Southern Pacific Co.
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the
Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...
. The system was operated by various companies under the names Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company. The original Southern Pacific began in 1865 as a land holding company. The last incarnation of the Southern Pacific, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, was founded in 1969 and assumed control of the Southern Pacific system. The Southern Pacific Transportation Company was acquired in 1996 by the
Union Pacific Corporation Union Pacific Corporation is a publicly traded railroad holding company. It is incorporated in Utah and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Its only operating subsidiary is Union Pacific Railroad. Along with BNSF Railway, owned by Berkshire Hatha ...
and merged with their
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
. The Southern Pacific legacy founded hospitals in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, and
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
. In the 1970s, it also founded a telecommunications network with a state-of-the-art microwave and fiber optic backbone. This telecommunications network became part of
Sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...
, a company whose name came from the acronym for Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony.


History

The original Southern Pacific Railroad was founded in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
in 1865, by a group of businessmen led by Timothy Phelps with the aim of building a rail connection between San Francisco and
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, California. The company was purchased in September 1868 by a group of businessmen known as the Big Four:
Charles Crocker Charles Crocker (September 16, 1822 – August 14, 1888) was an American railroad executive who was one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, which constructed the westernmost portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and took ...
,
Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Watervliet, New York. He served as the eighth governor of Calif ...
, Mark Hopkins, Jr. and C. P. Huntington. The Big Four had, in 1861, created the
Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North Americ ...
(CPRR) It later acquired the
Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North Americ ...
in 1885 through leasing. By 1900, the Southern Pacific system was a major railroad system incorporating many smaller companies, such as the
Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad (TNO) was an American rail company in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific. Morgan's Louisian ...
and Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad. It extended from
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
through
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
to
El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
, across
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
and through
Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, through most of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, including
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
and
Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
. Central Pacific lines extended east across
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
to
Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...
, and reached north through
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
to
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
. Other subsidiaries eventually included the
St. Louis Southwestern Railway The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company , known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt", was a Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Tennessee ...
(Cotton Belt, reporting marks SSW),
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad began in 1888 as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad, a short line serving copper mines in southern Arizona. Over the next few decades, it grew into a 1200-mile system that stretched from Tucumcari, New ...
, the
Northwestern Pacific Railroad The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a mainline railroad from the former ferry connections in Sausalito, California north to Eureka, with a connection to the national railroad system at Schellville. The railroad has gone through a complex h ...
at , the
Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico The Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico was a railroad subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Mexico, operating from Nogales, Sonora, to Mazatlán, Sinaloa. The Sonora Railway was constructed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway b ...
, and a variety of
narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...
routes.
The company was headquartered in the
Flood Building The Flood Building is a 12-story high-rise in the downtown shopping district of San Francisco, California. It is located at 870 Market Street on the corner of Powell Street, next to the Powell Street cable car turntable, Hallidie Plaza, and ...
in San Francisco's downtown shopping district in 1907. Ten years later, they moved into the historic 11- story, Southern Pacific Building, also known as "The Landmark", located at One Market Street on the Embarcadero whose construction started in 1916. At its completion, the building's first floor was devoted to retail except for the portion facing the rear courtyard (opening to Mission Street), which was reserved for Southern Pacific. SP rented the second floor to a tenant, but occupied floors three through ten with various offices. For nearly a century, the building was topped with a large sign emblazoned with a gothic "S·P" marking the company's San Francisco roots. The SP was known for its mammoth back shops at
Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...
, which was one of the few in the country equipped to design and build locomotives on a large scale. Sacramento was among the top ten largest shops in the US, occupying 200 acres of land with dozens of buildings and an average employment of 3,000, peaking at 7,000 during World War II. Other major shop sites were located at
Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...
;
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, Texas; and
Algiers, New Orleans Algiers () is a historic neighborhood of New Orleans and is the only Orleans Parish community located on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Algiers is known as the 15th Ward, one of the 17 Wards of New Orleans. It was once home to many j ...
. After the 1906 earthquake destroyed much of San Francisco, including the SP shops there, new shops and yards were built six miles south of the city at Bayshore. The Alhambra Shops in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
consisted of 10 buildings and employed 1,500 but declined in importance when the Taylor Yard was built in 1930. The SP was the defendant in the landmark 1886
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
case ''
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad ''Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company'', 118 U.S. 394 (1886), is a United States corporate law, corporate law case of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court concerning taxation of railroad propertie ...
'', which is often interpreted as having established certain corporate rights under the
Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
. The Southern Pacific Railroad was replaced by the Southern Pacific Company and assumed the railroad operations of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1929, Southern Pacific/Texas and New Orleans operated 13,848 route-miles not including Cotton Belt, whose purchase of the Golden State Route circa 1980 nearly doubled its size to , bringing total SP/SSW mileage to around . The T&NO was fully merged into the SP in 1961. In 1969, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company was established and took over the Southern Pacific Company; this Southern Pacific railroad is the last incarnation and was at times called "Southern Pacific Industries", though "Southern Pacific Industries" is not the official name of the company. By the 1980s, route mileage had dropped to , mainly due to the pruning of branch lines. On October 13, 1988, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company (including its subsidiary, St. Louis Southwestern Railway) was taken over by
Rio Grande Industries Rio Grande Industries, Inc. (RGI) was a name of two holding companies that were involved in the railroading industry. The original and second company took part in the operations of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Southern P ...
, the parent company that controlled the
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south fr ...
(reporting marks D&RGW). Rio Grande Industries did not merge the Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad together, but transferred direct ownership of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad to the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, allowing the combined Rio Grande Industries railroad system to use the Southern Pacific name due to its brand recognition in the railroad industry and with customers of both the Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. A long time Southern Pacific subsidiary, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway was also marketed under the Southern Pacific name. Along with the addition of the SPCSL Corporation route from Chicago to St. Louis, the former mainline of the
Chicago, Missouri and Western Railroad The Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway (CM&W; ) was a Class II railroad that operated in the midwest of the United States between 1987 and 1989. Never financially stable, less than a year after it was created it was bankrupt and sold off its li ...
that once belonged to the
Alton Railroad The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad , was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 an ...
, the total length of the D&RGW/SP/SSW system was . Rio Grande Industries was later renamed Southern Pacific Rail Corporation. By 1996, years of financial problems had dropped Southern Pacific's mileage to . The financial problems caused the Southern Pacific Transportation Company to be taken over by the
Union Pacific Corporation Union Pacific Corporation is a publicly traded railroad holding company. It is incorporated in Utah and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Its only operating subsidiary is Union Pacific Railroad. Along with BNSF Railway, owned by Berkshire Hatha ...
; the parent Southern Pacific Rail Corporation (formerly Rio Grande Industries), the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway and the SPCSL Corporation were also taken over by the Union Pacific Corporation. The Union Pacific Corporation merged the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway and the SPCSL Corporation into their
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
but did not merge the Southern Pacific Transportation Company into the Union Pacific Railroad. Instead, the Union Pacific Corporation merged the Union Pacific Railroad into the Southern Pacific Transportation Company on February 1, 1998; the Southern Pacific Transportation Company became the surviving railroad and at the same time the Union Pacific Corporation renamed the Southern Pacific Transportation Company to Union Pacific Railroad. Thus, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company became, and is still operating as, the current incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad.


