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41-604: In 1894 a new 4-4-0 was purchased from Schenectady Locomotive Works . A 19-mile extension was built from Roberts in Hunt County (just south of Quinlan ) to Greenville in 1895. A new 4-4-0 was purchased from Baldwin Locomotive in 1896. On September 1, 1896, trackage rights were granted by the St. Louis Southwestern Railway from Greenville to Commerce . A 38-mile extension was completed between Commerce and Paris in 1897. When

82-495: A friend of Judah, told Leland Stanford that Judah had a feasible route for a railroad across the Sierras, and urged Stanford to meet with Judah. In early 1861, Marsh, Judah and Strong met with Collis P. Huntington , Leland Stanford , Mark Hopkins Jr. and Charles Crocker to obtain financial backing. Papers were filed to incorporate the new company, and on April 30, 1861, the eight of them, along with Lucius Anson Booth, became

123-545: A ledge for the Central Pacific has been repeated and exaggerated by uncritical historians. There is reliable, primary-source evidence stating that surveyors used safety ropes while staking out the route, but nothing about construction workers using ropes. Digging the cut was done downward from the top, and from each horizontal end of the cut. It is conceivable that a safety rope would have been useful when digging an initial footpath, that could then be enlarged into

164-492: A lien upon the railroads and all their fixtures, were repaid in full (and with interest) by the company as and when they became due. Sec. 10 of the 1864 amending Pacific Railroad Act (13 Statutes at Large, 356) additionally authorized the company to issue its own "First Mortgage Bonds" in total amounts up to (but not exceeding) that of the bonds issued by the United States. Such company-issued securities had priority over

205-481: A shelf, but there was no reason to be suspended by ropes to dig or drill into the face of the cut. It wasn't done that way. And, most of the Chinese labor was not hired until later. So, the gangs that did the digging at Cape Horn were probably Irish. Central Pacific Director Charles Marsh had extensive civil engineering experience in projects of this nature, both from planning an earlier proposed railroad into

246-862: Is now the Patterson Memorial Delta County Museum. The Texas Midland depot in Rosser is extant. Texas Midland passenger car #993 is preserved in Terrell. The Texas Midland freight depot is still standing in Terrell. It is located below the Highway 34 bridge, about 100 yards south of the Texas and Pacific (now Union Pacific) main line. Schenectady Locomotive Works The Schenectady Locomotive Works built railroad locomotives from its founding in 1848 through its merger into American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1901. After

287-732: Is still utilized as a car storage track by the Blacklands Railroad. Some Texas Midland trackage remains in Commerce that is used by the Blacklands Railroad for freight car storage. Former Texas Midland trackage also exists in Ennis, Greenville, and Terrell as spurs serving local industry. Track is still down on a spur in Paris that led to the old compress. The Texas Midland Freight Depot remains in Commerce. The Texas Midland depot in Cooper

328-576: The Mariners' Museum at Newport News, Virginia . Alfred A. Hart was the official photographer of the CPRR construction. The Central Pacific's first three locomotives were of the then common 4-4-0 type, although with the American Civil War raging in the east, they had difficulty acquiring engines from eastern builders, who at times only had smaller 4-2-4 or 4-2-2 types available. Until

369-606: The Old Sacramento State Historic Park . Nearly all the company's early correspondence is preserved at Syracuse University , as part of the Collis Huntington Papers collection. It has been released on microfilm (133 reels). The following libraries have the microfilm: University of Arizona at Tucson; and Virginia Commonwealth University at Richmond. Additional collections of manuscript letters are held at Stanford University and

410-745: The Sacramento Valley Railroad from Sacramento to Folsom, California and was working on the California Central Railroad to extend the former from Folsom to Marysville . Marsh, who had already surveyed a potential railroad route between Sacramento and Nevada City, California, a decade earlier, went with Judah into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There they examined the Henness Pass Turnpike Company's route (Marsh

