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So sorry this is late! But it looks like only ONE person had any luck finding this show. So let’s get right to it. It is…

Union Pacific

Try as I might, I couldn’t find any footage of this TV series on YouTube or anywhere else. But here’s the gist of the story…

Union Pacific was a Western television series starring Jeff Morrow, Judson Pratt and Susan Cummings that aired in syndication from 1958 until 1959. This show was inspired by the 1939 film also named Union Pacific, starring Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, and Robert Preston.

The series followed the exploits of Bart McClelland, played by Morrow, as he supervises the construction and extension of the Union Pacific Railroad west of Omaha, Nebraska, to Promontory, northwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. McClelland was mostly concerned with right-of-way issues, which could be affected by stubborn landowners, ranchers, Indians, outlaws, and other factors. Helping McClelland with his work was surveyor Billy Kincaid, played by Pratt. Susan Cummings rounded out the cast as Georgia, proprietor of the Golden Nugget Saloon, the rolling bar that followed the railroad workers along the tracks. Union Pacific never developed a following and was cancelled after a single season. (Wikipedia)

The reason this show stands out for me is because, even though I was only about 7 at the time, my dad was head-over-heels in love with the west. The further west he could visit, the better. He happened to really love this show. We lived in Ohio, and little did dad know that four years later we would end up moving to Utah just south of where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads met on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory to complete the first transcontinental railway line. I’ve been out to what is now known as the Golden Spike National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) several times. During the summer they reenact the meeting of the trains. This picture, however, was taken at the actual event on May 10, 1869. The colored photo is from the reenactment at Promontory Point.

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It’s pretty interesting to see and hear the trains. And just as an aside,  Stanford University, where the original golden spike now resides, loaned the original 1869 gold spike to Cecil B. DeMille for the film Union Pacific (1939). It was held aloft in the scene commemorating the actual event (a brass prop was used for the hammering sequence).

So have any of you ever BEEN to the Golden Spike National Historic Site?
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Okie dokie! On to day five of our April A to Z Challenge countdown with the letter V!

This TV series is one of my all time favorites. To the public this team was engaged in scientific research. But in truth, they were responsible for the mightiest weapon for defending our country. The series ran from September 14, 1964, to March 31, 1968, and was the decade’s longest-running American science fiction television series with continuing characters. It was based on a movie of the same name.

I’m really curious to see how many of you watched this. I really immersed myself in it! So how about it? Can you…

(Btw, if you know the answer, please keep it to yourself so as not to give it away. Stick a smiley face on your comment instead. Thank you so much!)

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(Just a quick note. If the title of the show is preceded with the word “The”, it will NOT be included in the name.)

Picture Sources:
Union Pacific — IMDb
Actual photo of the meeting of the two railroad lines — York Blog
Reenactment at the Golden Spike National Historic Site — Alamy
Letter V — http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/to-z-badges-and-banners.html
Name That TV Show — Pinterest