[3] It crosses the Sierra Madre Occidental, part of the range that in the United States is called the Rocky Mountains.

[4] The tracks pass over 37 bridges and through 86 tunnels, rising as high as 2,400 m (7,900 ft) above sea level near Divisadero (the continental divide), a popular lookout spot over the canyons.

[citation needed] The concept of the railroad was officially recognized in 1880, when the president of Mexico, General Manuel González, granted a rail concession to Albert Kinsey Owen[4][6] of the Utopia Socialist Colony of New Harmony, Indiana, United States, who was seeking to develop a socialist colony in Mexico.

[8] In 1955, Mexico merged them as Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico, S.A. de C.V.[8] Financial difficulties caused by the cost of building a railroad through rugged terrain delayed the project, and the ChP was not completed until 1961.

On its way from Los Mochis to Chihuahua it runs through El Fuerte, Temoris, Bahuichivo, Posada Barrancas, Divisadero, and Creel, among others.