451-697: The 1901 merger, ALCO made the Schenectady plant its headquarters in Schenectady, New York . One of the better-known locomotives to come out of the Schenectady shops was Central Pacific Railroad type 4-4-0 No. 60, the Jupiter (built in September 1868), one of two steam locomotives to take part in the " Golden Spike Ceremony" to celebrate the completion of the First transcontinental railroad . Although

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492-748: The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco to take and subscribe One Million Dollars to the Capital Stock of the Western Pacific Rail Road Company and the Central Pacific Rail Road Company of California and to provide for the payment of the same and other matters relating thereto" (which was later amended by Section Five of the "Compromise Act" of April 4, 1864). On May 19, 1863,

533-499: The CPRR remained a corporate entity until 1959, when it was formally merged into Southern Pacific. (It was reorganized in 1899 as the Central Pacific "Railway".) The original right-of-way is now controlled by the Union Pacific , which bought Southern Pacific in 1996. The Union Pacific-Central Pacific (Southern Pacific) main line followed the historic Overland Route from Omaha, Nebraska , to San Francisco Bay . Chinese labor

574-608: The City and County of San Francisco, and Wilhelm Lowey, Clerk 27 Cal. 655) directing that the Bonds be countersigned and delivered. In 1863 the State legislature's forcing of City and County action became known as the "Dutch Flat Swindle". Critics claimed the CPRR's Big Four intended to build a railroad only as far as Dutch Flat, California , to connect to the Dutch Flat-Donner Pass Wagon Road to monopolize

615-897: The Dutch Flat-Donner Lake Wagon Road Company. Frustrated, Judah headed off for New York via Panama to raise funds to buy out the Big Four from CPRR and build his trans-Sierra railroad. Unfortunately, Judah contracted yellow fever in Panama and died in New York in November 1863. A replica of the Sacramento, California , Central Pacific Railroad passenger station is part of the California State Railroad Museum , located in

656-759: The Interstate Commerce Commission. The Texas Midland was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad on April 1, 1928. The Southern Pacific leased the Texas Midland to the Texas and New Orleans Railroad for operation. The Texas Midland was dissolved on June 30, 1934, when the Southern Pacific sold it to the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. The new 14 mile line built between Greenville and Commerce was abandoned in 1933. Trackage rights were again established over

697-626: The Sierras, and from building ditches and flumes through those mountains for his water company. Construction of the road was financed primarily by 30-year, 6% U.S. government bonds authorized by Sec. 5 of the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 . They were issued at the rate of $ 16,000 ($ 265,000 in 2017 dollars) per mile of tracked grade completed east of the designated base of the Sierra Nevada range near Roseville, CA where California state geologist Josiah Whitney had determined were

738-470: The St. Louis Southwestern between those two points. Texas State Highway 224 now occupies a majority of this abandoned ROW between Greenville and Commerce. The line between Ennis and Kaufman was abandoned in 1942. The line between Kaufman and Greenville was abandoned in 1958. In 1971, floods on the North Sulphur (M.P. 110.77) and Jernigan (M.P. 95.52) Rivers washed out several miles of trackage on what

779-607: The Supreme Court of the State of California ordered them under Writs of Mandamus ( The People of the State of California ex rel the Central Pacific Railroad Company vs. Henry P. Coon, Mayor; Henry M. Hale, Auditor; and Joseph S. Paxson, Treasurer, of the City and County of San Francisco. 25 Cal. 635) and in 1865, a legal judgment against Loewy ( The People ex rel The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California vs. The Board of Supervisors of

820-753: The completion of the Pacific Railroad Surveys in 1855, several national proposals to build a transcontinental railroad failed because of political disputes over slavery . With the secession of the South in 1861, the modernizers in the Republican Party controlled the US Congress . They passed legislation in 1862 authorizing the central rail route with financing in the form of land grants and government railroad bond, which were all eventually repaid with interest. The government and

