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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.
 
 

Robertson Encyclopedia CPRR Map

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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

Ferry Solano
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.

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

 

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Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History:
Volumes: The Desert States
Also available on demand
The Mountain States Oregon & Washington California Total
  Ariz. -Nev. 
-N. M. -Utah
Colo. -Ida. -Mont. -Wyo.      
Published in: 1986 1991 1995 1998  
Pages: 336 432 352 368 1,488
Illustrations: 125 150 145 160 580
Town census (1850-1920): 153 159 112 147 571
Post Office openings: 459 534 300 255 1,548
County estab. dates: 108 195 79 59 441
Military forts w/dates: 73 53 24 29 179
Number of maps: 234 242 248 222 946
Number of companies: 271 326 472 414 1,483

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