Golden State

The Golden State was a named passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles from 1902–1968 on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (“Rock Island”) and the Southern Pacific Company (SP) and predecessors. It was named for California, the “Golden State”. The Golden State route was relatively low-altitude, crossing the Continental Divide at about near Lordsburg, New Mexico, although the highest elevation en route was over near Corona, New Mexico. Other transcontinental routes reached elevations of more than in the Santa Fe railway near Flagstaff, Arizona, and Union Pacific near Sherman, Wyoming. At 2340 miles it was one of the longest continuous passenger railroad routes in the United States, to be exceeded by the SP's Imperial and by Amtrak's pre-2005 Sunset Limited. In most of the Arizona section of the route it passes through area acquired by the Gadsden Purchase. History The train was inaugurated on November 2, 1902, as the Golden State Limited between Chicago, Kansas City, El Paso, southern Arizona and Los Angeles. At it had the longest route in the United States and second only to the Canadian Pacific Railway's Imperial Limited in North America. Until 1910 the Golden State Limited was seasonal, generally running December to April or May; the rest of the year, the same schedules were known as the California Limited westbound and Chicago-St. Louis Limited eastbound. The Golden State Limited was for Pullman passengers only, while the California Limited also carried tourist (economy) sleeping cars and coaches. The Golden State Limited (or California Limited in the off season) carried numbers 43 and 44 until mid-1907 when it became numbers 3 and 4. After January 1910 the Golden State Limited ran year-round until it ended in 1968. Limited was dropped from the name on May 18, 1947, and the train became the Golden State.