Locomotives

Like most railroads, the SP painted most of its
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
s black during the 20th century, but after 1945 SP painted the front of the locomotive's
smokebox A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is ...
silver (almost white in appearance), with graphite colored sides, for visibility. Some passenger steam locomotives bore the ''Daylight'' scheme, named after the trains they hauled, most of which had the word ''Daylight'' in the train name. The most famous "Daylight" locomotives were the
GS-4 The Southern Pacific GS-4 is a class of semi-streamlined 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) from 1941 to 1958. A total of 28 locomotives were built by Lima Locomotive Works (LLW) in Lima, Ohio, wi ...
steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
. The most famous Daylight-hauled trains were the Coast Daylight and the Sunset Limited. Well known were the Southern Pacific's unique "
cab-forward The term cab forward refers to various rail and road vehicle designs that place the driver's compartment substantially farther towards the front than is common practice. Rail locomotives In steam locomotive design, a cab-forward design will ...
" steam locomotives.. These were
4-8-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 4-8-8-2 is a locomotive with four leading wheels, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a two-wheel trailing truck. Other equivalent classifications are: UIC classificat ...
,
2-8-8-2 A 2-8-8-2, in the Whyte notation for describing steam locomotive wheel arrangements, is an articulated locomotive with a two-wheel leading truck, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a two-wheel trailing truck. The equivalent UIC classification ...
, and 4-6-6-2 (rebuilt from
2-6-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and one pair of trailing wheels. ...
) locomotives set up to run in reverse, with the tender attached to the smokebox end of the locomotive. Southern Pacific had
snow shed Avalanche control or avalanche defense activities reduce the hazard avalanches pose to human life, activity, and property.
s in mountain terrain, and locomotive crews nearly asphyxiated from smoke in the cab. After engineers began running their engines in reverse (pushing the tender), Southern Pacific asked
Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, Eddystone in the early 20th century. The com ...
to produce cab-forward designs. No other North American railroad ordered cab-forward locomotives.


List of locomotives used


Steam locomotives

*
T.D. Judah ''T. D. Judah'' was the name of a 4-2-2 steam locomotive owned by the Central Pacific Railroad. It was named in honor of the railroad's first chief engineer, Theodore Judah, Theodore Dehone Judah, who had championed and surveyed a passable route ...
- * C.P. Huntington - * E class - Eight Wheeler/American (various (inc. Gov. Stanford,
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
,
Leviathan Leviathan ( ; ; ) is a sea serpent demon noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. Leviathan is of ...
)) * A class - Atlantic (A-1 – A-6) * S class - Switcher (S-1 – S-22) * M class - Mogul (M-1 – M-4 ( SP 1673), M-6 ( SP 1744) – M-22) * Pr class - Prairie (Pr-1) * MM/AM-class / -
Cab forward The term cab forward refers to various Rail transport, rail and road vehicle designs that place the driver's compartment substantially farther towards the front than is common practice. Rail locomotives In steam locomotive design, a cab-forwa ...
Mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. General overview The term is descriptive of the ...
/
Articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent coupling in its construction. This coupling works as a large pivot joint, allowing it to bend and turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buse ...
Mogul (MM-1, MM-2/ AM-2, MM-3; Convention on the SP was that Mallet referred to compound expansion, while Articulated referred to simple expansion.) * T class - Ten Wheeler ( T-1 – T-31 ( SP 2353, SP 2355) – T-58) * P class - Pacific (P-1 – P-8 ( SP 2467, SP 2472) – P-10 ( SP 2479) – P-14) * Se class - Switcher (Se-1 – Se-4) * C class - Consolidation (C-1 – C-8 ( SP 2706, SP 2718), C-9 ( SP 2579) – C-32) * Mk class - Mikado (Mk-2, Mk-4, Mk-5 ( SP 745, SP 786) – Mk-11; * MC/AC class - / - Cab Forward Mallet/Articulated Consolidation ( MC-1/ AC-1, MC-2/
AC-2 Yellow / AC-2 (Atlantic Crossing 2) is a submarine telecommunications cable system linking the United States and the United Kingdom. The cable is wholly owned by Lumen (formerly Level 3 Communications) in the US following its acquisition of Gl ...
, AC-3, MC-4/ AC-4, AC-5, MC-6/ AC-6, AC-7, AC-8, AC-10, AC-11, AC-12 ( SP 4294)) * AC-9 - - Yellowstone/Articulated Consolidation * TW-class - Twelve Wheeler (
Mastodon A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...
, TW-1 – TW-8) * Mt-class - Mountain (Mt-1 – Mt-5) * GS-class - Golden State/General Service (( GS-1, GS-2, GS-3,
GS-4 The Southern Pacific GS-4 is a class of semi-streamlined 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) from 1941 to 1958. A total of 28 locomotives were built by Lima Locomotive Works (LLW) in Lima, Ohio, wi ...
( SP 4449), GS-5, GS-6 ( SP 4460),
GS-7 GS-7 is an organophosphorus anticholinesterase related to the organophosphate insecticide methamidophos Methamidophos, trade name "Monitor," is an organophosphate insecticide. Crops grown with the use of methamidophos include potatoes and some L ...
, GS-8) * D-class - Decapod (D-1) * F-class - Fourteen Wheeler (F-1 ( SP 975, SP 982) – F-5; Usually called the Santa Fe, but since the
ATSF The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...
was SP's primary rival, they refused to use the name.) *
El Gobernador ''El Gobernador'' was an American steam locomotive built by Central Pacific Railroad at the railroad's Sacramento, California shops. It was the last of Central Pacific's locomotives to receive an official name and was also the only locomotive ...
- * SP-class - Southern Pacific (SP-1 ( SP 5021)) Narrow Gauge Locomotives * Ten Wheeler - See SP 18


