The Southern Pacific Transportation Company (reporting mark SP), earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or (from the railroad's initials) Espee, was an American railroad. It was absorbed in 1988 by the company that controlled the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, and eight years later became part of the Union Pacific Railroad.
The railroad was founded as a land holding company in 1865, later acquiring the Central Pacific Railroad by lease. By 1900, the Southern Pacific Company had grown into a major railroad system that incorporated many smaller companies, such as the Texas and New Orleans Railroad and Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad. It extended from New Orleans through Texas to El Paso, across New Mexico and through Tucson, to Los Angeles, throughout most of California, including San Francisco and Sacramento. The Central Pacific lines extended eastward across Nevada to Ogden, Utah, and reached north throughout and across Oregon to Portland. Other subsidiaries eventually included the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt), the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at 328 miles (528 km), the 1,331 miles (2,142 km) Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico, and a variety of narrow gauge routes.
In 1929 the SP held 13,848 miles (22,286 km) on its own, not including Cotton Belt, whose circa-1980 purchase of the Golden State Route nearly doubled its size to 3,085 miles (4,965 km), bringing total SP mileage to around 13,508 miles (21,739 km).
By the 1980s route mileage had dropped to 10,423 miles (16,774 km), mainly due to the pruning of branch lines. In 1988 the Southern Pacific was taken over by D&RGW parent Rio Grande Industries. The combined railroad kept the Southern Pacific name due to its brand recognition in the railroad industry and with customers of both constituent railroads. Along with the addition of the SPCSL Corporation route from Chicago to St. Louis, the total length of the combined D&RGW/SP/SSW system was 15,959 miles (25,684 km).
By 1996 years of financial problems had dropped SP's mileage to 13,715 miles (22,072 km), and it was taken over by the Union Pacific Railroad.
The SP was the defendant in the landmark 1886 United States Supreme Court case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad which is often interpreted as having established certain corporate rights under the Constitution of the United States.
Southern Pacific founded important hospitals in San Francisco, Tucson, and elsewhere.
Read more about Southern Pacific Transportation Company: Timeline, Locomotive Paint and Appearance, Passenger Train Service, Notable Accidents, Preserved Locomotives, Ferry Service, Notable Employees
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