Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Ted G. Wurm correspondence
- Dates:
- 1938
- Abstract:
- Ted G. Wurm's correspondence with Grahame H. Hardy.
- Extent:
- .333 Linear Feet 1 folder
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Ted G. Wurm Correspondence, MS 164, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Ted G. Wurm's correspondence with Grahame H. Hardy.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Ted Wurm, a historian who wrote five books on the life and times of Western railroads, died in 2004 at the age of 85. Wurm earned his living as an accountant and office manager for the Tesio Meat Co. in Oakland for more than 30 years. Wurm qualified twice for the Boston Marathon and determined enough to run in 13 marathons the year he turned 60.
Mr. Wurm's books -- some of them written with co-authors -- chronicled the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway, a tourist line that was once world-famous, and the Hetch Hetchy railroad, operated by the city of San Francisco during the construction of the Hetch Hetchy water and power project in the Sierra. He also wrote a book about the obscure Caspar Lumber Co. railroad in Mendocino County, and two books on his favorite line, the Virginia & Truckee in Nevada.
Wurm's uncle, Jim Savage, was the V&T's senior locomotive engineer, and he let young Ted Wurm shine the brass on his elderly locomotive. In 1938, Wurm was allowed to go along with the train crew on the last freight train to Virginia City, and on the way back to the roundhouse in Carson City, he assisted the engineer by blowing the steam whistle for the highway crossings, the sound echoing back from the remains of the famous Comstock Lode mining towns. Wurm remembered that day with pleasure for the rest of his long life and wrote about it in the book "Silver Short Line," which he co-authored with the late Harre W. Demoro, a reporter for The Chronicle.
Theodore Grover Wurm was born in San Francisco in 1919. His father, Theodore F. Wurm, had office jobs for the old Ocean Shore railroad and the Southern Pacific. The family had deep roots in the West. His grandfather and grandmother had settled in Carson City, Nev., and Grover Hot Springs (Alpine County) -- now a California state park -- was named for a relative. Wurm attended St. Ignatius High School and the University of San Francisco, where he majored in business (his senior thesis was an analysis of railroad tariffs) and ran on the track team.
He was also a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, and he received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1941. During World War II, he served with the Eighth Air Force in the Army Air Corps in Britain. He later served in the Air Force reserve and retired as a lieutenant colonel. He had a strong sense of social justice: He was a friend of the labor leader Cesar Chavez and helped build a hospital for farmworkers in Visalia (Tulare County).
- Processing information:
-
Formerly MS 103
- Arrangement:
-
1 folder
- Physical location:
- Statewide Museum Collections Center
- Material specific details:
- MISSING as of April 2025
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Bibliography:
-
Wurm, T. (1990). Hetch Hetchy and its Dam Railroad. Trans-Anglo Books.
Wurm, T. (1992). Rebirth of the Virginia & Truckee R.R.: Amazing Revival of a Steam Railroad. May-Murdock Publications.
Wurm, T. (1998). Mallets on the Mendocino Coast: Caspar Lumber Company, railroads and steamships. Timber Times.
Wurm, T., & Demoro, H. W. (1985). The silver short line: A history of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Trans-Anglo Books.
Wurm, T., & Graves, A. C. (1983). The crookedest railroad in the world: A history of the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad. Trans-Anglo Books.
Wurm, T., & Mahoney, E. (1990). Railroading in the Rockies a half century ago. Colorado Railroad Museum.
Indexed terms
- Places:
- Correspondence--Letters
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-04-15 18:31:17 +0000 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff
- Terms of access:
-
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.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Ted G. Wurm Correspondence, MS 164, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
111 I StreetSacramento, CA 95814, US
- Contact:
- (916) 323-8073