Back in 1869, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad worked tirelessly under brutal conditions to drive the last spike, The Golden Spike, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, to complete the Transcontinental Railroad. Products could now be manufactured in the east and delivered to the west in under two weeks, benefiting the United States economy, transportation, trade, and much more. Join us in celebrating the event that changed America with 150 fun facts.
Get Your FREE PDF Download
Enter your email for access to The History of the Transcontinental Railroad.
By entering your email you will receive newsletters, special offers, and more from the Trains.com family of brands. View our privacy policy.
My triple great-grandfather is the man in the hat shaking hands, at the Sacramento railroad museum the huge picture hanging there you can see the resemblance, funny that. love the pdf good reading.
Great story but where is the Golden Spike? maybe I missed it.
Excellent – I’ve read the first couple of pages and will be reading the rest later today. I did find a very small error – in #11, there should be a “c” preceding “interacting”. This could easily be fixed in the original and redone as a pdf.
I enjoy my trains magazine. I just renewed it last week and should of got this special reduced rate offer. I don’t think I did. Could you check into it for me. Enjoy all the pretty photos in the magazines and seeing railroads and yards that are so cool to see.
A visit to here is very definitely on my bucket list.
I paint watercolors of trains old and new from my photographs. At the end of May I will be releasing a collection of my train paintings. You can read more about my trains and the collection on my website-www.nadinepaints.com/shop
151. The rail-to-rail connection of Atlantic to Pacific happened in 1870 at Comanche Crossing on the Kansas Pacific just east of Denver, Colorado. Omaha was a dead end for years until UP could bridge the Missouri River.
Great read! Obviously a great deal research went into this subject. Congratulations are in order for a job “well done”. Keep up the good work.