Western Pacific Railroad

Western Pacific Railroad

File:Western Pacific Herald.png
Overview
Headquarters	San Francisco, California
Reporting mark	WP
Locale	California, Nevada, and Utah
Dates of operation	1903–1983
Technical
Track gauge	4' 8.5"

The Western Pacific Railroad was a railroad in the United States. Its AAR reporting mark was WP. It is now part of Union Pacific Railroad (UP).

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.

Western Pacific Railroad was acquired in 1983 by Union Pacific Corporation, the owner of its' long-time rival, Union Pacific Railroad (UP).

In 1983, UP was wholly owned by Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) which also owned Overnite Transportation, a major less-than-truckload shipping carrier. Union Pacific divested itself of Overnite Trucking through an IPO in late 2003 but still owns a sizable stake.

Union Pacific's route map covers most of the central and western United States, westward of Chicago and New Orleans. It has achieved this size thanks to purchasing a large number of other railroads in addition to Western Pacific. Notable purchases include the Missouri Pacific, Chicago and Northwestern and Southern Pacific.

Its chief competitor is the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), which covers much of the same territory.

Union Pacific has, of this writing, over 33,000 route miles (53,000 km) of track, 47,000 employees, over 7,000 locomotives and over 90,000 freight cars.

See also

• Union Pacific Railroad
• Central Pacific Railroad
• Southern Pacific Railroad
• California Zephyr

References

• Western Pacific Railroad Historical Society
• WP Lives website; Western Pacific History
• National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin
• Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History
• Union Pacific Railroad
• Thousands of photographs from as early as 1860 taken by employees of the Union Pacific railroad
• Union Pacific Historical Society
• Union Pacific Railroad 19th Century Stereoview Exhibit (at the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum)