Editing Transcontinental railroad (section)

====Subsequent transcontinental routes====

* Almost 12 years after [[Promontory Summit]], the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] (SP) constructed the second transcontinental railroad, building eastwards through the [[Gadsden Purchase]], which had been acquired from Mexico in 1854 largely with the intention of providing a route for a railroad connecting California with the Southern states. This line was completed with milestones and ceremonies in 1881 and 1883:
** March 8, 1881: the SP met the Rio Grande, Mexico and Pacific Railroad (a subsidiary of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]]) with a "silver spike" ceremony at [[Deming, New Mexico]], connecting [[Atchison, Kansas]], to Los Angeles.<ref name="Myrick_1990">Myrick, David, ''New Mexico's Railroads, A Historic Survey'', University of New Mexico Press 1990. {{ISBN|0-8263-1185-7}}</ref>
** December 15, 1881: the SP met the [[Texas and Pacific Railway]] (T&P) at [[Sierra Blanca, Texas]], connecting eastern Texas to [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]].
** January 12, 1883: the SP completed its own southern section, meeting its subsidiary [[Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway]] at the Pecos River in Texas, and linking [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] to Los Angeles.
* In [[Colorado]], the [[3 ft gauge railways|3-foot gauge]] [[Denver & Rio Grande]] (D&RG) extended its route from [[Denver]] via [[Pueblo, Colorado|Pueblo]] across the [[Rocky Mountains]] to [[Grand Junction, Colorado|Grand Junction]] in 1882. In central [[Utah]], the D&RG acquired a number of independent [[narrow gauge]] companies, which were incorporated into the first (1881-1889) [[Utah Division (D&RGW)|Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway]] (D&RGW). Tracks were extended north through [[Salt Lake City, Utah|Salt Lake City]], while simultaneously building south and eastward toward Grand Junction. The D&RG and the D&RGW were linked on March 30, 1883, the extension to [[Ogden, Utah|Ogden]] (where it met the Central Pacific) was completed on May 14, 1883, and through traffic between Denver and Ogden began a few days later. The [[break of gauge]] made direct interchange of [[rolling stock]] with [[standard gauge]] railroads at both ends of this [[bridge line]] impossible for several years. The D&RG in 1887 began rebuilding its mainline in standard gauge, including a new route and tunnel at [[Tennessee Pass (Colorado)|Tennessee Pass]]. The first D&RGW was reincorporated as the [[Utah Division (D&RGW)|Rio Grande Western]] (RGW) in June 1889 and immediately began the conversion of track gauge. Standard gauge operations linking Ogden and Denver were completed on November 15, 1890.<ref name="Beebe_1963">[[Lucius Beebe|Beebe, Lucius]] and [[Charles Clegg|Clegg, Charles]], "Rio Grande, Mainline of the Rockies", Howell-North Books 1962.</ref>
* The [[Atlantic and Pacific Railroad]] completed its route connecting the AT&SF at [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], via [[Flagstaff, Arizona]], to the Southern Pacific at [[Needles, California]], on August 9, 1883. The SP line into [[Barstow, California|Barstow]] was leased by the A&P in 1884 (and purchased in 1911); this gave the AT&SF (the A&P's parent company) a direct route into Southern California.<ref name="Myrick_1990" /> This route now forms the western portion of [[BNSF]]'s [[Southern Transcon]].
* The [[Northern Pacific Railway]] (NP) completed the fifth independent transcontinental railroad on August 22, 1883, linking [[Chicago]] with [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]]. The [[Northern Pacific Railroad Completion Site, 1883|Completion Ceremony]] was held on September 8, 1883, with former [[U.S. President]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]] contributing to driving the Final Spike.
