Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum

---

Home Exhibits Chinese History FAQ's Links

Rights & Permissions; Homework

Museum HOMEPAGE  EXHIBITS Index  —Favorite CPRR Stereographs  —Hart Stereoviews  —New York Public Library  —Muybridge Stereoviews  —Union Pacific Railroad  —Unknowns  —Railroad Maps  —Engravings  —Ephemera and Collectibles  —Nelson's Guidebook, 1871  —Railroads Shipped by Sea  —Locomotive Falcon  Stereograph Catalogs  READ ABOUT  —Lewis M. Clement Biography  —Eastward to Promontory ...  Chinese Railroad Workers  Book List  Online Books  Hopkins RR Library Catalog  Links to other websites  Webrings  Frequently Asked Questions  How you can help / plans  What's New  Technical Notes  Special Requests  User Agreement  Site Map  CPRR.org Welcome  E-mail  Search Internet

---

© 2014 CPRR.org. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the User Agreement which permits personal use web viewing only; no copying; arbitration; no warranty.

---

Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History
by Donald B. Robertson, Wayne Cornell (Editor)

Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History:
Vol. I.  The Desert States, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah [Vol. I. also available on demand]
Vol. II.  The Mountain States : Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming
Vol. III. Oregon and Washington
Vol. IV. California

CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY
[from Vol. IV. California, pp. 100-109.  Courtesy Donald B. Robertson. © 1998]

Map

Isaac L. Requa, President

Headquarters City: Sacramento

Incorporated: 7/29/1899

Operated: 7/29/1899 to 6/30/1959

Disposition: merged into the Southern Pacific Company on June 30, 1959
 

Predecessors:	Incorporated	to
Central Pacific Railroad Company	8/22/1870	7/29/1899
Central Pacific Railroad Company	6/23/1870	8/22/1870
California & Oregon Railroad Company	12/18/1869	8/22/1870
San Joaquin Valley Railroad Company	2/5/1868	8/22/1870
Western Pacific Railroad Company, The	11/2/1869	6/23/1870
Central Pacific Railroad Company of California	10/8/1864	6/23/1870
Central Pacific Rail Road Company of California	6/28/1861	10/8/1864
Fernley & Lassen Railway Company	10/16/1909	2/29/1912
Modoc Northern Railway Company	7/23/1908	"
Goose Lake & Southern Railway Company	4/30/1908	"
Oregon Eastern Railway Company	8/21/1905	"
Nevada & California Railway Company	4/7/1905	"
Central California Railway Company	10/4/1904	"
Sacramento Southern Railroad Company	7/8/1903	"
Chico & Northern Railroad Company	11/11/1903	"
Nevada-California-Oregon Railway	3/31/1888	10/31/1945

Miles track: 1,360 in 1888 - 2,516 in 1931

Gauge: 56 1/2"

Main lines: Sacramento to Ogden;  Goshen to Oregon line;  Lathrop to San Jose and Oakland

Rail weight: 56/66 lbs. iron

Maximum grade: 2.23%

Construction began: grading January 8, 1863; laying rails October 26, 1863

Construction completed: June 1, 1887 (main lines)

First train operated: November 10, 1863

Freight traffic: common carrier
 
 

Rosters of	6/30/1876	12/31/1888	12/31/1895	6/30/1906
locomotive engines	209	246	299	410
passenger cars	232	200	268	222
freight cars	3,847	4,927	6,406	8,449

 
 

First printed timetable:	June 6, 1864	mp
6:15 a.m.	Sacramento		12 m
6:55	Junction	18	11:30
7:05	Rocklin	22	11:07
7:15	Pino	25	10:56
7:30	Newcastle	31	10:30 a.m.

Also 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. departures from Sacramento and from Newcastle at 6:45 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Locomotive engines #1 arrived in Sacramento on October 6, 1863, and number two, February 25, 1864.
 

The trial run in 1863 was for two miles. First revenue freight was March 25, 1864, and passenger service (to Junction) on April 15. The site "Junction" (now Roseville) referred to the meeting point with California Central which had built north from Folsom to Lincoln in 1861.

The road was not built to Ogden City, but 47.5 miles (Promontory to 5.11 miles northwest of Ogden City) was purchased from Union Pacific on November 17, 1869, and operating rights by way of a lease into the City, thereby making it possible for the two carriers to exchange business in a town rather than on a high desert plain.
 

The official "opened for public use" dates for major construction - some by predecessors:
 

Eastward from Sacramento to:
Junction	April 26, 1864	18
Newcastle	June 10, 1864	13.25
Auburn	May 13, 1865	4.89
Colfax	Sept. 1, 1865	18.05
Cisco	Dec. 3, 1866	37.72
Truckee	April 3, 1868	27.61
Reno	June 19, 1868	34.95
Winnemucca	Oct. 1, 1868	169.79
Argenta	Nov. 19, 1868	71.97
Elko	Jan. 25, 1869	71.71
Promontory	May 10, 1869	222.06
Ogden	May 11, 1869	53.56

 

Northward from Junction to:
Lincoln	Oct. 13, 1861	10.29
Wheatland	June 27, 1866	11.12
Yuba	Sept. 19, 1868	10.93
Marysville	June 1, 1869	1.83
Chico	July 2, 1870	43.36
Tehama	Aug. 28, 1871	27.08
Red Bluff	Dec. 6, 1871	12.11
Redding	Sept. 1, 1872	34.88
Delta	Sept. 1, 1884	38.48
Dunsmuir 1886	Aug. 23,	23.62
Edgewood	Jan. 1, 1887	33.1
Oregon line	June 1, 1887	49.6

