Technology - Railroads

Where the US transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. The National Park Service runs the Golden Spike National Historic Site there, complete with a museum and operational replicas of the original locomotives, the Central Pacific's Jupiter and the Union Pacific's #119. (The Central Pacific was building eastward from California, while the Union Pacific built westward.) Note the differences in the locomotives' smokestacks. The wide funnel on the Jupiter was due to its being fueled by wood, while #119 was coal-fired. A screen over the top of the wide funnel on wood-burning locomotives was supposed to stop sparks, and thus keep the countryside from catching fire. It didn't always work... Ironically, the railroad itself is abandoned; it was bypassed in 1904 by the Lucin Cutoff laid directly across the Great Salt Lake. The rails were ripped up in 1942 for the war effort, but a mile and a half was relaid for the park in 1969.

The working replica at the Golden Spike National Historic Site, Utah, USA. As for Union Pacific's #119 there are only a couple of minor safety-related changes in the replica vs. the original. It's just as gaudy, for one thing! I tended to think of Victorian locomotives as gray and dull, from all those old grainy b&w's, but in fact they were quite colorful. The funnel-shaped smokestack indicates this is a wood-burner. Wood-burning locomotives were quite common in 19th century North America, due to the abundance of trees in many places. Convenient forests were hard to come by in long-settled localities! This is the site, in the Utah desert north of the Great Salt Lake, where the original US transcontinental railroad was completed. The Central Pacific built eastward from California, while the Union Pacific built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. The link (the "Golden Spike") was finished on May 10, 1869. Ironically, this section of the railroad is now abandoned, being bypassed by a shortcut directly across the Great Salt Lake that was built just after the turn of the last century, and the rails were torn up in 1942 and recycled for the war effort! A short section was rebuilt in the 1960s for the historic park so the replicas would have a place to travel.

The working replica at the Golden Spike National Historic site, Promontory, Utah, USA. Apparently there are only a couple of minor safety-related changes in this locomotive vs. the original. In particular, it really was this colorful! I tended to think of Victorian locomotives as gray and dull, from all those old grainy b&w's, but at least some of them were downright gaudy. The straight smokestack shows that this is a coal-burner. This is the site, in the Utah desert north of the Great Salt Lake, where the original US transcontinental railroad was completed. The Central Pacific built eastward from California, while the Union Pacific built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. The link (the "Golden Spike") was finished on May 10, 1869. Ironically, this section of the railroad is now abandoned, being bypassed by a shortcut directly across the Great Salt Lake that was built just after the turn of the last century, and the rails were torn up in 1942 and recycled for the war effort! A short section was rebuilt in the 1960s for the historic park so the replicas would have a place to travel.