* The [[California Southern Railroad]] (chartered January 10, 1882) was completed from [[National City, California|National City]] on [[San Diego Bay]] via Temecula Cañon to Colton and [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]] in September, 1883, and extended through the Cajon Pass to Barstow, a junction of the [[Atlantic and Pacific Railroad]], in November, 1885. In September, 1885, the line of the Southern Pacific from Colton to Los Angeles, a distance of {{convert|58|mi|km|adj=on|abbr=on|order=flip}}, had been leased by the California Central with equal rights and privileges thus allowing the Santa Fe's Transcontinental route to be completed by the connection with the California Southern and A&PRR. The SP grade was used until the completion of the California Central's own line between San Bernardino and Los Angeles in June, 1887, a distance of {{convert|62.84|mi|km|adj=on|abbr=on|order=flip}}, which was part of the old Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad, which had been acquired by purchase. In August, 1888, the California Central completed its Coast Division south from Los Angeles to a junction with the California Southern Railroad near Oceanside, a distance of {{convert|80.90|mi|km|adj=on|abbr=on|order=flip}}, and these two divisions comprised the main line of the California Central, forming, in connection with the California Southern, a direct line between Southern California and the East by way of the Atlantic and Pacific and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroads.<ref>"Eleventh Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of California for the year ending December 31, 1890" Sacramento: California State Office, J.D. Young, Superintendent of State Printing, 1890. p. 21</ref>
* The [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] was built, without federal aid, by [[James J. Hill]] in 1893; it stretched from [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]] to [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]].
* The [[Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific]] reached [[Santa Rosa, New Mexico]], from the east in late 1901, shortly before the [[El Paso and Northeastern Railway|El Paso & Northeastern]] arrived from the southwest. The two were connected on February 1, 1902, thus forming an additional link between the Midwest and southern California.<ref name="Myrick_1990" /> Through passenger service was provided by the ''[[Golden State Limited]]'' (Chicago—Kansas City—Tucumcari—El Paso—Los Angeles) jointly operated by the Rock Island and the Southern Pacific (EP&NE's successor) from 1902 to 1968.
* The [[San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad]] completed its line connecting Los Angeles through [[Las Vegas]] to Salt Lake City on May 1, 1905. Through passenger service from Chicago to Los Angeles was provided by Union Pacific's ''[[Los Angeles Limited]]'' from 1905 to 1954, and the ''[[City of Los Angeles (train)|City of Los Angeles]]'' from 1936 to 1971.
* The [[Western Pacific Railway]] (WP), financed by the Denver & Rio Grande on behalf of the [[Gould transcontinental system|Gould System]], completed its new line (the [[Feather River Route]]) from Oakland to Ogden in 1909, in direct competition with the Southern Pacific's existing route. Through passenger service (Oakland-Salt Lake City-Denver-Chicago) was provided by the ''[[Exposition Flyer]]'' 1939 to 1949 and its successor, the ''[[California Zephyr]]'' 1949 to 1970, both jointly operated by the WP, the [[D&RGW]] and the [[Chicago, Burlington & Quincy]].
* In 1909, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul (or [[Milwaukee Road]]) completed a privately built Pacific extension to Seattle. On completion, the line was renamed the [[Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific]]. Although the Pacific Extension was privately funded, predecessor roads did benefit from the [[Pacific Railway Acts|federal land grant]] act, so it cannot be said to have been built without federal aid.
* [[John D. Spreckels]] completed his privately funded [[San Diego and Arizona Railway]] in 1919, thereby creating a direct link (via connection with the Southern Pacific lines) between [[San Diego, California]] and the [[Eastern United States]]. The railroad stretched {{convert|148|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} from San Diego to [[Calexico, California]], of which {{convert|44|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} were south of the border in [[Mexico]].
* In 1993, [[Amtrak]]'s ''[[Sunset Limited]]'' daily railroad train was extended eastward to [[Miami, Florida]], later rerouted to [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], making it the first regularly scheduled transcontinental [[passenger train]] route in the United States to be operated by a single company. [[Hurricane Katrina]] cut this rail route in [[Louisiana]] in 2005. The train now runs from Los Angeles to New Orleans.
* For a time in 1997 and 1998, Amtrak effectively operated the Washington-Chicago ''[[Capitol Limited (Amtrak train)|Capitol Limited]]'' and Chicago-Los Angeles ''[[Southwest Chief]]'' as a single train.