Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad

The west end of this branch would be at an intersection with the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad, a planned connection from Kansas City to the main transcontinental line.

After failing to get land grants for an extension along the Eastern Division's original route into Nebraska, the Central Branch turned its sights to local traffic.

Completing the system of branches in Kansas was one more company: the Atchison, Jewell County and Western Railroad from Jamestown to Burr Oak (incorporated July 1879, leased March 1880).

[1] In December 1880, Gould leased the system to the Missouri Pacific Railway (MoPac), another company that he controlled, which had a north-south line through Atchison.

The final extension of the Central Branch in Kansas was the Rooks County Railroad from Alton to Stockton, incorporated March 1885 under MoPac ownership (as opposed to the UP control of the earlier companies) and leased November 1885.

Finally, on May 29, 1909, the Central Branch Railway and Rooks County Railroad were merged, along with a number of other subsidiaries, into the MoPac.

[9] On August 12, 1909, board of directors authorized and on January 18, 1910, the stockholders ratified the purchase of the property of the Pacific Railway in Nebraska (which began at Warwick, Kansas).