Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Lynn D. Farrar papers
MS 616  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Overview
 
Table of contents What's This?
Description
This collection contains the papers of Southern Pacific valuation engineer Lynn D. Farrar, who was an important collector of Southern Pacific historical materials and the lead of the Southern Pacific Historical Cost Study, a multi-year, multi-million dollar project undertaken by Southern Pacific to determine the cost of the construction of Southern Pacific, its subsidiary and predecessor companies.
Background
Lynn D. Farrar was born in California in 1912. He attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 1944, whereupon he enlisted in the US Army. After World War II, he attended the University of Paris, and worked in the Office of Military Government for the United States in Berlin, Germany for 2-1/2 years. In 1948, he was hired by Southern Pacific Company as a junior engineer. He as a valuation engineer for the SP Valuation Department for several decades. Notably, he was the project lead for the Southern Pacific Historical Cost Study. When he retired from the Southern Pacific in 1986, Mr. Farrar founded Transport Consultants, Inc. to work for Southern Pacific on The Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Project, a collaborative project between first class class railroads through the Association of American Railroads, defense contractors and the United States Air Force, which sought to identify locations along railroad right of way that would be suitable for MX missile launches from a train. Mr. Farrar died in 2016. He is survived by a son.
Extent
20 linear feet (44 archives boxes + 3 half boxes + 5 oversize boxes + 1 photo box)
Restrictions
Permission for publication must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Library & Archives.
Availability
Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff for details.