Golden State (train) - Routes

Routes

The Southern Pacific line from Los Angeles to El Paso was completed in May 1881; however, from 1902–1924, the Golden State ran on the combined line of the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad from Tucumcari, New Mexico to El Paso and the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad (EP&SW) from El Paso through Douglas, Arizona to Tucson where the Southern Pacific (SP) carried the train to Los Angeles.

The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad was a rail line established by the Phelps Dodge copper interests to carry their freight to and from Bisbee, Arizona and provide competition to the well-established Southern Pacific. The EP&SW later absorbed the EP&NE, which was originally built north from El Paso by Col. Charles Eddy, or Eddy County, New Mexico fame.

The route between Chicago and Kansas City and Tucumcari remained the same throughout the life of the train; however, significant differences in the routing on the Southern Pacific occurred. After the merger of the EP&SW and the SP in 1924, the train took different routes east of Tucson towards Benson. The SP and EP&SW tracks were operated as a joint line but eastbound and westbound trains used different tracks.

The Rock Island, with their far flung mid-western rail lines, had many feeder lines that were used for both freight and passenger service to southern California. One of these was the ‘Choctaw Route’ from Memphis though Little Rock, Oklahoma City and Amarillo to Tucumcari, New Mexico. This rail line was completed in 1900 to Amarillo, Texas and to Tucumcari, after purchase by the Rock Island, by 1902. Over the years, connections were made with through sleeping cars from Memphis and Little Rock to Los Angeles, generally connecting with the Golden State. An interesting side bar to this routing as the fact that the Rock Island actually owned the rail line to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, 59 miles (95 km) south of Tucumcari, but since the routes intersected at Tucumcari, this is where the change from Rock Island to Southern Pacific crews and locomotives were made.

In another interesting schedule and routing, the Rock Island main line met the Colorado and Southern and Fort Worth and Denver City main line at Dalhart, Texas. This Dallas-Denver line was the route of the Texas Zephyr and other trains. For many years, connections could be made here for travelers wishing to go north and south between El Paso and Denver, the only other route being the Santa Fe to Albuquerque and requiring a second change of trains at La Junta, Colorado.

As part of the merger agreement between the EP&SW and the SP in 1924, the SP agreed to build a main line through Phoenix, which, until that time, had been served only by a branch line from Maricopa. The main line was completed by building a connection from a point near Picacho through Coolidge to Chandler, Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix thence on existing tracks to Buckeye with a new extension built to Wellton, where the new line connected with original SP main. This alternate route is no longer in service between Roll and Buckeye, AZ although the tracks remain in place.

With these alternatives in place, the SP ran four or five trains a day between Los Angeles and El Paso. Traditionally the Argonaut, the secondary Los Angeles-New Orleans train, ran via Gila Bend (the original 1880 Southern Pacific main line) while the others trains ran via Phoenix. Until 1961, all the major trains ran via the EP&SW Douglas line while only an accommodation train (numbers 43 and 44, formerly the Californian) ran via the original SP (“stormy” or “north”) line via Benson, Wilcox, Lordsburg and Deming. After 1961, all trains were routed via the north line.

After 1961, the Golden State was routed on the former SP line between El Paso and Benson, bypassing Douglas and environs. The former EP&SW route between Douglas and El Paso was abandoned in 1961 and the tracks removed in 1963.