The story
History
Union Pacific in the 19th century
The original company, the "Union Pacific Rail Road", was incorporated on July 1, 1862, under the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. President Abraham Lincoln had approved the act, which authorized railroad construction from the Missouri River to the Pacific to ensure the stability of the Union throughout the American Civil War, but construction was not completed until after the conflict's conclusion.
Under the original bill that formed the basis of the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act, the Union Pacific Railroad was to be built from the Nevada–Utah border in the west to the Colorado–Kansas border in the east. However, due to intense lobbying by Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, the eastern terminal was moved to a location where the Union Pacific could link up with the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad in Iowa. Following the Act's passage, commissioners appointed by Congress began selling stock in the federally chartered Union Pacific Railroad Company. By 1863, Durant had organized the purchase of 2,000 shares, the prerequisite amount of stock sold in order to begin the railroad's construction.
The resulting track ran westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to meet in Utah the Central Pacific Railroad line, which had been constructed eastward from Sacramento, California. The combined Union Pacific–Central Pacific line became known as the first transcontinental railroad and later the Overland Route.
The line was constructed primarily by Irish labor who had learned their craft during the recent Civil War. Under the guidance of its dominant stockholder, Thomas C. Durant, the namesake of the city of Durant, Iowa, the first rails were laid in Omaha. The two lines were joined at Promontory Summit, Utah, 53 miles (85 km) west of Ogden on May 10, 1869, creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America. Leland Stanford, founder of the Central Pacific Railroad which itself eventually was merged with Union Pacific, himself drove the golden spike, inscribed with the words "to span the continent and wed the oceans."Subsequently, the UP purchased three Mormon-built, narrow-gauge roads: the Utah Central Railroad extending south from Ogden to Salt Lake City, the Utah Southern Railroad extending south from Salt Lake City into the Utah Valley, and the Utah Northern Railroad extending north from Ogden into Idaho.
The UP also purchased the Utah Eastern Railroad and Utah Western Railroad, both Mormon narrow-gauge lines.
The original UP was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872. As detailed by the New York Sun, Union Pacific's largest construction company, Crédit Mobilier, had overcharged Union Pacific; the railroad would then pass the inflated costs on to the United States government. To convince the federal government to accept the increased costs, Crédit Mobilier had bribed multiple congressmen. Several prominent UP board members (including Durant) had been involved in the scheme. The ensuing financial crisis of 1873 led to a credit crunch, but not bankruptcy.
As boom followed bust, the Union Pacific continued to expand. A new company, with dominant stockholder Jay Gould, purchased the old on January 24, 1880. Gould already owned the Kansas Pacific (originally called the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, though in essence a separate railroad), and sought to merge it with UP. Through that merger, the original "Union Pacific Rail Road" transformed into "Union Pacific Railway".
Extending towards the Pacific Northwest, Union Pacific built or purchased local lines to reach Portland, Oregon. Towards Colorado, it built the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway: a system combining narrow-gauge trackage into the heart of the Rockies and a standard gauge line that ran south from Denver, across New Mexico, and into Texas.
Read the full text
The Union Pacific Railway would later declare bankruptcy during the Panic of 1893. The resulting corporate reorganization reversed Gould's name change: Union Pacific "Railway" merged into a new Union Pacific "Railroad".
Union Pacific in the 20th century
In the early 20th century, Union Pacific's focus shifted from expansion to internal improvement. Recognizing that farmers in the Central and Salinas Valleys of California grew produce far in excess of local markets, Union Pacific worked with its rival Southern Pacific to develop a spoilage-resistant rail-based transport system. These efforts culminated in the 1906 founding of Pacific Fruit Express, soon to be the world's largest lessee of refrigerated railcars.
Meanwhile, Union Pacific worked to construct a faster, and more direct substitute for the original climb to Promontory Summit. In 1904, the Lucin cutoff opened, reducing curvature and grades. The original route would eventually be stripped of track in 1942 to provide war scrap.
