Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Mario J. Rinaldo Collection
- Dates:
- 1929-1983
- Abstract:
- This collection contains materials Mario Rinaldo collected during his career with the Southern Pacific Railroad as well as his time timetables, passes and booklets from The Alaska Railroad pertaining to his experiences during World War II as part of the 714th Battalion.
- Extent:
- 3 Linear Feet 3 record cartons
- Language:
- English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Mario J. Rinaldo Collection, MS 919, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains papers relating to the Southern Pacific railroading career of Mario J. Rinaldo. In addition, there are dispatch orders, souvenir greeting cards and timetables and rail passes from the 714th Operating Railway Battalion of which Rinaldo was part of during World War II.
The "Time Return and Delay Reports" encompass the years in which Rinaldo worked. The collection contains his reports starting in 1949 thru the end of his career 42 years later. These reports show the time he went on duty, unusual occurrences or delays, time off duty and the number of miles claimed for his paycheck. In the days of steam locomotives, a day's pay was considered as 100 miles. This was the normal run of a steam locomotive before any real service was needed. After the steam locomotives were gone and diesel locomotives took over, the length of runs increased. In later years Rinaldo's runs from Fresno to Roseville were 178 miles.
The metal box was used by Southern Pacific engineers and held Mr. Rinaldo's employee timetable and special instructions. The outside "pocket" of the box provided easy access to the timetables and special orders. Inside the box there was a space for Rinaldo's "Time Return and Delay Report" which was essentially a timecard as used by locomotive engine and train employees. It is suspected that this metal box was a stock item available to train and engine crews to hold their paperwork. It was most likely was an item made in the Southern Pacific shops.
Rinaldo's papers include books, pamphlets and papers documenting the rules the governed the safety of the railroad. The accident reports included in this collection are the forms that the train engineers would fill out at the time of an accident, not the formal reports that the railroad would publish after an investigation was completed.
At the time of his retirement, Rinaldo had worked 42 accident free years and was awarded a plaque celebrating this accomplishment.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Mario James Rinaldo was born 11 March 1922 in Stockton, California to Italian immigrant parents, James and Maria (Crispan) Rinaldo. His father passed away when he was young and his mother remarried a local restauranter, Joe Armand. His older brother, Albert (26 Aug 1920 - 24 Dec 2015) also worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Rinaldo married Leila Prout (8 April 1921 - 23 Dec 2011), a Stockton, California school teacher and they had one son, Ronald Rinaldo.
Rinaldo had wanted to run trains since he was a small boy and as soon as he was legally able to, he went to work for the Southern Pacific. His first job was in the roundhouse working on the cars and engines. At his first opportunity he applied to be a Southern Pacific fireman. Rinaldo was a fireman for the Southern Pacific for about a year before World War II intervened. Rinaldo was part of the 714th Operating Railway Battalion, after training at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, he was stationed, first in Alaska and later in South Korea.
After the war, Rinaldo returned to Tracy, California, and was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Eventually Rinaldo became a fireman on the Southern Pacific Streamliner or '52', as it was numbered out of Tracy to the Southern Pacific Bay Area terminal in Oakland, California. When Rinaldo finally retired, he had worked 42 injury free years for the Southern Pacific.
Mario J. Rinaldo passed away 11 June 1998 and is buried in Tracy, California.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Ronald Rinaldo, 2013
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
- Physical location:
- Statewide Museum Collections Center: I2.212.V3
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-09-23 18:54:08 +0000 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research by appointment.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright has been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. Permission for publication must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Library amp;Archives.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Mario J. Rinaldo Collection, MS 919, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
111 I StreetSacramento, CA 95814, US
- Contact:
- (916) 323-8073