Diesel locomotives

*
ALCO PA The ALCO PA was a family of A1A-A1A diesel locomotives built to haul passenger trains. The locomotives were built in Schenectady, New York, in the United States, by a partnership of the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and General Electric (G ...
*
ALCO RSD-15 The ALCO RSD-15 is a diesel-electric locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York between August 1956 and June 1960, during which time 75 locomotives were produced. The RSD-15 was powered by an ALCO 251 16-c ...
* BLW AS-616 *
EMC E2 The EMC E2 was an American passenger-train diesel locomotive which as a single unit developed , from two (2) prime movers. These locomotives were typically operated as a unit set ( A - B - B) or ( A - B - A); where the three unit lashup deve ...
*
EMD E7 The E7 was a , A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. 428 cab versions, or E7As, were built from February 1945 to April 1949; 82 booster E7Bs were built from March 1945 t ...
*
EMD E8 The EMD E8 is a , A1A-A1A passenger-train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois. A total of 450 cab versions, or E8As, were built from January 1950 to January 1954, 447 for the U.S. and 3 fo ...
*
EMD E9 The E9 is a , A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois, between April 1954 and January 1964. 100 cab-equipped A units were produced and 44 cabless booster B unit ...
*
EMD F7 The EMD F7 is a model of diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and General Motors Diesel (GMD). Although originally promoted by EMD as a freight-h ...
*
EMD FP7 The EMD FP7 is a , B-B dual-service passenger and freight-hauling diesel locomotive produced between June 1949 and December 1953 by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, ...
*
GE 70-ton switcher The GE 70-ton switcher is a 4-axle Diesel locomotive#Diesel–electric, diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric between about 1942 and 1955. It is classified as a B-B type locomotive. The first series of "70 tonners" were a group of s ...
* EMD NW2 * EMD NW5 * EMD SW1 * EMD SW8 * EMD SW900 * EMD SW1200 * EMD SW1500 * GE U25B * GE U28B * GE U28C * GE U30C * GE U33C * FM H-12-44 * FM H-24-66, FM H-24-66 "Train Master" * EMD GP7 * EMD GP9 * EMD GP9R * Southern Pacific GP9E and GP9R, EMD GP9E * EMD SD7 * EMD SD7R * EMD SD9 * EMD SD9E * GE P30CH * EMD SD40M-2 * EMD SD39 * EMD SD38-2 * EMD SD35 * EMD SDP45 * EMD GP60 * EMD GP40-based passenger locomotives#GP40P-2, EMD GP40P-2 * EMD GP40M-2 * EMD GP40-2 * EMD GP38-2 * EMD GP20 * EMD SD35 * GE B30-7 * GE B36-7 * GE B39-8 * GE B40-8 * GE AC4400CW * GE Dash 9-44CW, GE C44-9W * EMD SD50 * EMD SD45 * EMD SD45T-2 * EMD SD45T-2R * EMD SD40T-2 * EMD SD40R * EMD SD70M * Southern Pacific 7399, EMD SD44R * Krauss-Maffei ML 4000


