Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Kuhn (Gene H.) Collection
MS 878
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives
Title: Gene H. Kuhn collection
Identifier/Call Number: MS 878
Physical Description:
10.3 Linear Feet
7 record cartons + 5 oversize boxes
Date (inclusive): May 1885-1986
Abstract: The Gene Kuhn collection includes records, maps, and photographs of railroads across the United States collected by Gene Kuhn,
who worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad and Alaska Railroad in the 1970s and 1980s.
Physical Location: Statewide Museum Collections Center:
I2.212.R1 Boxes 1-3
I2.212. R2 Boxes 4-6
I2.212.R3 Boxes 7, OV 1, OV 2, OV 3
I2.212.R4 Boxes OV 4, OV 5
Language of Material: English.
Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff.
Additional accruals are expected.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Gene Kuhn, 2020
MS 878 is arranged into 4 series:
Series 1. Southern Pacific Railroad
Series 2. Western Pacific Railroad
Series 3. Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
Series 4. Other Companies
Gene Kuhn was born in Yuba City, California in November of 1946. Gene graduated from Yuba City High School and completed two
years at Yuba College. During his high school years he worked at the Del Monte Cannery on Plumas Street south of Bridge Street.
One of his jobs for Del Monte was driving a forklift loading trucks. Gene lived most of his entire life in Sutter County with
about 9 years spent in Yuba City. He has watched Yuba City grow from a population of around 3,000 people in the late 1940's
to over 50,000 today.
After his tour of duty in the Navy, Gene went to work for Pacific Gas & Electric. His main passion was to work for the Southern
Pacific, and after 6 months with PG & E, Gene was hired by Southern Pacific in September of 1971 as a laborer at the SP's
Sacramento General Shops, than became a locomotive machinist apprentice, and after 3 years as an apprentice he became a Journeyman
Machinist. He was a member of IAM, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
After a downturn in the nation's economy, Gene was laid off from Southern Pacific. He then moved to Alaska in 1983 to become
a machinist for the Alaska Railroad (ARR).
[Identification of item], Gene H. Kuhn Collection, MS 878, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento,
California.
The Gene Kuhn collection includes records, maps, and photographs of railroads across the United States collected by Gene Kuhn,
who worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad and Alaska Railroad in the 1970s and 1980s. The focus is on the movement of
freight and passengers. The collection includes freight and baggage agent's waybills, ticket invoices, tariffs, correspondence,
bulletins and notices, clearance record booklets, train and enginemen time reports, agent seal record books, accident reports,
photographs, and blue prints. Other materials include tariffs, train register tickets, conductors time return forms, perishable
freight service reports, a freight damage log, employee time record/ reports book, and a letter press book.
Trade catalogs and library books have been removed and added to the CSRM Library and trade catalog collections.
Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Library & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of
the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Sacramento Division
Western Pacific Railroad Company
Railroad repair shops- Employees
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
Alaska Railroad
Sacramento Northern