861-559: The completion of the Transcontinental rail link and the railroad's opening of its own shops, all locomotives had to be purchased from builders in the northeastern U.S. The engines had to be dismantled, loaded on a ship, which would embark on a four-month journey that went around South America's Cape Horn until arriving in Sacramento where the locomotives would be unloaded, re-assembled, and placed in service. Locomotives at

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902-483: The electors of the City and County of San Francisco passed this bond by a vote of 6,329 to 3,116, in a highly controversial Special Election. The City and County's financing of the investment through the issuance and delivery of Bonds was delayed for two years, when Mayor Henry P. Coon , and the County Clerk, Wilhelm Loewy, each refused to countersign the Bonds. It took legal actions to force them to do so: in 1864

943-647: The entire work force. The " Golden spike ", connecting the western railroad to the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory, Utah , was hammered on May 10, 1869. Coast-to-coast train travel in eight days became possible, replacing months-long sea voyages and lengthy, hazardous travel by wagon trains. In 1885 the Central Pacific Railroad was acquired by the Southern Pacific Company as a leased line. Technically

984-524: The first board of directors of the Central Pacific Railroad. Planned by Judah, the Central Pacific Railroad was promoted by Congress by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 which authorized the issuance of government bonds and land grants for each mile that was constructed. Stanford served as president (at the same time he was elected governor of California), Huntington served as vice-president in charge of fundraising and purchasing, Hopkins

1025-479: The geologic start of the Sierras' foothills. Sec. 11 of the Act also provided that the issuance of bonds "shall be treble the number per mile" (to $ 48,000) for tracked grade completed over and within the two mountain ranges (but limited to a total of 300 miles (480 km) at this rate), and "doubled" (to $ 32,000) per mile of completed grade laid between the two mountain ranges. The U.S. Government Bonds, which constituted

1066-473: The line to Paris was completed the Texas Midland had 125 route miles. Schenectady built three 4-4-0s and nine 4-6-0s for the Texas Midland in 1897. Two 2-8-0s were purchased from Alco in 1913. In 1921 the Texas Midland built its own 14 mile line between Greenville and Commerce. A 1923 report in Poor's Railroads showed the Texas Midland owned 16 locomotives, 16 passenger cars and 183 freight cars. The Texas Midland

1107-464: The lucrative mining traffic, and not push the track east of Dutch Flat into the more challenging and expensive High Sierra effort. CPRR's chief engineer, Theodore Judah, also argued against such a road and hence against the Big Four, fearing that its construction would siphon money from CPRR's paramount trans-Sierra railroad effort. Despite Judah's strong objection, the Big Four incorporated in August 1863

1148-447: The original Government Bonds. (Local and state governments also aided the financing, although the City and County of San Francisco did not do so willingly. This materially slowed early construction efforts.) Sec. 3 of the 1862 Act granted the railroads 10 square miles (26 km ) of public land for every mile laid, except where railroads ran through cities and crossed rivers. This grant was apportioned in 5 sections on alternating sides of

1189-640: The original was scrapped in 1909, a full-scale, operating replica was completed in 1979, and now is part of an operational display at the Golden Spike National Historic Site . Following is a list (in serial number order) of preserved Schenectady locomotives built before the ALCO merger. All locations are in the United States unless otherwise noted. Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad ( CPRR )

1230-493: The railroad refused to buy engines from Baldwin, and three former Western Pacific Railroad (which the CP had absorbed in 1870) engines were the only Baldwin engines owned by the Central Pacific. The Central Pacific's dispute with Baldwin remained unresolved until well after the road had been acquired by the Southern Pacific. In the 1870s, the road opened up its own locomotive construction facilities in Sacramento. Central Pacific's 173

1271-644: The railroad, with each section measuring 0.2 miles (320 m) by 10 miles (16 km). These grants were later doubled to 20 square miles (52 km ) per mile of grade by the 1864 Act. Although the Pacific Railroad eventually benefited the Bay Area, the City and County of San Francisco obstructed financing it during the early years of 1863–1865. When Stanford was Governor of California, the Legislature passed on April 22, 1863, "An Act to Authorize

