By 1990 UP was almost as big as BN. The proposed Southern Pacific-Santa Fe merger would have created a three-railroad ...

Compared to the likes of the Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Western Pacific Railroad can be considered the "runt of the litter" for Class I U.S. railroading in the Far West.

There was just one problem when railroad executive Cyrus K. Holliday came up with the idea to build the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway back in the 1800s. The train, which originated in the ...