The first contiguous transcontinental rail service on "The Great American Over-land Route"[1] between the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific on the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa[2]/Omaha, Nebraska via Ogden, Utah (CPRR)[3] and Sacramento (WPRR/CPRR) to the San Francisco Bay at the Oakland Wharf[4] was opened over its full length in late 1869.

[16][17][18] The cost for travel between San Francisco and Council Bluffs on this train was $60 for the First Class passage and $40 in extra fare for sleeping accommodations and meals in the dining car.

Lucius Beebe contends that a possible reason for this the Union Pacific always intended to coerce better performance from the Chicago and North Western, and in fact a section of the Overland continued to use the C&NW during the period.

[22] (The C&NW would retain its close partnership with the UP between Chicago and Council Bluffs/Omaha for its various through Overland and City trains for another half century until the Milwaukee Road finally took over all that service on October 30, 1955.

"[24] On January 1, 1913 the Overland Limited became an extra-fare ($10) train when it further cut its running time from 68 to 64 hours and added amenities such as a barber, manicurist, stenographer, bath, etc.

[26][30][31] On that date the ICC's recent order (Docket #21946) approving of its discontinuation and consolidation with the City of San Francisco went into effect and new Overland Route schedules were instituted.

[36][37] With the Depression raging, the previously all-Pullman Overland began to carry chair cars in 1931, a service which lasted through much of the rest of that decade.

[38][39] To meet the 366% increase by mid-1943 from pre-war levels in WWII related military and civilian passenger traffic,[40] the consists on the again all-Pullman San Francisco Overland Limited ballooned to as many as 20 cars with service that also often ran in multiple daily sections.

On screen, the train was represented by narrow gauge equipment from the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, including a K-28 class locomotive.