Passenger train service

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 List of named passenger trains, named passenger trains. Trains with names in ''italicized bold text'' still operate under Amtrak: * ''49er (passenger train), 49er'' * ''Acadian (train), Acadian'' * ''Apache (train), Apache'' * ''Argonaut (train), Argonaut'' * ''Arizona Limited'' * ''Beaver (train), Beaver'' * ''Californian (train), Californian'' * ''Cascade (train), Cascade'' * ''City of San Francisco (train), City of San Francisco'' * ''Coast Daylight'' * ''Coast Mail'' * ''Coaster (Southern Pacific Railroad train), Coaster'' * ''Coos Bay Limited'' * ''Del Monte (train), Del Monte'' * ''Fast Mail'' * ''Golden Rocket (train), Golden Rocket'' * ''Golden State (train), Golden State'' * ''Grand Canyon'' * ''Hustler'' * ''Imperial (SP train), Imperial'' * ''Klamath (train), Klamath'' * ''Lark (passenger train), Lark'' * ''Newsboy'' * ''Oil Fields Flyer'' * ''Oregonian (train), Oregonian'' * ''Overland Flyer, Overland'' * ''Owl Limited'' * ''Pacific Limited'' * ''Peninsula Commute'' ** ''Loop Service'' * ''Rogue River (train), Rogue River'' * ''Sacramento Daylight'' * ''Challenger (train), San Francisco Challenger'' * ''San Joaquin Daylight'' * ''San Jose Limited'' * ''Seashore Express'' * ''Senator'' * ''Shasta Daylight'' * ''Shasta Express'' * ''Shasta Limited'' * ''Shasta Limited De Luxe'' * ''Shore Line Limited'' * ''Starlight'' * ''Statesman'' * ''Sunbeam (passenger train), Sunbeam'' * ''Sunset Limited'' * ''Suntan Special'' * ''Tehachapi'' * ''West Coast (passenger train), West Coast'' * ''El Costeño'' * ''El Yaqui''