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1312-433: The railroads both shared in the increased value of the land grants, which the railroads developed. The construction of the railroad also secured for the government the economical "safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, and public stores". In the fall of 1860, Charles Marsh , a surveyor, civil engineer and water company owner, met with Theodore Judah , a civil engineer, who had recently built

1353-748: The same, they were also given room and board. In time, CPRR came to see the advantage of good workers employed at low wages: "Chinese labor proved to be Central Pacific's salvation." The difficulties faced by the Central Pacific in the Sierra Nevada – particularly the extensive tunneling required – were far more formidable than those encountered by the Union Pacific Railroad in the Rocky Mountains. The story that Chinese workers were suspended in wicker baskets over vertical granite cliffs at Cape Horn, California, to drill and blast

1394-510: The time came from many manufacturers, such as Cooke , Schenectady , Mason, Rogers, Danforth, Norris, Booth, and McKay & Aldus, among others. The railroad had been on rather unfriendly terms with the Baldwin Locomotive Works , one of the more well-known firms. It is not clear as to the cause of this dispute, though some attribute it to the builder insisting on cash payment (though this has yet to be verified). Consequently,

1435-541: Was a founding director of that company). They measured elevations and distances, and discussed the possibility of a transcontinental railroad. Both were convinced that it could be done. In December 1860 or early January 1861, Marsh met with Judah and Daniel Strong in Strong's drug store in Dutch Flat, California , to discuss the project, which they called the Central Pacific Railroad of California. James Bailey,

1476-560: Was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California , to complete most of the western part of the " First transcontinental railroad " in North America. Incorporated in 1861, CPRR ceased independent operations in 1885 when the railroad was leased to the Southern Pacific Railroad . Its assets were formally merged into Southern Pacific in 1959. Following

1517-518: Was called the Paris Branch. Formal abandonment of this line was completed in 1975. A portion of track was left in place from Mile Post 86.79 (beginning of Paris Branch) in Commerce east to Mile Post 93.50 near Horton and utilized for car storage into the early 1980s. The rails were then removed east of Hunt County Road 4513 leaving a short stub in Commerce that was reconnected directly to the former St. Louis Southwestern C-branch main line track and

1558-536: Was part of a through route between St. Louis and Galveston. The line connected with the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad at Paris and with the Houston and Texas Central at Ennis. A large portion of the freight traffic originated on the Texas Midland was cotton grown in the Blacklands Prairies region of East Texas. The Texas Midland placed its first all steel box car in service in 1900. The Texas Midland

1599-665: Was the first railroad to use burnt gumbo as ballast. Texas Midland passenger equipment was the most luxurious in Texas. The Texas Midland operated the first café lounge and observation sleepers in the southwest. President Green cooperated with the federal government in developing a model demonstration cotton farm near Terrell. This model farm was in response to the Boll Weevil infestation of the cotton crop. The farm taught better cultivation and promoted new varieties of cotton. President Green paid his freight solicitors on commission rather than salary. This practice ended when not approved by

1640-652: Was the most vital source for constructing the railroad. Most of the railroad workers in the west were Chinese, as they could be hired at a lower cost to do the difficult work. Fifty Cantonese emigrant workers were hired by the Central Pacific Railroad in February 1865 on a trial basis, and soon more and more Cantonese emigrants were hired. Working conditions were harsh, and Chinese were compensated less than their white counterparts, leading to far less white workers being hired. Chinese laborers were paid thirty-one dollars each month ($ 1,051 in 2023), and while white workers were paid

1681-536: Was treasurer and Crocker was in charge of construction. They called themselves "The Associates," but became known as " The Big Four ." Construction began in 1863 when the first rails were laid in Sacramento. Construction proceeded in earnest in 1865 when James Harvey Strobridge, the head of the construction work force, hired the first Cantonese emigrant workers at Crocker's suggestion. The construction crew grew to include 12,000 Chinese laborers by 1868, when they breached Donner summit and constituted eighty percent of

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