History Question - Route from San Francisco to New York, 1872

[ldelzell]

Hey there, everyone:

I'm an aspiring writer, and right now I'm working on a story set in spring of 1872. In the story, the characters travel from San Francisco to New York City, predominantly by rail. I am trying to find plausible details about how that trip might have gone; I'm looking for the names of rail lines operating in that time in place, how long the journey might have taken, what kind of amenities might have been available for passengers, how many coaling stops, average speed, etc - really, anything you guys can tell me about that hypothetical train ride would be awesome.

Thanks!

[timz]

Nobody can tell you about 1872, but we know some stuff about 1870 and 1874 (and later years). They reprinted the 1870 Official Guide, and lots of us have it, and the 1874 is online at http://naotc.org -- scroll down the left side to the download-200-old-Official-Guides link.

Ferry San Francisco to Oakland, then train to Sacramento via Niles and Stockton. Or maybe it would be just as easy to take the boat San Francisco to Sacramento.

Central Pacific train Sacramento to Ogden-- change there to a Union Pacific train to Omaha or Council Bluffs-- change there to a train to Chicago-- dunno if one train could take you Chicago to NY.

Guess the western RRs were still burning wood in 1874?

[Paul of Covington]

   There is a book (reprint) that I found fascinating:

"Westward By Rail" by William Fraser Rae, ISBN 1-56619-137-8

He was an Englishman who in 1869 crossed the Atlantic to New York and traveled by train to San Francisco.   In this book he described his adventures and his impressions of the places he visited and the trains he rode.  If you can get it, I think you would enjoy it and probably get some ideas from it.

[mudchicken]

There was only one railroad accross the Missouri River* in 1872 and it wasn't Uncle Pete until 3-27-1872, so unless somebody took a boat, you were on Kansas Pacific for a short while. Maybe to Denver and then north to Cheyenne on Denver Pacific to UP to CPRR

* CB&Q (Hannibal & St Joseph) was across the Missouri at Hannibal in 1869 and would connect to KP...Wabash was across the Missouri in 1871 at St Charles but had no decent connections or construction west. Getting through the middle of the country in that period was problematic.

[wanswheel]

timz

1870 Official Guide

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015076287575;view=2up;seq=128

[BaltACD]

Interesting is the 'Standard of Time' notation in the block in the bottom right of the page.

[rcdrye]

UP had a ferry at Council Bluffs/Omaha.  Ferry crossing of major rivers was just part of normal operation, with through cars handled.  SP had a car ferry in its direct Oakland-Sacramento route until 1930.

There were several ways to travel from Chicago to New York.  The Michigan Central line via Ontario, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern (both later New York Central System), the Pittsburg Fort Wayne & Chicago (Pennsylvania RR) along with other lines that connected, for example, in Cincinnati.  Since most trains didn't offer meal service, getting off to change trains was often combined with a meal, or a stay in a hotel.  Often changing trains required changing stations as well.  On every route except New York Central and Hudson River the final leg to New York was by ferry from New Jersey.

Pittsburg didn't get its final "h" until WWI.

[timz]

rcdrye

UP had a ferry at Council Bluffs/Omaha. Ferry crossing of major rivers was just part of normal operation, with through cars handled.

Offhand guess: UP never ferried passenger cars across the Missouri River. Suspect passenger cars didn't run thru for some years even after the bridge opened.

[beaulieu]

mudchicken

There was only one railroad accross the Missouri River* in 1872 and it wasn't Uncle Pete until 3-27-1872, so unless somebody took a boat, you were on Kansas Pacific for a short while. Maybe to Denver and then north to Cheyenne on Denver Pacific to UP to CPRR

* CB&Q (Hannibal & St Joseph) was across the Missouri at Hannibal in 1869 and would connect to KP...

Wrong town, the Hannibal and St. Joseph crossed the Missouri at St. Joseph, MO, it crossed the Mississippi River at Hannibal.

[Gramp]

ldelzell

  I'm looking for the names of rail lines operating in that time in place, how long the journey might have taken,

"time and place"

Thought you'd want to know. 

[wanswheel]

https://archive.org/stream/mckenneysgazette1872lmmc#page/n17/mode/2up

[rcdrye]

Union Pacific Transfer offered a car ferry at Council Bluffs from 1866 to 1872.  Pullman Silver Palace Cars running on a weekly schedule were regularly transferred via the ferry, but most passengers got to walk.

[ldelzell]

ldelzell

Hey there, everyone:

I'm an aspiring writer, and right now I'm working on a story set in spring of 1872. In the story, the characters travel from San Francisco to New York City, predominantly by rail. I am trying to find plausible details about how that trip might have gone; I'm looking for the names of rail lines operating in that time in place, how long the journey might have taken, what kind of amenities might have been available for passengers, how many coaling stops, average speed, etc - really, anything you guys can tell me about that hypothetical train ride would be awesome.

Thanks!

 

 

Wow, guys, that's amazing. You guys were able to actually come up with way more information than I thought anybody was going to be able to find on short notice - thank you all!

I'm going to need to take some time to go through all this, but this is absolutely superb. Thanks especially to wansweel for those images, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

I'm amazed!

[ldelzell]

Hah! yeah, that's... that's bad, ain't it?

[ldelzell]

Great, I'll add that one to the list.