Another one of those historical place I learned about when I was a child was the story of The Transcontinental Railroad and The Golden Spike. The meeting of the railroad lines from the east coast and the west coast met at Promontory, UT on May 10, 1869.
As is often the case with history, the actual events leading up to and surrounding the eventual joining of the eastern and western routes is a lot more dramatic than we learned in grade school. Although the two railroads had agreed to meet somewhere in the western US, it literally took an act of Congress to actually get the tracks to meet. Instead, the two companies laid miles of track in opposite directions through the area, sometimes within sight of each other! Wikipedia has a pretty good summary and pretty much agrees with what we were told when we visited.
At the visitor center, replicas of the two original trains make demonstration runs. These runs often occur daily but the schedule varies seasonally. We planned our visit to coincide with the runs, since seeing the trains in operation was one of the highlights of being there. The trains don’t actually run at the same time, as the same engineer and fireman operate both trains. At the end of the second run, the trains are parked nose-to-nose in front the observation area, making for a scene that is reminiscent of the original, albeit with people wearing much more modern clothes today!
In addition to the trains, there is an auto tour route that traces a portion of the original railroad bed. The tracks are long gone, but there are places where the road travels through cuts made in the terrain to accommodate the tracks. In some areas it is easy to see both sets of parallel rail beds within sight of each other. Especially noteworthy is an area where 10 miles of track were laid in one day, in response to an unofficial challenge between the two crews to see who could reach the meeting place first.
Promontory is practically in the middle of nowhere in Utah, which makes it really out there! It was worth the time and effort, however. And it gave us a great way to document our visit to the state of Utah for our quest toward all 50 states!
For anyone wishing to see more photos, I have created a photo gallery on my Adobe Portfolio website.
It’s on my list… such an important historical place. I wonder if the engines were painted in such vibrant colors in 1869.
You might be interested in reading a book by Rebecca Solnit: River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West. Among other things, it recounts the way the railway changed the face of America and specifically, how the pounding of the Golden Spike gave rise to a new specificity in measuring time. It’s a great, short read.
Also, if you’ve not already binge-watched this series, we enjoyed Hell On Wheels, a multi-season drama about the building of the Transcontinental Railway. Not completely factually accurate, but fun to watch anyway.
I don’t know about the colors, although I’ve read that the reproduction of the engines is historically quite accurate. Train buffs are usually pretty fussy about accuracy, so I’m guessing that at least someone feels like the colors are correct!
Thanks for the info on the book. Our library actually has a copy and I’ve added it to my “For Later List” (I would have reserved it but I’m trying to get through some of the photography books I already own before bringing more into the house!). The TV series is one I’ve heard of but have not seen.
Now, I’m gonna have to go read up on this. I think there could be lots of images with these trains. Could take awhile.
And check out the book and maybe the TV series that Jeff mentioned. It’s another one of those things that has so many sub stories. Yes, it could take a while.