Guide to the Southern Pacific General Managers Orders Files MS 859
Library & Archives staff
California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives
2020
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives
Title: Southern Pacific General Managers Orders files
creator:
Southern Pacific Company
creator:
Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Operating Department
Identifier/Call Number: MS 859
Physical Description:
1000+ Linear Feet
3000+ general managers orders files
Date (inclusive): 1905-1970
Abstract: This is a collection of general managers orders files created during management of capital expenditure projects by the Southern
Pacific Railroad between 1905 and 1970.
Physical Location: Statewide Museum Collections Center
Collection is open for research by appointment.
Further accruals are expected.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Southern Pacific Company and Steve C. Arbuckle.
These case file are arranged by GMO number. There is also a description based on geographic location.
Approximately one half of the collection has been arranged and described.
General managers orders conist of capital expenditures by senior officers or, in some cases, by the board of directors. Department
heads, senior officers, the President, or the Board of Directors would propose capital expenditures as necessary to build
new structures and other facilities or tracks, or to replace worn or obsolete equipment or to upgrade track and structures,
to buy locomotives and passenger cars. Each item or project was assigned a GMO number by the Finance or Accounting Department.
The department proposing the expense would prepare a brief description to go with the GMO number. Southern Pacific GMO forms
briefly describe a project or capital expenditure and to justify its inclusion in the budget for the year. Each GMO number
would have a corresponding file where project details and progress would be noted, including dates of commencement and completion.
[Identification of item], Southern Pacific General Managers Orders files, MS 859, California State Railroad Museum Library
& Archives, Sacramento, California.
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.
This is a collection of general managers orders files created during management of capital expenditure projects by the Southern
Pacific Railroad between 1905 and 1970. In addition to general managers' order (GMO) forms, these files contain project information
generated through the management of capital expenditure projects by Southern Pacific. Includes correspondence, estimates,
bills of material, maps, drawings, photographs in Arizona, California, and Nevada. Most of the processed files pertain to
projects in Sacramento and the surrounding area.
Southern Pacific capital expenditure projects include: the purchase of equipment and land, construction and abandonment of
trackage, fences, buildings and other structures, their maintenance including painting,removal, sale, cleanup, repair, upgrade,
replacement, relocation and reconstruction. There is a GMO file pertaining to the 1926 Sacramento station depot.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Construction
Railroads--Buildings and structures