You're right about East Bay Regional Parks. I just recall the grant lands had to be tranfered to a public entitiy and not received by the UP. The grant sections in Nevada were sold by SP to a private corportation whose offices were temporarilly located in the BLM Office in Carson City. Seems there was some sort of flap about that at the time. UP receiving the CP grant lands was considered a "double subsidy" of sorts to the original UP but there is far more to it than I can pull out of my foggy brain. It may go back to the original transcontinental railroad act. Maybe someone can enlighten more?? I do know the O&C lands on the Siskiyou Route was managed as timberland by SP Resources and sold to Sierra Pacific Industries before the merger.
ARD