Central pacific railroad

The construction of the Union Pacific in 1868 gave rise to the towns, geography of settlement and the economy of new Wyoming Territory in 1869. Obstacles to construction were both physical and financial, and the railroad overcame them with sometimes slapdash results—hastily laid track and rickety bridges, watered stock and Congressional corruption. But the Union Pacific contributed enormously to Wyoming’s growth and development, made its modern economy possible and continues today as an…

“Building the Central Pacific Railroad: A Photographic Journey”

Southern Pacific Railroad advertisement from 1885. The company was founded in 1865 as a land holding company and became a railroad when it acquired the Central Pacific in 1885. The Central Pacific had employed as many as 12,000 emigrant Chinese laborers to build the railroad line from California to Utah where the "golden spike" was laid in 1869 to form the first transcontinental railroad. Utah was the connecting place with the Union Pacific railroad which had been built west from Council…

“Building the Central Pacific Railroad: A Photographic Journey”

Central Pacific Railroad local time schedule for 1873, offering train and boat service from San Francisco and Sacramento.

Track work takes place in Nevada as Central Pacific forces build the western link of the first transcontinental railroad, now a part of the Southern Pacific system, on May 10, 1868. Rail layers shown in the foreground were followed by groups of Chinese laborers who spaced and spiked the rail to the ties. Photo: Anonymous, AP

In a new travelling exhibition, the significance of the transcontinental railroad, finished in 1869, will be celebrated in a series of images capturing its arduous construction through to its triumphant completion

"This Daniel Edwards Collection features UNION PACIFIC trains. This metal sign measures 10\" x 12\", with rounded corners and an 1/8\" hole punched in each corner. Metal is .025 gauge aluminum."

The Maine Central Railroad has been serving its home state for 150 years. Today, it is still on paper albeit owned by Pan Am Railways.

The Union Pacific Railroad was created in 1862 through the Pacific Railroad Act to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Today, it survives and is the largest Class I in the country.