138 Years Ago Today...

May 10, 1869
The first transcontinental railroad was completed, joining the Union Pacific and Central Pacific in Promontory, Utah.

grink wrote:May 10, 1869
The first transcontinental railroad was completed, joining the Union Pacific and Central Pacific in Promontory, Utah.

I wonder how that so called "transontinental" railroad worked out, trains are such a fad, Horses will rule supreme!

So does anyone know if this line is still used today, or if any reminants of it are still around/still used? Would be interesting to find out.

Within 5 yrs, a tribe of DINKs (dual income, no kids), called the NIMBYwanna tribe, moved along the tracks. Immediately after complaining to the Territorial Governor that the trains would interferre with any emergency buffaloes, the government put pressure on the railroad to abandon the line and rebuild more to the south.

I thought that tribe rode Sport Utility Buffalo?

AntNJTrainSet wrote:So does anyone know if this line is still used today, or if any reminants of it are still around/still used? Would be interesting to find out.

Ant,

You can find all you want to know about it here;

http://www.nps.gov/gosp

Tracks were removed many years ago when the causeway across the Great Salt Lake was constructed. The tracks were re-installed for the park that exists there today and end just out of site from the visitors center. The two steam engines (replicas) run most days.

I visited the park in 1995 or 1996. It is absolutely in the middle of no-where. The nearest rail head serves the Morton Thiokol plant that makes the SRB's for the space shuttle.

One of the neat things there are two right of ways graded one by the Central Pacific the other by the UP. They parallel each other for miles. Part of each company's attempt to get as much land and gov't funding as possible.

It was neat to visit, I would strongly suggest that any railfan do so.

Chris

Cool stuff, thank you chris!

[Moving this to General Discussion since this topic has little to do with New Jersey.]

I worked with an old head the other day that remembers this personaly

The track at Promontory as a through route was abandoned in 1943 and removed shortly thereafter.

cjvrr wrote:

AntNJTrainSet wrote:So does anyone know if this line is still used today, or if any reminants of it are still around/still used? Would be interesting to find out.

Ant,

You can find all you want to know about it here;

http://www.nps.gov/gosp

Tracks were removed many years ago when the causeway across the Great Salt Lake was constructed. The tracks were re-installed for the park that exists there today and end just out of site from the visitors center. The two steam engines (replicas) run most days.

I visited the park in 1995 or 1996. It is absolutely in the middle of no-where. The nearest rail head serves the Morton Thiokol plant that makes the SRB's for the space shuttle.

One of the neat things there are two right of ways graded one by the Central Pacific the other by the UP. They parallel each other for miles. Part of each company's attempt to get as much land and gov't funding as possible.

It was neat to visit, I would strongly suggest that any railfan do so.

Chris

Thanks cjvrr I was also looking for same information.

I think that I read somewhere that the railroad was actualy finished in 1870. If I am wrong please tell me and I will delete this post.



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