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Copyright 2000 by Joel GAzis-SAx
| 1881 | The Santa Fe Railroad links with Southern Pacific track in Arizona. |
| 1882 | November 23. The California Southern begins service between National City and Colton. |
| 1882 | The Santa Fe Railroad completes a transcontinental route to Guayamas, Mexico. |
| 1883 | The Southern Pacific acquires the "Sunset Route" to New Orleans. |
| 1883 | September 12. The California Southern crosses the Southern Pacific tracks at Colton and extends its service to San Bernardino. The Southern Pacific has resisted this event by arranging for local law enforcement to attempt to seize the crossing frog that the CSR requires to build across the SP tracks and then by placing several large engines over the track. SP backs down after a court orders that it allow the CSR an easement over its main line. |
| 1884 | November 24. Eel River & Eureka Railroad begins operation. |
| 1885 | Leland Stanford becomes president of the Southern Pacific. |
| 1885 | November 16. California Southern track builders win the race over the Cajon Pass and begin service to Barstow where they link up with the AT&SF. This event marks the end of the Octopus's undisputed control over California rail shipping and transcontinental passenger service. |
| 1885 | Death of Peter Donahue. |
| 1886 | November 24. Fort Bragg Railroad Company begins operations. This will later become the California Western Railroad Co., operators of the famous California Skunk, running between Fort Bragg and Willits. |
| 1886 | Congress forfeits the lands "along the uncompleted portion" of the A&P,including sizeable acreage in California. |
| 1886 | Vigilantes in Corsine, Utah force the town's entire Chinese community to entrain and ride the Central Pacific all the way to San Francisco. |
| 1886 | July 1. James G. Fair successfully negotiates the 55 year lease of the South Pacific Railroad's track by the Southern Pacific. |
| 1887 | The Santa Fe completes its line to Los Angeles and initiates a rate war. |
| 1887 | December 17. The last spike is driven in on the line connecting Portland, Oregon with Sacramento. |
| 1888 | The Santa Fe connect Los Angeles and San Diego via the "Surf Line". |
| 1888 | Death of Charles Crocker. |
| 1888 | The Golden Gate Special, the first luxury transcontinental express, begins the Omaha to Oakland run on the Central Pacific-Union Pacific railroads. |
| 1888 | June 20. The Southern Pacific reaches Santa Rosa over the tracks of the new Santa Rosa and Carquinez Railroad. |
| 1890 | A severe winter storm nearly closes down the Central Pacific track over the Donner Pass. Special crews set themselves to the task of clearing drifts of snow that has leaked into the snow sheds. In its desparation, the railroad tries an experimental snow plow invented by Orange Jull and quickly relegates the incapable engine to the Truckee roundhouse. |
| 1890 | March 3. Death of Mervyn Donahue. |
| 1890 | Colis Huntington becomes president of the Southern Pacific. |
| 1891 | Citizens of Campbell and Los Gatos call upon the SP to convert the former SPC line through their towns to standard gauge. |
| 1892 | SP acquires the San Bernardino & Redlands Railway. |
| 1893 | Death of Leland Stanford. |
| 1893 | Claus Spreckels begins the construction of the San Francisco and San Joaquin Railroad, the first challenge to the supremacy of the Southern Pacific Railroad in northern California. |
| 1893 | The syndicate of Foster, Smith and Markham purchases the San Francisco & North Pacific Railway from the Donahue estate. |
| 1896 | August 26. The first Mill Valley & Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railroad train reaches the summit of Mount Tamalpais. |
| 1897 | Completion of the San Francisco and San Joaquin Railroad. |
| 1897 | Edward H. Harriman buys the Union Pacific. |
| 1898 | The Santa Fe Railroad buys the San Francisco and San Joaquin. |
| 1898 | Maiden run of the SP overnight Owl, over the Valley Route between San Francisco and Los Angeles. |
| 1899 | The Central Pacific is absorbed by the Southern Pacific. |
| 1900 | The Santa Fe opens its line through the San Joaquin Valley to Point Richmond. |
| 1900 | Death of Andrew Hallidie. |
| 1900 | Death of Colis Huntington. |
| 1900 | Merger of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific. |
| 1900 | April 15. Regular passenger service along the SPC standard gauge line begins. |
| 1900 | The narrow gauge Lake Tahoe Railroad and Transportation Company established. |
| 1901 | March 31. The San Pedro, Los Angeles, & Salt Lake Railroad begins operations. |
| 1901 | The Southern Pacific opens alternate routes to Los Angeles. |
| 1901 | The Union Pacific acquires controlling interest in the Southern Pacific. |
| 1901 | Founding of the Pacific Electric Railway Company by Henry E. Huntington. |
| 1901 | December 31. Angel's Flight funicular railway begins operation in Los Angeles. It is the brainchild of Colonel J.W. Eddy who presents it as a solution to the steep climb up fashionable Bunker Hill. |
| 1903 | March 6. George Gould founds the Western Pacific Railroad ("Feather River Route") as an extension of his Denver and Rio Grande. |
| 1904 | Santa Fe provides service to San Francisco and Oakland, ending the Octopus's monopoly on the Bay. |
| 1904 | The Southern Pacific opens the Lucin Cut-Off across the Great Salt Lake, cutting forty four miles off the transcontinental rail journey. |
| 1905 | August 7. Central California Traction organized. |
| 1905 | Construction of the Western Pacific connecting Oakland with Salt Lake City begins. |
| 1905 | The Southern Pacific acquires control of the California Development Company and puts a stop to the flooding which is forming the Salton Sea. |
| 1906 | April 18. The Great Earthquake and Fire does significant damage to the SPC line. Tunnel No. 2 along the BayShore Cut-Off collapses, delaying the rerouting of the SP mainline. |
| 1906 | The Union Pacific opens a line from Ogden, Utah to Los Angeles. |
| 1907 | March. The Mill Valley & Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railroad opens a branch line to Muir Woods. The line is serviced by granity cars which roll down from the summit of Mount Tamalpais. |
| 1907 | Northwestern Pacific Railroad created by the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroads. |
| 1907 | September 1. Central California Traction begins electric train operations between Stockton and Lodi. |
| 1907 | December 8. The Bayshore Cut-off is opened. |
| 1908 | Introduction of the gargantuan Espee Mallets on the "Hill Run" (Donner Pass) of the Southern Pacific. The huge engines prove to be a suffocation hazard to their crew due the exhaust venting into the cab. One man dies. Many employees refuse to work the section, causing the engine's designers to place the cab ahead of the huge boilers, an arrangement which becomes a Southern Pacific trademark. |
| 1909 | February 25. Congress reclaims forfeited and abandoned railroad right of ways. |
| 1909 | November 1. The Western Pacific finishes its line and becomes the Southern Pacific's first serious competition in northern California. |
| 1911 | August 1. Northwestern Pacific Coast Railroad begins operations. |
| 1911 | The Western Pacific goes into receivership. |
| 1911 | William Herrin, recently prosecuted in the San Francisco graft trials, becomes president of Pacific Electric Railway Company. |
| 1913 | April 3. Maiden run of The Pacific Limited between Chicago and San Francisco. |
| 1913 | The merger between the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific is dissolved by the Federal Government. |