Each issue of Donner Crossings provides an in-depth look at one or two topics of significance to the history, construction or operation of the Donner Route. Past issues have featured the renovation of the Colfax Passenger Depot, early guides that described highlights of the “new” transcontinental railroad route, and a sample of 1904 local freight bills for items shipped from the Auburn depot. Donner Crossings is published once or twice per year, and is distributed to active PSRHS members.
The list below shows major topics presented in past issues of Donner Crossings. If you wish to view a pdf copy of a particular issue, click on the Issue # for that issue.
Issue # Subject(s)
1- Apr 2006 Shipped by Sea – Early CPRR Locomotives
SP Conversion to Diesels
How Do Diesels Affect Jobs
Why Do Railroads Prefer Diesels
2- Nov 2006 Colfax Passenger Depot Renovation Special Issue
(Updated Apr 2007)
3- Feb 2008 Crofutt’s New Overland Tourist Guide – 1879 Edition
Local Freight Shipments, Auburn Depot – Feb. 1904
4- Apr 2009 The First Transcontinental Through Train?
Boston Board of Trade’s All-Pullman Train – 1870
5- Spring 2010 Colfax and Its Railroads – A Look Back in Time
6- Spring 2011 Was Cape Horn Almost Bypassed by Double-Tracking?
Walking a Portion of the Original Transcontinental Route
7- Spring 2012 On the First Train from Sacramento to Reno, June 18, 1868
The Evolution of the Railroad Bridge(s) at Long Ravine
8- Spring 2013 The Other Stanford and the Stanford Mills.
Towle – Forgotten Sierra Town/ Logging Railroad/ Family Empire. Excerpts from the book about Towle Brothers published Spring 2013.
9- Spring 2014 PSRHS Lifetime Membership Award Recipient – Ken Yeo
Runaway Train Car – Towle’s Station to Colfax
10- Spring 2015 Colfax, CA – 150 Years of Railroading 1865-2015
Colfax Marble Quarry – Early CPRR Business along the
Route
Is it a Station, a Depot or a Terminal?
By Steamship, Ferry and Rail from San Francisco to Colfax
in 1873
11 – Spring 2016 Snowbound on the Donner Route!! January 1890
(As reported in day-to-day newspaper accounts)
12 – Spring 2017 A Tale of Two Locomotives
(and Their Donner Route Connections)
13 – Spring 2018 Snowbound City of San Francisco
First-Hand Account of Preceding Days & Events
14 – Spring 2019 Path to Glory – Jupiter at Promontory
PG&E’s Lake Spaulding Railroads
15 — Fall 2021 Colfax Passenger Depot — The Rest of the Story
(From 1905 to Present Use)
16 — Spring 2022 Colfax and It’s Railroads — A Look Back in Time