The Standard Time Schedules of All Trains Carrying Passengers on the Roads of the Southern Pacific Company and of Other Pacific Coast Railroads. Distributed Freely Each Month. November, 1895.

Sunset Route Between San Francisco, Los Angeles, El Paso, and New Orleans. October 31, 1895.

The Sunset Route, the great winter line through the San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles, Yuma, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, etc., connecting at New Orleans for all points east.

Sunset Limited, a hotel on wheels, superbly appointed with bath, barber shop, reading and observation rooms for ladies and gentlemen, dining car, compartment parlor car, Pullman Sleepers, etc., leaves San Francisco Tuesdays and Saturdays, and Los Angeles Wednesdays and Sundays, running solidly to New Orleans, there making connections with fast trains for Atlanta, Washington, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, etc. Westward this train leaves New Orleans Mondays and Thursdays. NO EXTRA FARE.

FAMILY EXCURSIONS leave San Francisco every Monday and Friday for Cincinnati, and every Wednesday for Chicago, via New Orleans; every Sunday for Chicago, via El Paso and Kansas City; every Thursday for Chicago, via El Paso and St. Louis. Leave Los Angeles on following days. Cars also start from Los Angeles every Monday for St. Paul, via El Paso and Kansas City, and every Wednesday for Chicago, via El Paso and St. Louis.

PULLMAN CAR EQUIPMENT.

Train No. 17, Los Angeles Express-Leaving San Francisco at 9.00 A. M., has Pullman Palace Buffet Sleeping Car to Los Angeles, and Pullman Second-class Sleeping Car Lathrop (from Sacramento) to Los Angeles.

Train No. 19, New Orleans Express-Leaving San Francisco at 3:30 P. M., has Pullman Palace Buffet Sleeping Car San Francisco to New Orleans; Drawing-room Car San Francisco to Mojave for Atlantic and Pacific R. R., Drawing-room Car San Francisco to Fresno, and Double Drawing-room Car Tracy (from Chicago) to Los Angeles. Second-class Sleeping Car San Francisco to Mojave for A. & P. R. R. Takes on at Tracy Second-class Sleeping Car (from Sacramento) for Los Angeles. Dining Car San Francisco to Mendota. Takes on at Los Angeles Pullman Palace Buffet Sleeping Car to Chicago, via T. & P., St. L., I. M. & S., and C. & A.

Train No. 18, San Francisco Express-Leaving Los Angeles at 8.25 P. M., has Pullman Palace Buffet Sleeping Car for San Francisco and Double Drawing-room Sleeper (for Chicago) to San Francisco. Second-class Sleeper to Lathrop (for Sacramento).

Train No. 20-Leaving New Orleans at 9.15 A. M., has Pullman Palace Buffet Sleeping Car to San Francisco. Takes on at El Paso Pullman Palace Buffet Sleeping Car from Chicago to Los Angeles, via C. & A., St. L., I. M. & S., and T. & P. Takes on at Los Angeles Pullman Second-class Sleeping Car to Tracy (for Sacramento). Takes on at Mojave, from A. & P. R. R., Pullman Palace Sleeping Car and Pullman Second-class Sleeping Car for San Francisco. Takes on at Fresno Pullman Palace Sleeping Car for San Francisco. Dining Car Mendota to San Francisco.

From The History Channel website:

One of the most powerful railroad companies of the 19th century, the "Espee" (as the railroad was often called) originated in an ambitious plan conceived in 1870 by the "Big Four" western railroad barons: Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. A year earlier, the Big Four's western-based Central Pacific had linked up with the eastern-based Union Pacific in Utah, creating the first transcontinental American railway. With that finished, the "Big Four" began to look for ways to increase their control over West Coast shipping, and decided to focus their efforts on extending the California-based Southern Pacific southward.

By 1877, the Southern Pacific controlled 85 percent of California's railroad mileage. Huntington, who now dominated the company, saw an excellent opportunity to create a transcontinental line through the southern United States. Huntington had to act fast if was to beat the competition. The Texas and Pacific Railroad was already pushing westward toward the Pacific at a fast pace. Marshalling his awesome energy and financial resources, Huntington began driving his Southern Pacific line eastward. He won the race in 1881, when he linked the Southern Pacific to the Santa Fe Railroad at Deming, New Mexico, creating the second American transcontinental railway. Two years later, on February 5, 1883, Huntington gained full control of a number of smaller railroads, creating the Southern Pacific's "Sunset Route" from New Orleans to California.

With the "Sunset Route," Huntington confirmed his domination over California rails. He had taken considerable financial risks to build the Southern Pacific system, and he collected very considerable financial rewards. The Southern Pacific had a near monopoly over rail service to California, and Huntington and his associates took advantage of the situation by charging high shipping rates.

Termed "the Octopus" for its tentacled stranglehold on much of the California economy, the Southern Pacific inspired Californians to create some of the first strong public regulations over railroads in American history. But despite the anger and outrage Huntington's exploitation inspired, few would deny that the mighty Southern Pacific Railroad played an essential role in fostering the growth of a vibrant California economy for decades to come.