The was an
American Railroad . The railroad was founded as a land holding company in
1865 , forming part of the
Central Pacific Railroad empire.
The Southern Pacific's route miles has varied over the years but in 1929 the system showed 13,848 miles of track and in 1994 it had 8,991 miles of track.
By 1900, the Southern Pacific Company had grown into a major railroad system that incorporated a lot of smaller companies, such as the
Texas And New Orleans Railroad and Morgan's
Louisiana And Texas Railroad , and that extended from
New Orleans through Texas to
El Paso , across
New Mexico and through
Tucson , to
Los Angeles , throughout most of California including
San Francisco and
Sacramento ; it absorbed the
Central Pacific Railroad extending eastward across
Nevada to
Ogden, Utah and had lines reaching north throughout and across
Oregon to
Portland .
On
August 9 ,
1988 , the
Interstate Commerce Commission approved the purchase of the Southern Pacific by
Rio Grande Industries , the company that controlled the
Denver And Rio Grande Western Railroad . The Rio Grande officially took control of the Southern Pacific on
October 13 ,
1988 . After the purchase, the combined railroad kept the Southern Pacific name due to its brand recognition in the railroad industry and with customers of both constituent railroads.
The Southern Pacific was taken over by the
Union Pacific Railroad in
1996 following years of financial problems.
The railroad is also noteworthy for being the defendant in the landmark
1886 United States Supreme Court case ''
Santa Clara County V. Southern Pacific Railroad '' which is often interpreted as having established certain
Corporate Rights under the
Constitution Of The United States .
- begins construction between Houston, TX and Alleyton, TX .
- , led by Timothy Phelps , found the Southern Pacific Railroad to build a rail connection between San Francisco and San Diego, CA .
- purchases the Southern Pacific.
- 1870 : Southern Pacific and Central Pacific operations are merged.
- June .
- and work begins on the Tehachapi Loop
- after travelling over the newly completed Tehachapi Loop.
- at Yuma, AZ .
- 1879 : Southern Pacific engineers experiment with the first oil-fired locomotives.
- .
- takes place in Hanford, CA , a dispute over property rights with SP.
- .
- at the Pecos River . The golden spike is driven by Col. Tom Pierce , the GH&SA president, atop the Pecos River High Bridge
- .
- February 17 1885 : The Southern Pacific and Central Pacific are combined under a holding company named the Southern Pacific Company.
- April 1 1885 : The Southern Pacific takes over all operation of the Central Pacific. Effectively, the CP no longer exists as a separate company.
- s on the Southern Pacific enter operation.
- 1886: Southern Pacific wins the landmark Supreme Court case '' Santa Clara County V. Southern Pacific Railroad '' which establishes Equal Rights under the Law to Corporation s.
- '' magazine is founded as a promotional tool of the Southern Pacific.
- ' novel, ''The Octopus: A California Story'', a fictional retelling of the Mussel Slough Tragedy and the events leading up to it, is published.
- system in Los Angeles.
- across the Great Salt Lake , bypassing Promontory, UT for the railroad's mainline.
- is completed between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, CA .
- strikes, damaging the railroad's headquarters building and destroying the mansions of the now-deceased Big Four.
- (PFE) refrigerator car line.
- orders the Union Pacific to sell all of its stock in the Southern Pacific.
-
- allows the SP's control of the Central Pacific to continue, ruling that the control is in the public's interest.
- Railroad.
- May passenger trains in Los Angeles are united into a single terminal as Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal is opened.
- 1947 : The first diesels enter mainline operation on the SP.
- .
- is sold to the Mexican government.
- train marooned for three days in heavy snow on Donner Pass ; that summer, an earthquake hits the Tehachapi pass, closing the entire route over the Tehachapi Loop until repairs can be made.
- ") equipment enters service on the SP.
- 1957 : The last steam locomotives in regular operation on the SP are retired; the railroad is now fully dieselized.
- is rejected by the ICC.
- through Cajon Pass .
- 's first annual Rail Safety Achievement Award in recognition of the railroad's handling of Dow products in 1975.1
- .
, leads a westbound train through Eola, Illinois (just east of Aurora ), October 6 , 1992 .]]
- , parent of the Atchison, Topeka And Santa Fe Railway , to form . When the Interstate Commerce Commission refuses permission for the planned merger of the railroad subsidiaries as the Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad SPSF shortens its name to Santa Fe Pacific Corporation and puts the SP railroad up for sale while retaining the non-rail assets of the Southern Pacific Company.
- Railroad, takes control of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The merged company retains the name "Southern Pacific" for all railroad operations.
- finishes the acquisition that was effectively begun almost a century before with the purchase of the Southern Pacific. The merged company retains the name "Union Pacific" for all railroad operations.
"cab-forward" steam locomotive, leads a California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society excursion out of
Reno, Nevada in December of 1957.]]
