Transcontinental rails united...

thank you for the pics

Love those engines...

I finally got out there in 2012 during our cross-country sightseeing trip. It's in the middle of nowhere now, I can't imagine how remote is seemed in 1869!

FYI, did you know driving the golden spike did NOT complete the transcontinental railway? There was still a bridge missing over the Missouri River and a couple of other places without rails. The Transcontinental Railroad was actually completed at Strasburg, Colorado, on August 15, 1870!

Of course, the rails are steel, but how authentic is the Promontory trackage otherwise?

Kent Loudon posted:

Of course, the rails are steel, but how authentic is the Promontory trackage otherwise?

Looks pretty "realistic" and "authentic" in the photos posted, in my opinion.

Kent Loudon posted:

Of course, the rails are steel, but how authentic is the Promontory trackage otherwise?

From some books I've bought over time about the site (I will be going there someday to actually see it!), the trackage was studied closely, right down to the shapes of the ties each railroad used.

p51 posted:

I finally got out there in 2012 during our cross-country sightseeing trip. It's in the middle of nowhere now, I can't imagine how remote is seemed in 1869!

FYI, did you know driving the golden spike did NOT complete the transcontinental railway? There was still a bridge missing over the Missouri River and a couple of other places without rails. The Transcontinental Railroad was actually completed at Strasburg, Colorado, on August 15, 1870!

I am confused by your post. The transcontinental railroad did not go through Colorado. It crossed the mountains in Wyoming.  The railroad went from Omaha to Sacramento, so crossing the Missouri River would not have been part of the project.   The rail connection from Sacramento to San Francisco was not completed until 1875.  Prior to that the connection was by river boat. 

David Johnston posted:

p51 posted:

I finally got out there in 2012 during our cross-country sightseeing trip. It's in the middle of nowhere now, I can't imagine how remote is seemed in 1869!

FYI, did you know driving the golden spike did NOT complete the transcontinental railway? There was still a bridge missing over the Missouri River and a couple of other places without rails. The Transcontinental Railroad was actually completed at Strasburg, Colorado, on August 15, 1870!

I am confused by your post. The transcontinental railroad did not go through Colorado. It crossed the mountains in Wyoming.  The railroad went from Omaha to Sacramento, so crossing the Missouri River would not have been part of the project.   The rail connection from Sacramento to San Francisco was not completed until 1875.  Prior to that the connection was by river boat. 

I should have been more specific. I was referring to the first actual continuous link in rail from coast to coast in the US, not limited to the UP/CP project that did the ceremony in Utah in 1869.