Notable accidents

* On March 28, 1907, the Southern Pacific ''Sunset Express (passenger train), Sunset Express'', descending the grade out of the San Timoteo Canyon, entered the Colton, California, Colton rail yard traveling about , hit an open switch and careened off the track, resulting in 24 fatalities. Accounts said 9 of the train's 14 cars disintegrated as they piled on top of one another, leaving the dead and injured in "a heap of kindling and crumpled metal". Of the dead, 18 were Italian immigrants traveling to jobs in San Francisco, California, San Francisco from Genoa, Italy. * The ''Coast Line Limited'' was heading for
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, on May 22, 1907, when it was derailed just west of Glendale, California. Passenger cars reportedly tumbled down the embankment. At least 2 people were killed and others injured. "The horrible deed was planned with devilish accurateness" the ''Pasadena Star News'' reported at the time. It said spikes were removed from the track and a hook placed under the end of the rail. The ''Stars coverage was extensive and its editorial blasted the criminal elements behind the wreck:
The man or men who committed this horrible deed near Glendale may not be anarchists, technically speaking. But if they are sane men, moved by motive, they are such stuff as anarchists are made of. If the typical anarchist conceived that a railroad corporation should be terrorized, he would not scruple to wreck a passenger train and send scores and hundreds to instant death.
* On New Year's Eve 1944 a Bagley train wreck, rear-end collision west of Ogden in thick fog killed 48 people. * On January 17, 1947, the Southern Pacific Nightflier wrecked outside of Bakersfield; 7 people were killed and over 50 injured. Four coaches and a tourist sleeper were overturned, landing far off the tracks; the other seven cars remained upright. The locomotive stayed on the tracks and its crew was uninjured. A 29-year-old passenger, Robert Crowley from Miami, Florida, had been conversing with a man across the aisle who was killed instantly. Crowley, who was a combat war veteran, said “I never saw such a mess” even on a battlefield. * On May 8, 1948, in Monterey, California, a Southern Pacific passenger train, the ''Del Monte Express'' struck a car driven by influential marine biologist Ed Ricketts at the now defunct railroad crossing at Drake Avenue. Ricketts subsequently succumbed to his injuries three days later in the hospital. * On September 17, 1963, a Southern Pacific freight train Chualar bus crash, crashed into an illegally converted bus at a grade crossing in Chualar, California, killing 32 Bracero program, bracero workers. It would later be a factor in the decision by Congress in 1964 to terminate the bracero program, despite its strong support among farmers. It also helped spur the Chicano civil rights movement. As of 2014, it was the deadliest automobile accident in United States history, according to the National Safety Council * On 28 April 1973, a Southern Pacific freight train carrying munitions 1973 Roseville Yard Disaster, exploded in Roseville Yard injuring 52 people, the cause of this was due to a hot box on a railcar setting the floor ablaze, heating a bomb until it detonated. * On May 12, 1989, a Southern Pacific train carrying trona San Bernardino train disaster, derailed in San Bernardino, California. The train failed to slow while descending a nearby slope, and sped up to about before derailing, causing the San Bernardino train disaster. The crash destroyed 7 homes along Duffy Street and killed 2 train workers and 2 residents. Thirteen days later on May 25, 1989, an underground pipeline running along the right-of-way ruptured and caught fire due to damage done to the pipeline during clean-up from the derailment or from the derailment itself, destroying 11 more homes and killing 2 more people. * On the night of July 14, 1991, a Southern Pacific train derailed into the upper Sacramento River at a sharp bend of track called “the Cantara Loop”, upstream from Dunsmuir, California, in Siskiyou County. Several cars made contact with the water, including a tank car. Early in the morning of 15 July, it became apparent that the tank car had ruptured and spilled its entire contents into the river – approximately of metam sodium, a soil fumigant. Ultimately, over a million fish, and tens of thousands of amphibians and crayfish were killed. Millions of aquatic invertebrates, including insects and mollusks, which form the basis of the river's ecosystem, were destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of willows, alders, and cottonwoods eventually died; many more were severely injured. :The chemical plume left a wake of destruction from the spill site to the entry point of the river into Shasta Lake. The accident still ranks as the largest hazardous chemical spill in California history. At the time of the incident, metam sodium was not classified as a hazardous material.


