transcontinental railroad
Continent-spanning rail line
A transcontinental railroad spans an entire continent, connecting coasts or distant borders by rail.
The term most often refers to the first such line in the United States, completed in 1869, which linked the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and transformed American commerce and settlement: The transcontinental railroad opened the West to rapid development.
Vehicles for transporting people
- dining carTrain's onboard restaurant
- observation carWindowed train carriage for scenery
- cross-country journeyTravel across an entire nation
- coast to coastAcross a landmass's full width
schedule · timetable · depot · station · platform · ticket · fare · conductor
Completion marker for railroads
- Union PacificMajor American freight railroad
- Central PacificRailroad from California eastward
- 1869Nineteenth-century date
- Big FourDominant group of four
land grants · government bonds · Gilded Age · Homestead Act · Chinese Exclusion Act · Irish immigrants · Chinese laborers · standard gauge
Goods being transported
- cargoTransported goods
- shipmentGoods being transported
- trade routesPaths for exchanging goods
- lumberSawn wood for building
mail delivery · express service · railcar · boxcar · flatcar · logistics · terminal · junction
Belief in justified American expansion
- westward migrationPopulation shift toward sunset
- frontier settlementCommunity at territory's edge
- boomtownsFast-growing frontier settlements
- land rushMass race for territory
settlers · pioneers · territory · colonization · homesteaders · Omaha · Sacramento · Cheyenne
Constructing railway lines
- gradingAssigning marks to work
- surveyingMeasuring and charting terrain
- tunnelingDigging underground passages
- blastingExplosive material removal
Sierra Nevada · Rocky Mountains · Great Plains · desert crossing · snowsheds · Donner Pass · nitroglycerin · black powder
passenger cars
Vehicles for transporting people
- dining carTrain's onboard restaurant
- observation carWindowed train carriage for scenery
- cross-country journeyTravel across an entire nation
coast to coast · schedule · timetable · depot · station · platform · ticket · fare · conductor · porter
golden spike
Completion marker for railroads
- Union PacificMajor American freight railroad
- Central PacificRailroad from California eastward
- 1869Nineteenth-century date
Big Four · land grants · government bonds · Gilded Age · Homestead Act · Chinese Exclusion Act · Irish immigrants · Chinese laborers · standard gauge
freight
Goods being transported
- cargoTransported goods
- shipmentGoods being transported
- trade routesPaths for exchanging goods
lumber · mail delivery · express service · railcar · boxcar · flatcar · logistics · terminal · junction · interchange
Manifest Destiny
Belief in justified American expansion
- westward migrationPopulation shift toward sunset
- frontier settlementCommunity at territory's edge
- boomtownsFast-growing frontier settlements
land rush · settlers · pioneers · territory · colonization · homesteaders · Omaha · Sacramento · Cheyenne · Ogden
tracklaying
Constructing railway lines
- gradingAssigning marks to work
- surveyingMeasuring and charting terrain
- tunnelingDigging underground passages
blasting · Sierra Nevada · Rocky Mountains · Great Plains · desert crossing · snowsheds · Donner Pass · nitroglycerin · black powder · pick and shovel
- 1800s AmericaOregon Trail, Trail of Tears, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation
- American frontierfrontier, westward expansion, pioneers, homesteading, homesteads
- Americas HistoryAmerican Revolution, Aztec Empire, colonial era, colonization, Columbus
- railroadstrains, train, tracks, track, locomotive
- Wild Westcowboy, howdy, sheriff, giddyup, lawmen
- 1800sVictorian era, Napoleon, Gilded Age, Queen Victoria, Industrial Revolution
transcontinental railroadcommuter rail
Suburb-to-downtown train service
streetcar · trolley · light rail · subway · regional rail
transcontinental railroaddirt road
Unpaved rural thoroughfare
footpath · cattle trail · mule path · country lane · unpaved road
railroad, continent, railroads, continental, railroaded, railroading, transcontinental, intercontinental, railroader