Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Additional collection guides
Descriptive Summary
Title: Union Pacific Stage Company records
Dates: 1926-1991
Collection Number: MS 607
Creator/Collector:
Union Pacific Stage Company
Extent: 3 boxes + 1 half-box
Repository:
California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives
Sacramento, California 95814
Abstract: This collection includes various business records of the Union Pacific Stage Company.
Language of Material: English
Access
This collection is open for research at our off-site storage facility with one week's notice. Contact Library & Archives
staff to arrange for access.
Publication Rights
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 Capital District Collections Manager. 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.
Preferred Citation
Union Pacific Stage Company records. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives
Acquisition Information
Gift of Warren Kendall Miller, 2003.
Biography/Administrative History
The Union Pacific Stage Company was a little known entity within the vast Union Pacific empire. In 1925, the UP had organized
the Utah Parks Company to provide summer tour service from Cedar City to and around Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks,
and later to Grand Canyon. As a way to attract more tourist travel over what was admittedly not a particularly scenic route
between Chicago and Los Angeles, the UP conceived the idea of featuring Death Valley National Monument as the focal point
of a three-day bus tour, using Utah Parks vehicles. The first season was October 1926 to May 1927. Tour passengers detrained
at Crucero and rode the Tonopah & Tidewater to Death Valley Junction (97 miles) and then the gas motor cars of the Death Valley
Railroad to Ryan (22 miles). The round trip from Los Angeles took five days, with two days spent in Death Valley.
When the California Railroad Commission would not grant intrastate operating authority to an out-of-state corporation, the
UP formed the Union Pacific Stage Co, incorporated February 28, 1927. UP Stage leased buses from the Utah Parks Company.
When a costly branch-line passenger train operating once a day between Los Angeles and East San Pedro was discontinued, UP
offered substitute bus service via the Union Pacific Stage Company. Service to the new East Los Angeles station began May
15, 1929.
During World War II service was extended to the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal to transport troops from area military
bases to connections with Southern Pacific and Santa Fe trains.
UP Stage Company was also incorporated in Nevada and Utah in the 1940s to provide railroad connection service, but both operations
were abandoned by 1948.
After several years of declining ridership, A. B Allen of Allen Transportation and Warren K. Miller resumed regular operations
(May 8, 1972) as the American Pacific Stage Company to provide bus connecting service for Amtrak. [Excerpted from Warren
K. Miller, "Union Pacific Stage Co.," Motor Coach Age (September 1976), p. 4-8.]
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection includes various business records of the Union Pacific Stage Company. The Administration files refer to
the organization of the company, personnel matters, issuance of stocks, facilities, leases and changes in service. The collection
also documents the efforts of Warren Kendall Miller to restore UP Stage Company Coach No. 1. The collection is organized
alphabetically by subject.
Additional collection guides