Union Pacific Rail Road Co. - 1860's-70's dated Kansas Railway Unissued Stock Certificate

Unissued Stock printed by John Hamilton, Stationer, N.Y. The Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad was a railway located in the state of Kansas, United States. Initially intended to extend from Atchison westward into Colorado, it received federal land grants under the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 as a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad. However, the line was left incomplete at Waterville, Kansas, due to a change in route by the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, which it was meant to connect with. In 1880, the Union Pacific acquired the line through a stock purchase by Jay Gould and subsequently leased it to the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The Central Branch was merged into the Missouri Pacific in 1909, and this company rejoined the Union Pacific system in 1982. In 1991, the remaining track west of Frankfort was leased to the Kyle Railroad. Despite its designation, the Central Branch Union Pacific was not affiliated with the Union Pacific until 1880. It was intended to be one of several eastern branches of the First Transcontinental Railroad, of which the Union Pacific served as the main line connecting Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, where it linked with the Central Pacific Railroad.