Union Pacific Railroad hosts 150th anniversary

[W.G.Ewald]

Union Pacific Railroad hosts 150th anniversary celebration at Union Station in Portland | OregonLive.com

Portland resident Phil Heid, 95, sat in a wheelchair under the shade, looking over a fleet of locomotive passenger trains parked in the sun at Union Station.

He was there Saturday morning for Union Pacific Railroad's 150th anniversary celebration, a free, two-day event marking the creation of a rail line brought about by President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Pacific Railway Act on July 1, 1862. Now, Union Pacific links 23 states west of the Mississippi River by rail.

 

[satish007]

July 1, 1862: President Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, which authorized the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific to build a railroad to the Pacific Ocean.
The majority of the Union Pacific track was built by Irish laborers,[17] and veterans of both the Union and Confederate armies.
The Central Pacific's grade was constructed primarily by many thousands of emigrant workers from China who were commonly referred to at the time as "Celestials" and China as the "Celestial Kingdom." Even though at first they were thought to be too weak or fragile to do this type of work, after the first few days on which Chinese were on the line, the decision was made to hire as many as could be found in California (where most were independent gold miners or in service industries such as laundries and kitchens). Many more were imported from China. Most of the men received between one and three dollars per day, but the workers arriving directly from China received much less.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad

 

[pmaitra]

Legend of Union Pacific - Big Boy


What a behemoth!

 

[pmaitra]

Legend of Union Pacific - Turbine


A new era in traction!

 

[pmaitra]

Union Pacific was a major transcontinental system. Many US railroads added the word 'Pacific' to create an aura of being a large network, although some of them never really reached the Pacific Coast. Union Pacific remains a legend today, and its locomotives as exotic replicas of the Golden Era of US rail transport. Three locomotives of particular importance are the Big Boy, Challenger, and the Turbine Family of locomotives, which are matched by a few others, such as the Cab Forwards of the Southern Pacific.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

You must visit the California State Railroad Museum if you are in Sacramento.

California State Railroad Museum

 

[W.G.Ewald]

July 1, 1862: President Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, which authorized the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific to build a railroad to the Pacific Ocean.
The majority of the Union Pacific track was built by Irish laborers,[17] and veterans of both the Union and Confederate armies.
The Central Pacific's grade was constructed primarily by many thousands of emigrant workers from China who were commonly referred to at the time as "Celestials" and China as the "Celestial Kingdom." Even though at first they were thought to be too weak or fragile to do this type of work, after the first few days on which Chinese were on the line, the decision was made to hire as many as could be found in California (where most were independent gold miners or in service industries such as laundries and kitchens). Many more were imported from China. Most of the men received between one and three dollars per day, but the workers arriving directly from China received much less.

First Transcontinental Railroad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CHINESE-AMERICAN CONTRIBUTION TO TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

On May 8th, the Colfax Area Historical Society in my Congressional District will place a monument along Highway 174 at Cape Horn, near Colfax, California to recognize the efforts of the Chinese in laying the tracks that linked the east and west coasts for the first time. With the California Gold Rush and the opening of the West came an increased interest in building a transcontinental railroad. To this end, the Central Pacific Railroad Company was established, and construction of the route East from Sacramento began in 1863. Although the beginning of the effort took place on relatively flat land, labor and financial problems were persistent, resulting in only 50 miles of track being laid in the first two years. Although the company needed over 5,000 workers, it only had 600 on the payroll by 1864.Chinese labor was suggested, as they had already helped build the California Central Railroad, the railroad from Sacramento to Marysville and the San Jose Railway. Originally thought to be too small to complete such a momentous task, Charles Crocker of Central Pacific pointed out, "the Chinese made the Great Wall, didn't they?"