Union Pacific Stage Company records

Finding aid created by California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives staff using RecordEXPRESS
California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives
111 I Street
Sacramento, California 95814
(916) 323-8073
Library.CSRM@parks.ca.gov
http://csrmf.org/visit/library
2020


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.

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