The Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico was a railroad subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, operating from

Nogales, Sonora Heroica Nogales (), more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and the county seat of the Municipality of Nogales. It is located on the northern border of the Mexican state of Sonora. The city is abutted on its north by the city of Nogales, Arizo ...

, to Mazatlán, Sinaloa. The Sonora Railway was constructed by the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

between 1879 and 1882. In 1898 the Santa Fe leased the Sonora Railway to the Southern Pacific in return for the latter railroad's line from Needles to Mojave, California. This arrangement continued until December 1911, when the Southern Pacific purchased both the Sonora Railway and the New Mexico and Arizona. The following June, the Sonora Railway became part of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Mexico." Southern Pacific Company system map (1918)

Southern Pacific Company system map (1918)

The main line ran 1,095 miles from the Sonoran town of Nogales, just across the border from Arizona, to the city of Guadalajara, stopping at several northwestern cities and port towns along the way. Owned by the Southern Pacific Company, which operated a highly profitable railroad system north of the border, the SP de Mex transported millions of passengers as well as millions of tons of freight over the years, both within Mexico and across its northern border. Daniel Lewis (2007) reports it rarely turned a profit, and contends that SP executives, urged on by the media of the day, operated with a reflexive imperialism that kept the company committed to the railroad long after it ceased to make business sense. It was sold to the

Mexican government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republi ...

in 1951, becoming the Ferrocarril del Pacifico.

Passenger operations

Until the mid-20th century it operated several local and

mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...

s, in addition to the following long distance

night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends ...

train: * ''El Costeno,'' #9 northbound, #10 southbound -- Nogales - Guadalajara - Mexico City, D.F., with coordinated service with the Southern Pacific Railroad's ''

Argonaut The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', n ...

'' train to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

(#6 eastbound, #5 westbound). The train was renamed as ''El Yaqui,'' #9 northbound, #10 southbound by 1949, with a bus replacing the section between Tucson and Nogales. When the SP of Mexico was absorbed into the Ferrocarril de Pacifico ''El Yaqui'' took the numbers #1 northbound, #2 southbound.'Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba,' December 1954, Ferrocarril del Pacifico section

References

* *
online review
* Robert A. Trennert, Jr., "The Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico," ''The Pacific Historical Review,'' Vol. 35, No. 3 (Aug., 1966), pp. 265–28
online at JSTOR

Passenger operations

References

See also