AZ Railroads Timelines

Most of the information in the timelines was extracted from Wikipedia and many entries have links to that site. 

Southern Pacific RR Timeline

• Southern Pacific Railroad, one of the great American railroad systems, established in 1861 by the “big four” of western railroad building—Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker.  

• June 1873: The Southern Pacific builds its first locomotive at the railroad's Sacramento shops as CP's 2nd number 55, a 4-4-0.[6]

• 1877: Southern Pacific tracks from Los Angeles cross the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona.  

• March 20, 1880: The first Southern Pacific train reaches Tucson, Arizona.[8]

• May 19, 1881: Southern Pacific tracks reach El Paso, Texas, beating the rival Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to El Paso.[8]

• December 15, 1881: Southern Pacific (under the GH&SA RR) meets the Texas and Pacific at Sierra Blanca, Texas in Hudspeth County, Texas getting close to completing the nation's second transcontinental railroad.[citation needed]

• 1901: Union Pacific Railroad acquires control of Southern Pacific. In the following years, many SP operating procedures and equipment purchases follow patterns established by Union Pacific.[15]

• 1913: The Supreme Court of the United States orders the Union Pacific to sell all of its stock in the Southern Pacific.

Timeline for Other Railroads

While the Southern Pacific RR was the most prominent influence on Tucson and especially Armory Park, it was not the only railroad connecting to Tucson. The old El Paso and Southwestern Railroad right of way can still be seen in the City park just east of interstate 10. 

• El Paso and Southwestern Railroad

  • Arizona and New Mexico Railway 1883–1935

    • Clifton and Southern Pacific Railway 1883 (Narrow Gauge)

    • Clifton and Lordsburg Railway

  • Arizona and South Eastern Railroad 1888–1902

  • Mexico and Colorado Railroad 1908–1910

  • Southwestern Railroad of Arizona 1900–1901

  • Southwestern Railroad of New Mexico 1901–1902

• New Mexico and Arizona Railroad 1882–1897 ATSF Subsidiary, 1897–1934 Non-operating SP subsidiary

• Phoenix and Eastern Railroad 1903–1934

• Tucson and Nogales Railroad 1910–1934