Even after the Golden Spike ceremony, it was not possible to traverse from one ocean to the other via any RR in North America. There were sections where one had to take a ferry across a river or a cab across town to change RRs and the CP ended several miles from the Pacific coast.
But you could cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific on a RR that at least you could view the oceans from the furthermost stations on the line. And you could do it long before the "Transcon" was completed! You just had to go to Panama to do so, and, granted, the Atlantic was actually a portion of the Gulf of Mexico (the demarcation between the two being somewhat nebulous, even today).
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
I would opine that government regulation stood in the way of a true transcon - and in some ways, still does.
The difference is that back in the day, a single transcon might have involved several of the dozens (nay, hundreds) of Class 1's. Granted, the number was limited west of Chicago, but there could have been at least four true transcontinental railroads.
Today you have the choice of two eastern railroads and two western railroads. I believe it's been suggested that if one such merger occurred, the other would be close behind.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
The UP and CenP were the last link in a transcontinental RR. The SP was transcontinental since it connected the Pacific with the Gulf.
Because of the golden spike anniversary, we have been reading a lot about "the transcontinentals."
I have never understood this terminology. None of the so-designated railroads stretched from coast to coast. The "transcontinentals" were/are, as far as I can tell, all roads that linked the Pacific coast to the middle of the US.
So why isn't a railroad that links the Atlantic coast to the middle of the country a transcontinental? NYC, PRR, B&O, etc., are never referred to as transcontinentals.
What's up with that?
It seems to me that none of them were transcontinental.
And there still is no coast-to-coast railroad, right? (I mean in the US. But Canada has two, I think. Don't CN and CP each go coast to coast? Or darn close to it?)
Still in training.
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