Purchased by Southern Pacific Company (Southern Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads)

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This is a wonderful 1887 Buff & Berger Transit, with Railroad history. The transit is engraved with "SPCo" which I thought had to be Southern Pacific Company. Luckily, I also found a PDF of the original purchase order, with the order indeed showing Southern Pacific Company as the original purchaser.

Southern Pacific acquired Central Pacific in 1885, and formed Southern Pacific Company as the holding company for SP and CP. I suspect that this transit saw extensive Railroad surveying use in California and throughout the southwestern United States during its working lifetime.

I unfortunately do not have the box or tripod that goes with this transit.

“Refurbished” by Howard Close at Close Instruments in Seattle. Howard polished the instrument to return it to its original bright finish, as evidenced by the purchase order.

This is a real find for a Railroad surveying collector, specially one on the West Coast.

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