Southern Pacific’s Donner Pass Line across the Sierra Nevadas including Colfax, Truckee, Roseville and other locations. From original Super 8 film footage taken in 1973 by Alan Shifley.
I guess the line was much more heavily trafficked than it is now and in the final SP Days as by 1993,94 2 sections of mainline were removed,result of dwindled freight traffic,Moyers downsizing of SP!!!!
Probably those who were at the Espee when Donald Russel left the company, although they may have not thought that it wouldn't be until 1996. Russel was known as the Espee's last great leader, and according to American Rails, the company's fortunes took a turn for the worse. Throughout the 80s the Espee was having a terrible time, as the farm businesses in the San Joaquin valley turned to trucking to carry perishables, and industries in the San Fran Bay Area wither shut down or got shipped overseas, the railroad was also severely neglected too like the track, and the trains, so people may have thought that the Espee was gonna disappear some time soon. Things did get slightly more in order after the SP and the Rio Grande merged in the late 80s, but the BN and ATSF merged into BNSF and as a counter move, the UP and SP merged, with the SP name disappearing.