Preserved locomotives

There are many Southern Pacific locomotives still in revenue service with railroads such as the
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
, and many older and special locomotives have been donated to parks and museums, or continue operating on scenic or tourist railroads. Most of the engines now in use with Union Pacific have been "patched", where the SP logo on the front is replaced by a Union Pacific shield, and new numbers are applied over the old numbers with a Union Pacific sticker, however some engines remain in Southern Pacific "bloody nose" paint. Over the past couple years, most of the patched units were repainted into the full Union Pacific scheme and as of January 2019, less than ten units remain in their old paint. Among the more notable equipment is: * Southern Pacific 745, 745 (Mk-5, 2-8-2), owned by the Louisiana Rail Heritage Trust, operated by the Louisiana Steam Train Association, and based in Jefferon (near
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
), Louisiana *Southern Pacific 786, 786 (Mk-5, 2-8-2), owned by the City of Austin, leased to the Austin Steam Train Association. Currently under full mechanical restoration in Austin, Texas. *Southern Pacific 794, 794 (Mk-5, 2-8-2), the last Mikado built for the
Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad (TNO) was an American rail company in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific. Morgan's Louisian ...
in 1916 out of spare parts in their
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
shops. It currently resides with cosmetic restoration at San Antonio Station, San Antonio,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, but plans are to restore it to operating condition. *Southern Pacific 982, 982 (F-1, 2-10-2), Tender (rail), tender located at the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber City, Utah, main locomotive located in
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. *Southern Pacific 1518, 1518 (EMD SD7), former EMD demonstrator 990 and first SD7 built, located at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois *Southern Pacific 1744, 1744 (M-6, 2-6-0), components slowly being gathered at Brightside, California for a restoration to operating condition on the Niles Canyon Railway. *Southern Pacific 2248, 2248 ''Puffy'' ( T-1, 4-6-0), operated by the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, but is currently pending for a 1,472-day overhaul required by the Federal Railroad Administration, FRA in Grapevine, Texas. *Southern Pacific 2353, 2353 (T-31, 4-6-0), on display at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, California. *Southern Pacific 2467, 2467 ( P-8, 4-6-2), on loan by the Pacific Locomotive Association, Fremont, California to the California State Railroad Museum *Southern Pacific 2472, 2472 ( P-8, 4-6-2), owned and operated by the Golden Gate Railroad Museum, Redwood City, California *Southern Pacific 2479, 2479 (Southern Pacific class P-10, P-10, 4-6-2), owned and being restored by the California Trolley and Railroad Corporation, San Jose, California *Southern Pacific 3100, 3100 (former SP6800 Bicentennial), U25B owned and operated by the Southern California Railway Museum, Perris, CA * Southern Pacific 3420, 3420 (Southern Pacific Class C-19, C-19, 2-8-0), owned by El Paso Historic Board, stored at Phelps Dodge copper refinery, El Paso, Texas * 3709 (EMD GP9), being restored to operation at Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, California *3769 (EMD GP9), On display and used as a switch engine for the Union Station (Ogden, Utah)#Spencer S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Rail Center, Utah State Railroad Museum in
Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...
. *Southern Pacific 4294, 4294 ( AC-12,
4-8-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 4-8-8-2 is a locomotive with four leading wheels, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a two-wheel trailing truck. Other equivalent classifications are: UIC classificat ...
), located at the California State Railroad Museum,
Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...
* Southern Pacific 4449, 4449 (
GS-4 The Southern Pacific GS-4 is a class of semi-streamlined 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) from 1941 to 1958. A total of 28 locomotives were built by Lima Locomotive Works (LLW) in Lima, Ohio, wi ...
, 4-8-4), formerly located at the Brooklyn Roundhouse before being relocated to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in June 2012, Portland, Oregon *Southern Pacific 4460, 4460 ( GS-6, 4-8-4), located at the National Museum of Transportation, Kirkwood, Missouri *5119 (
GE 70-ton switcher The GE 70-ton switcher is a 4-axle Diesel locomotive#Diesel–electric, diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric between about 1942 and 1955. It is classified as a B-B type locomotive. The first series of "70 tonners" were a group of s ...
), Operational and awaiting paint restoration to SP colors at Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, California *7304 (ALCO RS-32), on display awaiting restoration at Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, California *7457 (EMD SD45) the first Electro Motive Division, GM Electro-Motive Division EMD SD45, SD45 diesel-electric road switcher locomotive to be built for that railroad in 1966. It last saw service on Donner Pass. It was donated to the Union Station (Ogden, Utah)#Spencer S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Rail Center, Utah State Railroad Museum in 2002.


Honorary tribute

On August 19, 2006, UP unveiled a brand new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1996, as part of a new heritage program. It was the final unit in UP's Heritage Series of locomotives, and was painted in a color scheme inspired by the "Daylight" and "Black Widow" schemes.


