Nostalgia & History > Snowflake Limited Drumhead

Hi All,

Can anyone provide any information on this drumhead? It is 24" in diameter and the black frame was added by the previous owner.

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It's beyond me, but I'm amazed that no one has got this yet. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Yes it is an ongoing mystery.

One of librarians at the California State Railroad Museum is on the case too. I supplied her with a picture of the drumhead and she is showing it to various SPHTS members when they visit in the hope one might recall something about it. "The Sunset Line" and the fact it was reportedly found near the mainline on The Hill suggests it is probably SP, but who knows.

It is a nice drumhead, albeit maybe not as artistic as some of those on marquee trains. It is made of a translucent plastic material and appears to be vacuum molded since the red is printed on embossed lettering.

Eureka!! After Googling this in all sorts of permutations, here it is-
The Sunset Line was the Vernonia, South Park & Sunset Steam Railroad at Banks, Oregon. The VSP&S folded quite a few years ago, but here's a picture of a sign at Banks that shows the Sunset Line logo-

http://tinyurl.com/18ph8

There was even a discussion of the VSP&S on TO this month! See
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,1235669

The Snowflake Limited was obviously a wintertime run on the VSP&S. You definitely have a "one of a kind" artifact there.

I don't know why the tinyurl didn't come out linkable, but at least it's easy to type in. You should have seen the actual URL - it probably doesn't have the record for being the longest, but it should be in the running!

Gosh, that looks like you found it! I searched everything I could think of regarding "The Sunset Line", but because I had been led to believe it was connected to the SP, I did not look closely at anything that did not lead in that direction.

Information I found on the VSP&S says it was a steam tourist line in Oregon that operated from 1960 to 1965. It looks like most of the right of way is now a hiking and biking trail system.

Well, what do you know. I will start checking more with the Oregon Historical Society to see what they might have.

Thanks a bunch!

You're most welcome. Google is a great tool when it comes to this kind of stuff.....one may have to use any number of search phrases but patience usually pays off, as in this case.

If you haven't already found it, here's a site with a history of the line
http://www.abandonedrailroads.com/or_sps_banks_keasey.htm

Type in vernonia south park & sunset steam railroad on Google for many more references.

1702 Wrote:
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> If you haven't already found it, here's a site
> with a history of the line
> http://www.abandonedrailroads.com/or_sps_banks_kea
> sey.htm
>
> Type in vernonia south park & pacific steam
> railroad on Google for many more references.


1702, just a slight typo, it's the Vernonia, South Park & Sunset Steam Railroad. Unfortunately the article by Brian Edwards to which your provided link leads contains several errors regarding the VSP&S. I was part of the VSP&S from the beginning (about 1960 - the train started running in 1964) to the last main line excursion train the month after Amtrak's startup (the steam-powered excursion train's last run was in October 1969) and while my memory has no doubt dimmed about some of the details from that time period I would say from reading Mr. Edward's article that he was writing from his or someone else's erroneous recollections.

Jim700 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1702 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If you haven't already found it, here's a site
> > with a history of the line
> >
> http://www.abandonedrailroads.com/or_sps_banks_kea
>
> > sey.htm
> >
> > Type in vernonia south park & pacific steam
> > railroad on Google for many more references.
>
>
> 1702, just a slight typo, it's the Vernonia, South
> Park & Sunset Steam Railroad. Unfortunately the
> article by Brian Edwards to which your provided
> link leads contains several errors regarding the
> VSP&S. I was part of the VSP&S from the beginning
> (about 1960 - the train started running in 1964)
> to the last main line excursion train the month
> after Amtrak's startup (the steam-powered
> excursion train's last run was in October 1969)
> and while my memory has no doubt dimmed about some
> of the details from that time period I would say
> from reading Mr. Edward's article that he was
> writing from his or someone else's erroneous
> recollections.

Yes, major typo! I'll go back & correct that. Thanks for the comments about the Brian Edwards article.....I wonder if Trains, Pacific News, etc., ever published a detailed article about the VSP&S?