Looking for Info/Books Southern Pacific in Texas Circa Late 50's through early 60's

I might be mistaken but I believe the SP operations in Texas feel uner the Texas & New Orleans Railroad corporate structure 

And SP owned over 96 percent of the St. Louis Southwestern, the Cotton Belt, which operated in thw NE section of the state.  Connected to the T&NO about 40 miles south of Dallas.

Some people have said that before 1960, "real SP" was the Pacific Lines, including and lines west and north of El Paso TX.

Picked up this book last week.

Yes Southern Pacific was under the T&NO but equipment all typically was SP in my grandfather's time there circa 1930's through early 1970's.  He always referred to it as the SP even when he originally started their stating he went to work for the SP and always referred to his career that way, never as T&NO or anything else.  I have also seen the letter from the SP he had which addressed to the War Board for keeping him out of WWII as he was considered more valuable to the effort working for the SP than in the military.  All 4 of his brothers though did fight in WWII.  I also questioned my dad who was born in 1945 and he said my grandfather never referred to the RR as T&NO, only SP.

Valpac, any opinions on the book thus far?

I haven’t started the book yet.  It sure looks to have excellent reference material. 

Valpac posted:

Picked up this book last week.

Worth it.  Good book.

TexasSP posted:

any opinions on the book thus far?

Amazon has 3 reviews for it, all 5-star. A bit "pricey" at $60. used on Amazon, $84. on eBay. 

Steve Goen did a color pictorial on the T&NO. 

         https://www.amazon.com/Texas-N...torial/dp/1885614624

Joe Dale Morris did the book Southern Pacific lines in Texas and Louisiana. Joe Dale's father worked on the SP here and was instrumental in getting #786 donated to Austin. Joe Dale was the catalyst for getting #786 restored to service back in '89-'92. He also wrote a book on the Texas State Railroad.

         https://www.amazon.com/Souther...934-61/dp/0984624759

Don Strapac did the book Southern Pacific Historic Diesels which is mostly on the T&NO diesel years

        https://www.amazon.com/Souther...rleans/dp/0930742206

Lester Haines wrote the Journal of Texas Shortline Railroads and some of those shortlines had SP ties. Two in particular to find are the Austin and Northwestern, the Fredericksburg & Northern, and the San Antonio, Fredericksburg, and Northern. One can an usually find copies of Lester's journals in print or on cd on ebay.

       https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.htm...journal&_sacat=0

Yes, I have heard them call it the SP here but there was distinct division of the SP Pacific Lines versus the SP Atlantic or Texas Lines.  At El Paso there were separate shops for each railroad. The T&NO always seemed to be treated like a red headed step child. This still seems to be the case in the Model Train World. No one will make a correct SP/T&NO steam locomotive in O scale to save their lives. Without the Texas Lines there would not have been a Southern Pacific Sunset Herald. That was born on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass.

Hope this helps!

Here's a first person account that might interest you. He worked as a brakeman on the TN&O and the SP.

Texas Eagle 77 posted:

The T&NO always seemed to be treated like a red headed step child.

That was also the case with the MKT of Texas, the Burlington-Rock Island, and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe.

Typical Yankee thinking of that time was that Texas was full of low-income, uncultured people who talked funny and should be grateful for having any railroad at all.  Also, the Texas law requiring incorporation in Texas did not sit well with out of state headquarters, and retaliation often occurred, both in track structure and equipment.  The oldest locomotives on the SP and Santa Fe usually finished their days in Texas.

It's different now.  Texas main lines are as good as any, and the newest equipment is seen every day,

All, thank you very much for all of the direction.  There is so much out there it's hard to know a good starting point, and now thanks to all of you I have several.  

This ties heavily to my grandfather and his time on the RR which I want to better understand.  I also want to wrap my era to the time frame of 1958-1962 as I have come to understand the value from those that do pick an era to model.