Like most railroads, the SP painted the majority of its
Steam Locomotive fleet black during the
20th Century , but after the 1930s the SP had a policy of painting the front of the locomotive's
Smokebox light silver (almost white in appearance), with graphite colored sides, for visibility.
Some express passenger steam locomotives bore the ''Daylight'' scheme, named after the trains they hauled, most of which had the word ''Daylight'' in the train name. This scheme, carried in full on the
Tender , consisted of a bright, almost vermilion red on the top and bottom thirds, with the center third being a bright orange. The parts were separated with thin white bands. Some of the color continued along the locomotive. The most famous "Daylight" locomotives were the
GS-4 Steam Locomotives . The most famous Daylight-hauled trains were the Coast Daylight and the Sunset Limited.
Well known were the Southern Pacific's unique "
Cab-forward " steam locomotives. These were essentially
2-8-8-4 locomotives set up to run in reverse, with the
Tender attached to the smokebox end of the locomotive. Southern Pacific used a number of snow sheds in mountain terrain, and locomotive crews nearly asphyxiated from smoke blowing back to the cab. After a number of engineers began running their engines in reverse (pushing the tender), Southern Pacific asked
Baldwin Locomotive Works to produce cab-forward designs. No other North American railroad ordered cab-forward locomotives, which became a distinctive symbol of the Southern Pacific.
During the early days of
Diesel Locomotive use, they were also painted black. Yard
Switcher s had diagonal orange stripes painted on the ends for visibility, earning this scheme the nickname of ''Tiger Stripe''. Road freight units were generally painted in a black scheme with a red band at the bottom of the carbody and a silver and orange "winged" nose. The words "SOUTHERN PACIFIC" were borne in a large serif font in white. This paint scheme is called the ''Black Widow'' scheme by railfans. A transitory scheme, of all-over black with orange "winged" nose, was called the ''Halloween'' scheme. Few locomotives were painted in this scheme and few photos of it exist.
Most passenger units were painted originally in the ''Daylight'' scheme as described above, though some were painted red on top, silver below for use on the ''
Golden State '' (operated in cooperation with the
Rock Island Railroad ) between Chicago and Los Angeles. In 1959 SP standardized on a paint scheme of dark grey with a red "winged" nose; this scheme was dubbed ''Bloody Nose'' by railfans. Lettering was again in white. After the merger with the
Denver And Rio Grande Western Railroad , the side lettering became often done in the Rio Grande "speed lettering" style.
Unlike many other railroads, whose locomotive numberboards bore the locomotive's number, the SP used them for the train number all the way up to the proposed
Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad merger. By the
Rio Grande Industries era, SP had adopted the more standard practice of using the number boards for the road number.
Until
May 1 ,
1971 (when
Amtrak took over long-distance passenger operations in the
United States ), the Southern Pacific at various times operated the following
Named Passenger Trains :
''Steam Locomotives''
''Diesel Locomotives''
There are many Southern Pacific locomotives still in revenue service with railroads such as the Union Pacific, and many older and special locomotives have been donated to parks and museums, or continue operating on scenic or tourist railroads. Among the more notable equipment is:
, July 2005.]]
- 4294 ( AC-12 , 4-8-8-2 ), located at the California State Railroad Museum , Sacramento, California
- 4449 ( GS-4 , 4-8-4 ), located at the Brooklyn Roundhouse, Portland, Oregon
- 2472 ( P-8 , 4-6-2 ), owned and operated by the Golden Gate Railroad Museum , Redwood City, California
- 2467 ( P-8 , 4-6-2 ), on loan by the Pacific Locomotive Association , Fremont, California to the California State Railroad Museum
- 1518 ( EMD SD7 ), located at the Illinois Railway Museum , Union, Illinois
''For a complete list, see:
List Of Preserved Southern Pacific Railroad Rolling Stock .''
plies the waters of
San Francisco Bay in the late 19th century.]]
The Central Pacific Railroad (and later the Southern Pacific) maintained and operated whole fleets of
Ferry boats that connected Oakland with San Francisco by water. Early on, the Central Pacific gained control of the existing ferry lines for the purpose of linking the northern rail lines with those from the south and east; during the late 1860s the company purchased nearly every bayside plot in Oakland, creating what author and historian
Oscar Lewis described as a "wall around the waterfront" that put the town’s fate squarely in the hands of the corporation. Competitors for ferry passengers or dock space were ruthlessly run out of business, and not even stage coach lines could escape the group's notice, or wrath.
By 1930, the Southern Pacific owned the world's largest ferry fleet (which was subsidized by other railroad activities), carrying 40 million passengers and 60 million vehicles annually aboard 43 vessels. The construction of the
Bay Bridge initiated the slow decline in demand for ferry service, and by 1951 only 6 ships remained active. Ferry service was discontinued in 1958.