Company officers


Presidents

* Timothy Guy Phelps (1865–1868) *
Charles Crocker Charles Crocker (September 16, 1822 – August 14, 1888) was an American railroad executive who was one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, which constructed the westernmost portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and took ...
(1868–1885) *
Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Watervliet, New York. He served as the eighth governor of Calif ...
(1885–1890) * Collis P. Huntington (1890–1900) * Charles Melville Hays (1900–1901) * E. H. Harriman (1901–1909) * Robert S. Lovett (1909–1911) * William Sproule (1911–1918) * Julius Kruttschnitt (1918–1920) * William Sproule (1920–1928) * Paul Shoup (1929–1932) * Angus Daniel McDonald (1932–1941) * Armand Mercier (1941–1951) * Donald J. Russell (1952–1964) * Benjamin F. Biaggini (1964–1976) * Denman McNear (1976–1979) * Alan Furth (1979–1982) * Robert Krebs (1982–1988) * D. M. "Mike" Mohan (1988–1993) * Edward L. Moyers (1993–1995) * Jerry R. Davis (1995–1996)


Chairmen of Executive Committee

*
Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Watervliet, New York. He served as the eighth governor of Calif ...
(1890–1893) * (vacant 1893–1909) * Robert S. Lovett (1909–1913) * Julius Kruttschnitt (1913–1925) * Henry deForest (1925–1928) * Hale Holden (1928–1932)


Chairmen of Board of Directors

* Henry deForest (1929–1932) * Hale Holden (1932–1939) * (position nonexistent 1939–1964) * Donald J. Russell (1964–1972) * Benjamin F. Biaggini (1976–1982) * Denman K. McNear (1982–1988) * Edward L. Moyers (1993–1995) Chairman/C.E.O.


Notable employees

* Carl Ingold Jacobson, Los Angeles, California, City Council member, 1925–33 * Blake R. Van Leer, President of Georgia Tech, United States Army officer and hydraulic process inventor * Charles Wright (botanist), Charles Wright, land surveyor for the railway, before becoming a botanist * Jack Kerouac, novelist * Harry K. McClintock, singer-songwriter, The Big Rock Candy Mountains * Jimmie Rodgers, Father of Country Music, singer-songwriter


See also

* History of rail transportation in California *
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad began in 1888 as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad, a short line serving copper mines in southern Arizona. Over the next few decades, it grew into a 1200-mile system that stretched from Tucumcari, New ...
* Long Wharf (Santa Monica) * Mussel Slough Tragedy * Pacific Fruit Express * Santa Fe–Southern Pacific merger *Southern Pacific 7399 * Southern Pacific 4449 * Southern Pacific Depot (disambiguation), Southern Pacific Depot *
St. Louis Southwestern Railway The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company , known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt", was a Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Tennessee ...
*
Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad (TNO) was an American rail company in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific. Morgan's Louisian ...
* TOPS (Total Operations Processing System), rolling stock management system jointly developed with IBM and Stanford University and used by SP until 1980, still used by British Rail and Rail transport in Great Britain, successor system


Notes

List 1 List 2


References


Further reading

* * * Baughman, James P. ''Charles Morgan and the Development of Southern Transportation'' (Vanderbilt University Press, 1968) * * * * * detailed history * * * * , A standard scholarly history. * * * * * * * A standard scholarly history. * * * * * Werner, George C. "History of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company" ''Handbook of Texas'' (1996
online
* * *


External links


Sphts.org: Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society


* [http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/index.shtml Union Pacific Railroad.com: Union Pacific History]
"Across the Great Salt Lake, The Lucin Cutoff"
– ''1937 article''.
Abandoned Rails.com: History of the Santa Ana and Newport Railroad

This Is My Railroad
(1946 film) {{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Pacific Transportation Company Southern Pacific Railroad, Predecessors of the Union Pacific Railroad Rail lines receiving land grants Railway companies established in 1865 Railway companies disestablished in 1996 Former Class I railroads in the United States Defunct Arizona railroads Defunct California railroads Defunct Louisiana railroads Defunct Nevada railroads Defunct New Mexico railroads Defunct Oregon railroads Defunct Texas railroads Defunct Utah railroads Defunct Kansas railroads Defunct Oklahoma railroads Defunct Colorado railroads Defunct Arkansas railroads Defunct Missouri railroads Defunct Tennessee railroads Defunct Illinois railroads Companies based in San Francisco History of San Francisco History of the Mojave Desert region 3 ft gauge railways in the United States 1865 establishments in California 1996 mergers and acquisitions