History of the Railroad

I found the Railroad museum fascinating - particularly the part about the building of the line through the Sierra Nevada.

There is far too much info for me to recount in this blog but, believe me, it was a major feat of engineering - the link below will give you more detail - enjoy!

http://www.csrmf.org/explore-and-learn/railroad-history/the-transcontinental-railroad/rails-to-the-pacific




A couple of things in particular stood out for me ......

• The labour used to build the line was predominantly Chinese
• the original survey of the Sierra Nevada took two years to find the spine of the mountain (only place where the Railroad could pass - this is because the mountain range runs North to South and the line needed to go East to West)
• The huge costs of building the Railroad was funded by the Rail company buying the land from the Government at a discount and then selling on parcels of land once the line had been constructed.
• Theadore Judah's original idea for the railroad through the Sierra Nevada was turned down in San Francisco - where they were happy to continue using the sea ports for handling freight.