Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railway Co. - Specimen Stock Certificate
Inv# SE1315 Specimen Stock
The Southern Transcon is a main line of BNSF Railway comprising 11 subdivisions between Southern California and Chicago, Illinois. Completed in its current alignment in 1908 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, when it opened the Belen Cutoff in New Mexico (going through eastern New Mexico, northwestern Texas, briefly part of western Oklahoma and to Kansas) and bypassed the steep grades of Raton Pass (which passes through northeastern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado), it now serves as a mostly double-tracked intermodal corridor.
The Transcon is one of the most heavily trafficked rail corridors in the western United States: as of 2006, an average of almost 90 trains daily (over 100 trains on peak days) passed over the section between Belen and Clovis, New Mexico, with each train typically 6,000 to 8,000 feet (1,800 to 2,400 m) long.
The completion of the Belen Cutoff did not end improvements to the transcontinental route. The 47-mile (76 km) Ellinor Cutoff opened in 1924, cutting through the Flint Hills from the original main line at Ellinor, Kansas, southwest to El Dorado on the main line to Texas. This allowed trains bound for the Belen Cutoff to cut directly to Mulvane, bypassing Wichita to the southeast. To the west, in Arizona, the Santa Fe constructed a new line between Williams and Crookton, bypassing the sharp curves and steep grades of the line via Ash Fork built by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in the 1880s. The $19.3-million realignment opened on December 19, 1960, and the old line was abandoned west of the Phoenix connection at Ash Fork. Smaller improvements included installation of centralized traffic control on the Belen Cutoff in the 1940s and double track on large portions of the main line.
The Southern Transcon railroad corridor is made up of the following BNSF rail lines which are referred to as subdivisions, in order from west to east.
Parts of the route are utilized by passenger rail services — BNSF does not operate regular passenger trains outside of the Chicago Subdivision.
Amtrak's Southwest Chief runs once daily in each direction on the Transcon, but via the Raton Pass. The Pacific Surfliner also operates between Los Angeles and Fullerton. Until its cancellation in 1997, Amtrak's Desert Wind used the Southern Transcon between Los Angeles and Barstow.
Southern California's Metrolink commuter trains utilize the route between Los Angeles and San Bernardino. These include the Orange County Line (between Los Angeles and Fullerton), 91/Perris Valley Line (between Los Angeles and Riverside Downtown), and Inland Empire–Orange County Line (between San Bernardino and Atwood).
Stock and Bond Specimens are made and usually retained by a printer as a record of the contract with a client, generally with manuscript contract notes such as the quantity printed. Specimens are sometimes produced for use by the printing company's sales team as examples of the firm’s products. These are usually marked "Specimen" and have no serial numbers.
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