Central Pacific Railroad

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Image:Uploco.jpg The Central Pacific Railroad, (later to become the Southern Pacific Railroad), was planned by Theodore Judah and financed mostly through the efforts of "The Big Four" (who also called themselves "The Associates"), who were Sacramento, California businessmen Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins. It was created to build the First Transcontinental Railroad in North America. Alfred A. Hart was the official photographer of the CPRR construction.

A replica of the Sacramento, California Central Pacific Railroad passenger station is part of the California State Railroad Museum, located in the Old Sacramento State Historic Park. The company's first two locomotives, the Gov. Stanford, and C. P. Huntington, are also both housed at the same museum.

Nearly all of the company's early correspondence is preserved at Syracuse University as part of the Huntington papers collection, released on microfilm (133 reels). The following libraries have this microfilm: University of Arizona at Tucson; Virginia Commonwealth University at Richmond.

Additional collections of manuscript letters are held at Stanford University and the Mariner's Museum at Newport News, Virginia.

The railroad originally terminated with a connection to the Union Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah. Shortly after completion of the line the Central Pacific purchased the track from Promontory to Ogden from the Union Pacific so that the railroads could have a terminal in a city.

In 1885 the Central Pacific Railroad was leased by the Southern Pacific, though it technically remained an corporate entity until 1959 when it was formally merged into Southern Pacific. The original right of way is now part of the Union Pacific who purchased Southern Pacific in 1996.

The first "transcontinental", the Union Pacific-Central Pacific (Southern Pacific) mainline made up the historic "Overland Route" from Omaha to San Francisco Bay.

1 Timeline
2 Predecessor railroads
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

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Timeline

June 21 1861: "Central Pacific Rail Road of California" incorporated; name changed to "Central Pacific Railroad of California" October 8, 1864, after the Pacific Railway Act amendment passes that summer.
July 1 1862: President Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, which authorized the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific to build a railroad to the Pacific Ocean.
January 8 1863: Ground breaking ceremonies take place at Sacramento, California, at the foot of "K" Street at the waterfront of the Sacramento River.
October 26 1863: First rail laid, at Sacramento.
April 26 1864: Central Pacific opened to Roseville, 18 miles, where it makes a junction with the California Central Rail Road, operating from Folsom north to Lincoln.
June 3 1864: The first revenue train on the Central Pacific operates between Sacramento and Newcastle, California
October 8 1864: Following passage of the amendment to the Pacific Railroad Act, the company's name is changed to "Central Pacific Railroad of California," a new corporation.
May 13 1865: Central Pacific opened 36 miles to Auburn, California.
September 1 1865: Central Pacific opened 54 miles to Colfax, California (formerly known as "Illinoistown.")
December 3 1866: Central Pacific opened 92 miles to Cisco, California.
December 1 1868: Central Pacific opened to Summit of Sierra Nevadas, 105 miles.
April 28 1869: Track crews on the Central Pacific lay 10 miles of track in one day. This is the longest stretch of track that has been built in one day to date.
May 10 1869: The Central Pacific and Union Pacific tracks meet in Promontory, Utah.
May 15 1869: The first transcontinental trains are run over the new line to Sacramento.
November 8 1869: The Central Pacific completes the final leg of the route, connecting Sacramento to Oakland.
June 23 1870: Central Pacific is consolidated with the Western Pacific and San Francisco Bay Railroad Co. to form the "Central Pacific Railroad Co." (of June, 1870).
August 22 1870: Central Pacific Railroad Co. is consolidated with the California & Oregon; San Francisco, Oakland & Alameda; and San Joaquin Valley Railroad; to form the "Central Pacific Railroad Co.", a new corporation.
April 30 1876: Operates the California Pacific Railroad between South Vallejo and Sacramento, Calistoga and Marysville until April 1, 1885 (see below).
July 16 1877: Start of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 when railroad workers on strike in Martinsburg, West Virginia, derail and loot a train; United States President Rutherford B. Hayes calls in Federal troops to break the strike.
November 18 1883: A system of one-hour standard time zones for American railroads was first implemented. The zones were named Intercolonial, Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Within one year, 85% of all cities having populations over 10,000, about 200 cities, were using standard time.
April 1 1885: Central Pacific is leased to Southern Pacific.
June 30 1888: Listed by ICC as a "non-operating" subsidiary of Southern Pacific.
July 29 1899: Central Pacific is reorganized as the "Central Pacific Railway".
June 30 1959: Central Pacific is formally merged into the Southern Pacific.

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Predecessor railroads

California Pacific Railroad

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References

{{cite book

| title = Nothing Like It In The World; The men who built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
| authorlink = Stephen E. Ambrose | last = Ambrose | first = Stephen E.
| year = 2000
| publisher = Simon & Schuster
| id = ISBN 0-684-84609-8
}}

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