I'm now retired in Italy, but back in the day I lived in Reno, NV, and was trying to come up with a new email address that was railroad oriented. Being close to Donner Pass and having several copies of the California Regional Timetable by Altamont Press, I wanted to use Shed47. That name was already taken as was Shed10, so I settled on the retired station of Stanford Flat located at MP 201.5 on UP's Roseville Sub between W. Truckee and Horsehoe Curve. I've been over the line many times in the past and visited the area on foot many years ago and never saw a trace of anything other than 2 main tracks. I will again be seeing this location next September on a coast-to-coast Amtrak trip from Boston to Frisco with relatives from Maine.
Altho I know a lot of Leland Stanford, I know absolutelely nothing about Stanford Flat and how it got it's name. It's not particularly flat there altho that could refer to a nearby meadow along Cold Stream Creek, and I'm surmising it was once a siding in what is now two main track CTC. But that is just speculation on my part. I'd love to tell my relatives the story. Does anyone have any idea or know some history about the area? It is now part of a state park.
Dunno how much the grade eased at Stanford Flats-- maybe to 1% or so? Presumably that's why they put a center siding there when they double-tracked. Offhand guess: they took the siding out in the 1950s-- it doesn't show on the 1955 topos. The two mains weren't widely spaced when you visited?
To tell you the truth, I never noticed whether the track centers were wider than normal or not. I'll be going over the pass in September and will watch for it. As far as the grade is cooncerned, Altamony's timetable lists a steady 1.7% grade from Truckee to Andover, lessening to 1.5% Andover to Summit. Thanks for your input, I'll look closer in September.
GN_FanAltamony's timetable lists a steady 1.7% grade from Truckee to Andover
The center siding is in the 1943 timetable (61-63 cars long it says) and it's gone in the 1946. The pic in Signor's book suggests it was immediately below Stanford Curve, but can't be sure without going up there and looking at the scene. The two mains don't look to be widely spaced there now.
(Bottom end of Stanford Curve was about SP milepost 202.55, and Stanford was 202.9, so apparently that's where the siding was-- on the straight just below the curve.)
(The SP track chart at multimodalways.org
http://multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/SP/SP%20Track%20Charts/SP%20Western%20Region%20Track%20Chart%201-1-1993.pdf
shows the westward track swinging away from the eastward at mp 203.1 to 203.3; presumably that was the east end of the siding. Dunno if the mains were really wide-spaced in 1993, the supposed date of the chart.)
Forgot to look how long the water column at Stanford lasted.
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