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A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies along a continuous route. Although Europe is crisscrossed by railways, the railroads within Europe are usually not considered transcontinental, with the possible exception of the historic Orient Express. Transcontinental railroads helped open up interior regions of continents not previously colonized to exploration and settlement that would not otherwise have been feasible. In many cases they also formed the backbones of cross-country passenger and freight transportation networks. Many of them continue to have an important role in freight transportation and some like the Trans-Siberian Railway even have passenger trains going from one end to the other.
Tucumcari is a city in and the county seat of Quay County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 5,278 at the 2020 census. Tucumcari was founded in 1901, two years before Quay County was established.
The Southern Pacific was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.
The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The then-modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as "The Train of the Stars" because it often carried celebrities between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.
The City of Los Angeles was a streamlined passenger train between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California via Omaha, Nebraska, and Ogden, Utah. Between Omaha and Los Angeles it ran on the Union Pacific Railroad; east of Omaha it ran on the Chicago and North Western Railway until October 1955 and on the Milwaukee Road thereafter. The train had number 103 westbound and number 104 eastbound.
The Chief was an American long-distance named passenger train of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that ran between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. The Santa Fe initiated the Chief in 1926 to supplement the California Limited. In 1936 the Super Chief was introduced, after the Super Chief was relaunched in 1948 with daily departures from LA and Chicago it gradually eclipsed the Chief as the standard bearer of the Santa Fe because of its timetable oriented to the Raton Pass transit. For some the Chief and San Francisco Chief as deluxe integrated trains with both Pullman sleepers and fully reclining coach seating with all facilities; lounges and pleasure domes, available to all passengers were at least equal flagships better suited to the business and executive market. From the mid 1960s the super Chief was only a small entirely separate section of the El Capitan seated vista train, the El Capitan passengers having no access to the Super Chiefs expensive eateries and bars which selling point was exclusion and service. The Chief was discontinued in 1968 due to high operating costs, competition from airlines, and the loss of Postal Office contracts.
The Golden State was a named passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles from 1902–1968 on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Company (SP) and predecessors. It was named for California, the “Golden State”.
The Choctaw Rocket was a named passenger train operated by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad between Memphis, Tennessee, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, and Amarillo. Initially designated as train No. 51 (westbound) and train No. 52 (eastbound), it was the first diesel powered streamliner to operate out of Memphis, Tennessee, as well as the first streamliner service in the state of Arkansas.
The Olympian and its successor the Olympian Hiawatha were passenger trains operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. The Olympian operated from 1911 to 1947 and was, along with its running mate the Columbian, the first all-steel train to operate in the Pacific Northwest. The streamlined Olympian Hiawatha operated from 1947 to 1961 and was one of several Milwaukee Road trains to carry the name "Hiawatha". The Olympian Hiawatha was designed by industrial designer Brooks Stevens and included the distinctive glassed-in "Skytop" observation-sleeping cars. It later featured full-length "Super Dome" cars.
The Challengers were named passenger trains on the Union Pacific Railroad and the Chicago and North Western Railway. The economy service ran between Chicago, Illinois, and the West Coast of the United States. The trains had full Pullman service and coach seating and were an attempt to draw Depression-Era riders back to the rails. Food service was advertised as "three meals for under a dollar a day."
The Golden Rocket was a proposed named passenger train of the Rock Island (CRIP) and Southern Pacific (SP) railroads. Planned in the late 1940s, Southern Pacific eventually pulled out of the agreement and service never commenced.
The Arizona Limited was an extra-fare streamliner train operated by the Southern Pacific and Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad from 1940 until 1942 on the Golden State route from Chicago, Illinois, to Phoenix, Arizona, via Tucumcari, New Mexico. It was aimed at travelers wanting to get away from winter weather conditions. Like the Santa Fe Chief, the Arizona Limited was streamlined in steam on the Southern Pacific. The Rock Island used both pre-war EMD E6 and Alco-GE DL103b, DL-105, and DL-107 locomotives out of Chicago. These had the maroon and silver "Rocket" liveries. The train itself was painted in the pre-war Pullman two-tone gray livery.
The Los Angeles Limited was a named passenger train in the United States. It was operated by the Union Pacific Railroad from 1905 to 1954.
The Central Midland Railway, a division of Progressive Rail Incorporated of Lakeville, Minnesota, was a short line railroad in the U.S. state of Missouri, operating under lease of the former St. Louis Subdivision of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. CMR operated the easternmost 60 miles (97 km) of the 298-mile (480-km) Rock Island line which used to stretch from St. Louis to Kansas City, Missouri. CMR's operation of the line was performed under two separate leases from the Union Pacific Railroad and the A&K Railroad Materials Corp, respectively, from Overland, Missouri - a suburb of St. Louis, to a location just west of Union, Missouri. CMR's first leased-segment was Union Pacific's "Lackland Subdivision" which extends from "Rock Island Junction" near the intersection of Page Avenue and I-170 in Overland to a location on the north-side of Creve Coeur Lake in Maryland Heights, Missouri, known as "Vigus." The second leased-segment was owned by A&K Railroad Materials and extends from Vigus to just east of Beaufort, Missouri, with active service terminating at Union.
The El Paso and Northeastern Railway (EP&NE) was a short line railroad that was built around the beginning of the twentieth century to help connect the industrial and commercial center at El Paso, Texas, with physical resources and the United States' national transportation hub in Chicago. Founded by Charles Eddy, the EP&NE was the primary railroad in a system organized under the New Mexico Railway and Coal Company (NMRy&CCo), a holding company which owned several other railroads and also owned mining and industrial properties served by the lines.
The Imperial was a night train of the Rock Island Rail Road and the Southern Pacific. It operated from Chicago to Los Angeles, via Kansas City (Missouri) and Tucumcari.
Tucumcari Union Station is a train station in Tucumcari, New Mexico, United States. The current station building was erected in 1926. Today, the Tucumcari Railroad Museum occupies the station building. It formerly served the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Transportation Company as a division point and transfer stop on the joined transcontinental services until these trains were discontinued in 1968.
The Californian was a passenger train of the Southern Pacific on its route between Los Angeles and El Paso, Texas, and over connecting lines as far as Chicago. Trains numbered 1 and 2 with standard and tourist sleepers from Los Angeles began service on January 3, 1910, over the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad (EPSW) from El Paso to Tucumcari, New Mexico, and thence over the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad initially to Kansas City, and extended to Chicago on February 26, 1915. Southern Pacific assumed control of the EPSW in 1924. The great depression caused cancellation of the Californian on September 21, 1930, retaining service as far as Calexico, California, as the Imperial trains 13 and 14. A Californian of modern economy chair cars and tourist sleepers resumed service between Los Angeles and Chicago on January 3, 1937, as trains numbered 43 and 44. On May 18, 1947, trains 43 and 44 were renamed the Passenger as far as Tucumcari, connecting with Rock Island trains 111 and 112 to Oklahoma City and Memphis, Tennessee. Trains 43 and 44 between Los Angeles and Tucumcari were renamed the Cherokee from March 13, 1949, until the name was dropped when the train became head-end cars only with a single rider coach on July 8, 1951. Trains 43 and 44 last ran on January 9, 1955.
References
- ↑ Beebe, Lucius (1963). The Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads. Berkeley, California: Howell-North Books. pp. 620–621.
Passenger trains of the Southern Pacific | ||
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| Named trains |  | |
| Daylights | ||
| Overland Route | ||
Named trains of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad | ||
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| Rockets |
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| Other named trains |
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