To attract customers during the Great Depression, Union Pacific's chairman W. Averell Harriman simultaneously sought to "spruce up" the quality of its rolling stock and to make its unique locations more desirable travel destinations. The first effort resulted in the purchase of the first streamlined train: the M-10000. The latter resulted in the Sun Valley ski resort in central Idaho; it opened in 1936 and finally was sold in 1964. Despite the fact that the M-10000 and its successors were among the first diesel locomotives, Union Pacific completed dieselization relatively late. In 1944, UP finally received delivery of its last steam locomotive: Union Pacific 844.
As the 20th century waned, Union Pacific recognized—like most railroads—that remaining a regional railroad would only lead to bankruptcy. On December 31, 1925, UP and its subsidiaries operated 9,834 miles (15,826 km) routes and 15,265 miles (24,567 km) tracks; in 1980, these numbers had remained roughly constant (9,266 route-miles and 15,647 track-miles). But in 1982, UP acquired the Missouri Pacific and Western Pacific railroads, and 1988, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas. By 1993, Union Pacific had doubled its system to 17,385 miles (27,978 km) routes.
By then, few large (class I) railroads remained. The same year that Union Pacific merged with the Chicago and North Western (1995), Burlington Northern and ATSF announced merger plans. The impending BNSF amalgamation would leave one mega-railroad in control of the west. To compete, UP merged with Southern Pacific, thereby incorporating D&RGW and Cotton Belt, and forming a duopoly in the West. The merged railroad took the Union Pacific name. As of 1999, the UP had 33,705 miles (54,243 km) of track, about 33,000 employees, nearly 7,000 locomotives and over 155,000 rail cars.
Union Pacific in the 21st century
In March 2024, Union Pacific layoffs caused concern at the Federal Railroad Administration to the extent that the FRA, in a letter to UP's CEO, said "safety of railroad operations is paramount... decisions that comprise that fundamental... are unacceptable. You must ensure that highly trained and experienced personnel perform critical inspections and repairs.... Your railroad (layoffs) are far outpacing any of your Class 1 peers."
In 2024, the railway celebrated 150 years of having its headquarters in Omaha.
The railway's Big Boy #4014, the world's largest operating steam locomotive, visited 14 states throughout the Midwest in 2024. Twenty-five Big Boys were built during World War II, with only eight surviving and #4014 the only operable one, restored by the railroad to join its Heritage Fleet. Its "Heartland of America" tour began in August 2024 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and travelled through Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas through October.
Three commemorative locomotives honor U.S. Presidents, including UP No. 4141, named in honor of George H. W. Bush, the 41st President. It is exhibited at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The locomotive is custom painted in the colors of GWH Bush's Air Force One. The engine also pulled the president's funeral train on his final journey to College Station in 2018. UP No. 1616, honoring railroad founder President Abraham Lincoln, was unveiled on Presidents Day 2025. The Lincoln Locomotive will serve as a traveling ambassador on the rails. The third locomotive, UP No. 4547 honoring President Donald J. Trump, was created to celebrate America's 250th anniversary in 2026. The locomotive began its first mission hauling Space Launch System solid rocket motor segments for NASA's Artemis III lunar exploration program.
Proposed merger
On July 29, 2025, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern announced an $85 billion agreement to create a transcontinental railroad. The boards of both companies unanimously approved the transaction, which remains subject to review by the Surface Transportation Board. If approved, the combined network would encompass more than 50,000 route miles across 43 states and connect approximately 100 ports in the United States.
2022 Utah legislative action
In 2022, legislators in Utah brought forth two separate bills specifically aimed at Union Pacific. The first, HB181, was raised after some municipalities encountered resistance from Union Pacific when attempting to upgrade rail crossings. In Logan, Utah, Union Pacific altered a construction agreement to require the city to pay maintenance fees in perpetuity for an upgraded crossing, a mandate which was against state code. The proposed legislation would make it easier for municipalities to get crossing improvements approved, and clarifies which party must pay associated maintenance costs. HB181 was ultimately passed.
From Wikipedia’s article on Union Pacific Railroad, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5