After the Civil War, the building of the transcontinental railroad was the nineteenth century's most transformative event. Beginning in 1842 with a visionary's dream to span the continent with twin bands of iron, Empire Express captures three dramatic decades in which the United States effectively doubled in size, fought three wars, and began to discover a new national identity. From self--made entrepreneurs such as the Union Pacific's Thomas Durant and era--defining figures such as President Lincoln to the thousands of laborers whose backbreaking work made the railroad possible, this extraordinary narrative summons an astonishing array of voices to give new dimension not only to this epic endeavor but also to the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of an unforgettable period in American history.
Model Railroader's managing editor David Popp tells the complete construction story of his N scale Naugatuck River Valley layout using techniques any model railroader can use! More than 30 short projects from building benchwork to realistic operation.
Still suffering the devastation of the Civil war that ended only ten years earlier, North Carolina shipped prison inmates from Raleigh to build the Mountain Division of the western North Carolina railroad. Some amazing and astonishing events occurred from 1875 through 1879 as this mountain railroad (3 miles straight-line distance, requiring 9+ miles of track) was pushed up the eastern continental divide. Six tunnels were excavated, from 89 to 1,800 feet long, each 15 feet tall. For open cuts, solid rock was cracked by dousing cold mountain water on roaring fires. The first use in the southeastern U.S. of a new product called Nobel's Blasting Oil (now called nitroglycerin!) was on the project. It was mixed with sawdust and corn meal, making nitroglycerin mash. A very heavy wood-burning locomotive was picked up off the tracks by the convicts and pushed several miles overland to the top of the mountain to help dig out the longest tunnel. The most common tool used was a flat rock held in the strong hands of the convicts to dig and spread dirt as they prepared the flat path needed to lay crossties for the rails. Tunnels, Nitro and Convicts condenses the incredible history of the most ambitious earth-moving, mountain-conquering project in the United States as of the 1870s into an engaging, easy-to-read story. The fascinating and compelling intertwining of long dark caves, blasting and cracking of massive rocks, the first use of nitroglycerin in the southeastern United States, and pushing a big locomotive several miles through the woods up a mountain ... all by hundreds of convicts who worked under severe conditions with the most basic tools ... makes this true account of post-civil war railroad history a story you must read!
Presents a history of the building of the transcontinental railroad and its effects on American life. By the 1840s, daring Americans were trickling westward to begin a new life in the great wide open. When gold was discovered in 1848, the promise of riches drew people by the thousands out to California. But the journey was slow and dangerous, since the best ways of travelling were by wagon and on foot. During the "railroad fever" of the 1830s, thousands of miles of track were laid, mostly throughout the Northeast and the South. Few had dreamt of extending this new travel westward-but all it takes is a few. Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862, allowing for the start of the first transcontinental railroad. Though construction problems and hard times confronted them, American workers, Chinese immigrants, and former slaves pounded away through the rough geography of the western U.S., paving a path for the new train. A day in the life of a railroad worker was not an easy one. The work was backbreaking; the conditions were terrible; and workers were often faced with attack from Native Americans. The building of the railroad turned into a great race between two companies, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific, to see who could finish their part of the railroad faster. The company that got farthest stood to make the most money. The "great race" turned into a national pastime-with reports of progress dominating the news. Railroad Fever illuminates the struggles of the railroad worker, the anger of the Plains Indians, and the many changes in both American life and geography that were prompted by the railroad. The completion of the transcontinental railroad left empty boomtowns across the country, changed the ethnic face of America, and, of course, created a new exciting and fast way of travel. Like the other titles in the Crossroads America series, Railroad Fever is illustrated with period paintings, drawings, and photographs. Also included are a glossary and an index.
Gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Additional features include a table of contents, a Fast Facts spread, critical-thinking questions, primary source quotes and accompanying source notes, a phonetic glossary, an index, and sources for further research.
Instructions for benchwork, the framework for model trains, covering tools and materials, framework for permananet layouts, joists, risers and cleats, roadbed construction, backdrops, fascia boards, scenic support and benchwork for special situations.
The Milwaukee Road's Western Extension is a fascinating story of the 1905-1915 building of the first through rail line between Chicago and Puget Sound. It was a daring decision that resulted in a remarkable accomplishment. It is a tale of unusual human interaction at all levels - full of details about the people and events involved. It tells of the face-to-face personal and corporate struggle for power by America's railroad barons; the courage and fortitude of pioneering civil engineer surveyors who pushed their way through literally thousands of miles of virgin wilderness in search of a workable route. It looks over the shoulders of hundreds of planners who attacked the unbelievably difficult problems of supplying 10,000 workers strung out over 1800 miles of planned right-of-way, devoid of roads or towns. The reader is taken along and offered the opportunity to observe these laborers as they erect steel trestles three-hundred feet above the forest floor; bore tunnels through almost 20 miles of mountain rock; build new bridges across the Missouri, the Yellowstone, the Columbia and a hundred other rivers and streams while they struggled to stay alive in the face of stifling heat, devastating floods, life-threatening snow and cold, winds of hurricane strength and the presence of typhus that frequented their new route across the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho and Washington. The reader learns why and how new construction machines came to virgin wilderness for the first time; discovers how the work crews lived; where they played and slept, what they ate, and sometimes how they died. Reading the book is like taking a trip into the beginning of the 20th century when men like Teddy Roosevelt, the Rockefellers, Alva Edison and John Westinghouse were introducing the country to new ways of living and doing business - better medical care, electricity in every day life, and a new freedom - the freedom to travel without pause or discomfort all the way from the beaches of Lake Michigan to the clear waters of Puget Sound. Based upon details and broad documentation gleaned from the records of the time, the story is one of fact rather than supposition - a broad tribute to the men who built the railroad. It is a saga of great accomplishment and remarkable people.
When the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 was signed, it allowed one railroad company to lay tracks east from California and another to lay tracks west from the Mississippi. When the transcontinental link was completed on May 10, 1869, it changed America forever. This is a description of every aspect of the building of the transcontinental railroad.
