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.

(U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XII, p. 489 ff.) An Act to aid in the Construction of a Railroad and Telegraph Line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. . . . Be it enacted, That [names of ...