is named “Art Lockman” in his honor.
Summer issue of The Streamliner available now! – In the summer issue Mark Amfahr provides an analysis of caboose operations. Long a fixture at the end of trains, Mark discusses how cabooses impacted operations at terminals, how they were supplied, and why some cabooses were more common on certain subdivisions than others, and much more. Today most rural depots are gone, but for decades they were a fixture in small towns throughout the Union Pacific system. In his article, Rob Leachman relates his adventures as a station agent on Oregon Division branch lines in the early 1970s. This issue is available now in the company store!
New Book on Camas Prairie Railroad! – Carefully researched from railroad papers and interviews with employees, this book tells the full story of the Camas Prairie Railroad. This history presents the origins of the unique cooperation between the parent companies Union Pacific Railroad and Northern Pacific Railway, and details the many routes surveyed to the railroad’s namesake Camas Prairie and to the logging camp at Headquarters, Idaho. Includes maps of the many surveyed lines considered in Lapwai Canyon, site of the famous Halfmoon bridge. This 320-page hardbound book is complete with information on operations and equipment, maps of the full railroad and key points, and over 350 illustrations and photographs. Now available at the company store!
New book on Cheyenne facilities! – A. J. Wolff and Jim Ehernberger have prepared this fine treatise on UP facilities in Cheyenne. This book is an invaluable source of information for modelers recreating UP’s Cheyenne facilities in various eras, and it will be appreciated by UP history buffs seeking to understand UP’s Cheyenne terminal operations over the years. Hard cover, 128 pages containing more than 200 black and white and color images. Historical details are provided in each caption regarding the structures, including shops, roundhouses, servicing tracks, freight yard, stores department, depot, tower A, stockyards, etc.. The book is available now in the company store.
Next Convention – Our 2022 Convention will be held in Cheyenne May 11-14, 2022.
American Heritage Center – The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming in Laramie is featured the UPHS collection on the home page of their web site in February. Go to https://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/ [February 4, 2020]
Links have been updated under the Resources tab. In particular, a link has been added directing you to the Union Pacific Steam Club, where you can sign up and keep up to date with the steam program and its excursions. [February 27, 2019]
