Western Pacific Railroad

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Western Pacific Railroad
logo_filename=Western Pacific Railroad logo, color.jpg
logo_size=151
old_gauge=
marks=WP
locale=California, Nevada, and Utah
start_year=1903
end_year=1983
successor_line=Union Pacific
hq_city=San Francisco, CaliforniaThe Western Pacific Railroad reporting mark|WP was a Class I railroad in the United States. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP). It was the second railroad company to use this name. The original Western Pacific Railroad was established in 1865 to build the western-most portion of the Transcontinental Railroad between San Jose, California, and Sacramento, California. This company was absorbed into the Central Pacific Railroad in 1870.

History

Founded in 1903, the Western Pacific Railroad was built as a portion of the Gould family's efforts to create a transcontinental railroad in the late 19th and early 20th century.

One of the American West’s most popular railroads, the WP attracted rail enthusiasts from around the world. From 1910 to 1982, its diverse route provided scenic views of the San Francisco Bay Area, the mountain communities of the famous Feather River Route, and the deserts of Nevada and Utah. The Western Pacific originated in 1900 as the Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad. The railroad which would become the Western Pacific was financed and built by the
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, under the direction of George Jay Gould I, to provide a standard gauge track connection to the Pacific Coast. In 1909, it became the last railroad completed into California.

In 1931, WP opened a second mainline north out of the Feather River Canyon to reach the Great Northern Railway in northern California. This route, called the "Highline", joined the Oakland to Salt Lake City mainline at a junction known as the Keddie Wye. Considered the heart of the railroad, this unique structure featured two steel trestles and a tunnel, all forming a triangle of intersecting track.

One of the more well-known aspects of the Western Pacific was its operation of the "California Zephyr" passenger train, in conjunction with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The WP handled the "Silver Lady" from Oakland, California, to Salt Lake City, Utah from 1949-1970.

Since it competed directly with the long-entrenched and much larger Southern Pacific Railroad, the WP became a company known both for its innovation and for wringing every dollar out of an investment. It was the first large railroad in the West to eliminate steam locomotives in favor of diesels, then kept some of these early diesels running in regular service long after they had been retired elsewhere. It embraced computerized dispatching, concrete crossties and innovative equipment to protect customer shipments, at the same time fielding antique wooden cabooses and rebuilding outmoded freight cars.

The Western Pacific owned several connecting short-line railroads. The largest and most well-known was the Sacramento Northern Railway, which at one time reached from San Francisco to Chico, California. Others included the Tidewater Southern Railway, the Central California Traction, the Indian Valley Railroad and the Deep Creek Railroad.

The Western Pacific was acquired in 1983 by Union Pacific Corporation, which would eventually purchase its long-time rival, the Southern Pacific Railroad, in 1996. In July 2005, Union Pacific unveiled a brand new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1983, painted as an homage to the Western Pacific as part of a new heritage program.

References

* [http://www.wplives.org Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola California]
* [http://www.wprrhs.org/wphistory.html Western Pacific Railroad Historical Society]
* [http://www.wplives.com WP Lives website; Western Pacific History]
* [http://www.tidewatersouthern.com WP Subsidiary Tidewater Southern Website]
* [http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ggg9y/home.html WP Subsidiary Sacramento Northern Website]
* [http://www.trainweb.org/tractionco WP Subsidiary Central California Traction Website]

ee also

* "California Zephyr"
* Central Pacific Railroad
* Southern Pacific Railroad
* Union Pacific Railroad
* Western Refrigerator Line
* Western Pacific Railroad Museum