Central Pacific Railroad - Definition and Overview

The Governor Stanford locomotive

The Central Pacific Railroad, (later to become the Southern Pacific Railroad), was planned by Theodore Judah and financed mostly through the efforts of "The Big Four" (who also called themselves, The Associates), who were Sacramento, California businessmen Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins. It was created to build the First Transcontinental Railroad. Alfred A. Hart was the official photographer of the CPRR construction.

Timeline

• 1862: President Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, which authorized the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific to build a railroad to the Pacific Ocean.
• January 8 1863: Ground is broken on the Central Pacific's first day of construction in Sacramento, CA
• June 3 1864: The first revenue train on the Central Pacific operates between Sacramento, CA and Newcastle, CA
• April 28 1869: Track crews on the Central Pacific lay 10 miles of track in one day. This is the longest stretch of track that has been built in one day to date.
• May 10 1869: The Central Pacific and Union Pacific tracks meet in Promontory, UT.
• May 15 1869: The first transcontinental trains are run over the new line to Sacramento, CA.
• November 8 1869: The Central Pacific completes the final leg of the route, connecting Sacramento to San Francisco.

External link

• Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum (http://CPRR.org)