Series XXVII: Southern Pacific Railroad: Pacific Division, El Paso Yards

This series consists of photographs of the Southern Pacific's facilities in El Paso, Texas. These photographs were submitted to the Commission as Employees' Exhibit 48, are referred to by the letter W in testimony, and were taken by Audry A. Harp. Mr. Harp was employed as a locomotive engineer by the Southern Pacific and was a member Lodge 617 of the BLF&E. The Southern Pacific was a class I railroad in the western United States. It covered a vast territory, with lines stretching from New Orleans through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Los Angeles; from Los Angeles up the West Coast through San Francisco and Sacramento to Portland, Oregon; from Chicago through St. Louis to Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas; and from San Francisco through Nevada to Ogden, Utah. The Sunset Route, between New Orleans and Los Angeles, went through El Paso, Tucson and Phoenix, with a branch line heading south into Mexico at Nogales. The photographs in this series document the SP facilities in El Paso. Of interest are the signs printed in both English and Spanish for the SP employees that are documented in this series. Also included in this series is a photograph of industry tracks to Darbyshire Steel Co., tentatively identified as located in El Paso, Texas.