About

About the Author and the Vision for these Pages:

Welcome! My name is Michael Hawkins. I have been interested (you could say it has become a passion) in the history of the Western Pacific since 1974, relatively late in their history.

Before that, I was interested in the Southern Pacific and the Burlington Northern. I have been modeling the Western Pacific Railroad for about 10+ years and collecting as much information on the railroad as I possibly can. I do not have much, but will be happy to share what I do find as I find it.

My goal is to help preserve the understanding, history, and importance of the Western Pacific Railroad. I will try and do this by sharing information with those interested. I have been a member of the Feather River Rail Society (FRRS) for many years (no I was not an original) and I strongly support their preservation activities. Their efforts have resulted in the preservation of many pieces of the Western Pacific and their related railroads. They have also played an important part in helping other rail historical associations in their efforts to preserve rail history.

As you will notice, I am big fan of the EMD GP20 locomotive. Western Pacific received one of the first production units of this model and it is now preserved at the Feather River Rail Society's museum, The Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola, CA. This model has been labeled as the start of the new generation of motive power for diesel locomotives. You will find on these pages, the history of the EMD GP20s as well as the history of the Western Pacific GP20s. The goal of this web site is to preserve the history as well as tell the story of these historic locomotives.

These pages will change as new information and photographs are found, so stop by every now-and-then to see what is new. I am always open for new information that you may want to share, changes to items that I have, or just want to talk about the Western Pacific; so please contact me through the link on the left side of the page.

Feather River Rail Society:

For more information on the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola or the Western Pacific Railroad Historical Society, please visit the Feather River Rail Society's official web site (click on icons above). It is a must for those with an interest in the Western Pacific Railroad. You may want to become a member of the Society and help preserve the history of the Western Pacific Railroad and get involved with the many activities that are going on at the museum.

If you have ever wanted to be an locomotive engineer, you might give their "Run-a-Locomotive" program a try; you will get expert education in the proper ways to run a locomotive and then you become the engineer.

Comments and Legal Stuff:

If you have anything you want to comment on, change, or add, please contact me via email, all comments are greatly appreciated. If for any reason I have missed or mislabeled an author on a photograph or other information, please send me an email so that it can be corrected. In some cases, purchased photographs do not come with an author listed, and I would like to correct that issue if possible. Thank you for visiting my web site and please return often.

This site is maintained by Michael Hawkins - Phoenix, AZ. The information presented within this site and on the separate pages is a co-operative effort and in no way are affiliated with any transportation company past, present or future. All information is presented in good faith as being correct. Links to these pages from any other railroad, rail fan, or hobby related web site is welcomed and appreciated. Copyrights on any graphical material presented here are retained by the authors/owners. Any links should be considered copyrighted by their respective authors. All content is for private use only unless permission has been granted by the respective author(s).