 

South and west from Sacramento to:
Galt	May 15, 1869	21.43
Lodi	Aug. 4, 1869	8.31
Stockton	Aug. 14, 1869	12.59
Alameda Wharf	Sept. 8, 1869	80.16
San Jose	Sept. 15, 1869	17.54
Modesto	Nov. 8, 1870	20
Merced	Jan. 25, 1872	37.39
Fresno	May 28, 1872	54.92
Goshen	Aug. 1, 1872	33.77

 
 

First published timetable:	August 1, 1867
3:35 p.m.	Sacramento	0	12:42 p.m.
4:22	Junction	18	11:54
4:34	Rocklin	22	11:33
5:12	Newcastle	31	11:03
5:30	Auburn	36	10:47
5:52	Clipper Gap	43	10:21
6:30	Colfax	54	9:46
7:35	Dutch Flat	67	8:40
8:22	Blue Canyon	78	7:56
9:15	Cisco	92	7:05 a.m.

Another trip left Sacramento at 6:30 a.m., Cisco 2:00 p.m.
Cisco was end of track for 16 months.
 
 

Individual pages will be found [in the printed encyclopedia, Vol IV.] for most of the predecessors with construction dates and map. Several were, in effect, "paper railroads" and may have done surveys and/or purchased land, but built no operating railroad. They were Fernley & Lassen, Goose Lake & Southern and Modoc Northern.

Effective May 16, 1870, fares from San Francisco to Omaha (after one year in conjunction with Union Pacific) quoted as "currency rates-" Emigrant $60 - Second class $80 - First class $100 - Atlantic Hotel Express $110 (Wednesday only). Must assume that gold would have brought a more favorable rate.

In 1882 (and probably other years also) the main line was San Francisco to Ogden, 872.0769 miles; all else was a branch line. They were: Roseville Junction to Redding, 152.1009 miles - Lathrop to Goshen, 146.0796 miles - Niles to San Jose, 17.5363 miles.

There were 657 bridges and trestles in California with a total length of 100,839 feet (19.0983 miles of them) and 182 more for 5,741 feet in Nevada and Utah Territory. There were 507 grade crossings of roads in California in 1884.

Published timetables in 1888 showed Central Pacific as San Francisco to Ogden, Southern Pacific of California was San Francisco to Templeton and Southern Pacific Company as operating the balance in California. Schedules dated November 16, 1889, no longer listed the name Central Pacific.

Central Pacific Railroad Company was leased to Southern Pacific Company on April 1, 1885, and appeared in the first ICC (6/30/88) as a non-operating subsidiary with 1,356 miles owned. The company was leased again on January 1, 1894. By 6/30/03 it owned 1,352 miles and 1,449 by 6/30/04, extended to 2,150 by 6/30/12. The maximum was reached by 12/31/31 with 2,516 miles and then gradually reduced to 2,184 in 1945. It was 2,169 miles of December 31, 1958, six months before sale and merger.

The exact meaning of "non-operating subsidiary" is obscured by the fact that in 1906 it owned 410 locomotives and engines were being purchased in that name until 1913.

A minor section of track, 17 miles from Suisun (on California Pacific) to Benicia, was completed in 1879 by Northern Railway Co. which, at that time, was being operated by Central Pacific Railroad Co. The following account appeared in Official Guide under Central Pacific: Trains are now running from San Francisco via Benicia to Sacramento. The new piece of road leaves the former main line at Vallejo Jct. and connects with the line of the California Pacific Railroad at Fairfield, the distance is 17 miles. The head of San Pablo Bay is crossed between Port Costa and Benicia (1.08 miles) by means of an immense transfer steamboat which will carry an entire passenger train and engine or forty-eight freight cars with engine. The distance from San Francisco to Sacramento is 89.79 miles. The item refers to the "Solano" and it was placed in operation December 28, 1879. The previous main lines (San Francisco, Niles, Livermore, Tracy, Sacramento) were 140 miles and (San Francisco, Martinez, Tracy, Sacramento) 151 miles. The new line was flat and straight. Ferry service was continued until a high bridge was opened across Carquinez Straight on October 14, 1930.

CLICK to see a multi-page table giving detailed information about each CPRR locomotive.

Bibliography:
Poor's 1888, p. 936
Valuation 45, p. 249
1877 California Public Utilities Commission  report, p. 281
Sacramento - The Daily Bee - October 20 to November 7, 1863
Sacramento Daily Union - October 27, 1863

CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY'S TRANSFER BOAT SOLANO.

The illustration is from "The Railroad Gazette", July 30, 1880, p. 406. The steamer, probably the largest in the world, was 424 feet long, 116 feet wide, loaded draught 6.5 feet and weighed 3,541.31 tons. It had two vertical beam engines with 5 foot by 11 foot stroke, rated at 2,000 hp each; the side paddles were 30 feet diameter, 17 feet wide with 24 buckets each. There were eight steel boilers, 28 feet long, grate surface 288 square feet each. Four rudders, 5 1/2 x 11 1/2 feet, on each end. The trial run was made December 6, 1879.

End view of Solano from The Railroad Gazette for July 30, 1880, page 407.

Copyright © 1999-2002, CPRR.org.  All rights reserved.  [Last updated 10/20/2002]
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the User Agreement;
Click any image or link to accept.