Railroads played a large role in the development of the United States from the Industrial Revolution in the Northeast to the settlement of the West. The American railroad mania began with the founding
The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869
Replica of the "Tom Thumb" locomotive, photographed in 1927
Freight being transferred from rail cars to wagons. When a rail line entered a region, typically stagecoach and wagon cartage (which was slower and more expensive) over that route ended. However, stage and wagon service would then be offered between the railroad and smaller off-line towns. As a result of the lower transportation costs provided by arrival of the railroad, overall economic activity in the region (e.g., farming, ranching and mining) grew dramatically.
A mortar mounted on a railroad car used during the Civil War, 1865.
America's first transcontinental railroad was a 1,911-mile continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa, with the
History of rail transportation in the United States
…bought up and incorporated in a larger system or "rationalized". Although the transcontinental railroads dominated the media, with the completion of the First transcontinental railroad in 1869 dramatically symbolizing the nation's unification after the divisiveness of the Civil War, most construction actually took place in the industrial…
The ceremony for the driving of the "Last Spike" at Promontory Summit, Utah, May 10, 1869
Title page of Dr. Hartwell Carver's 1847 Pacific Railroad proposal to Congress from Lake Michigan to the West Coast
The official poster announcing the Pacific Railroad's grand opening
The Golden Spike monument located in Council Bluffs, Iowa at the Eastern Terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad.