1800's railroad problems

[RayofSunshine]

Nothing is smooth sailing.
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Opposition:
Wells Fargo - loss of stagecoach lines revenue
Panama Steamship - Passenger and products transportation from Panama to SFO revenue
Sitka Ice Company - used glacier ice - while railroads would be using close at hand Sierra Mts snow for refrigeration

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Central Pacific _ Financial problems
Tried for Govt Loan for $15M, but could only raise $300,000.

Union Pacific - Financial problems.
Tried for Govt loan for $2M, but could only raise $300,000.

Inflation problems for both railroads. The CP inits initial stage of construction

But even though the UP was already in ooperation, wanting an expansion, both ran into the problem of investors wanting fast profits in a boom during the Civil War, in munitions, metals, provisions, all for the war effort. They believed the Railroad concept as a risky business, even for the UP, and the CP was still in its inital stage, and would take years in its completion for operation.

If they would be available, an engine prior to the Civil War cost $1,000, now was increased to $13,666.

A ton of rails price rose from $55 to $115, and that was at the Boston Warf, and for the CP, they would have to suffer the cost to have it shippd to the West Coast.

There was also the problem with the railroads getting funding in "greenbacks". The Problem? Businesses on the West Coast believed "greenbacks" too unstable. Hence an exchange into Gold, at a loss of 57c on the dollar.

One of the many delays was, and if they could be obtained, was the duration of time to even get rails, spikes, shovels, wheelbarrows, hammers, etc, basically due to the War effort.

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Tunnel Trivia
One of 15 tunnels on the Central Pacific: Summit Tunnel
20 ft in height
1659 ft of solid granite
7032 ft above sea level, and 124 ft below the summit.

The tunnel required 500 kegs of dynamite a day for blasting
of which only 8 inches of progress was made in 24 hours.

Winter snow avalanches initiated
17 miles of snow sheds and
65 million boards feet of timbers

In 1867 it took 12 engines to ram the
Bucker snowplow through 30 ft snow drifts, 24 hours a day.
In 1890 a rotary plow could clear 30 ft drifts in 1 hour.

Just goes to show the progress mankind creats to surcome obstacales.

Again, these are some of the "reality" which today we take for granted, and the problems which help to build this country into the country in which we now live. Hope you Enjoy.

[Lone Cat]

And when did the two 'pacific' railroads began using sticky fuel oil for its steam locomotives? before or after the completion of the transcontinental railroad??

[RayofSunshine]

Well LoneCAt,
There is a little information which is missing as to answer your question completely. But here are some of the facts which have been given.

The "meeting of the rails" was in 1869, and within 30 years there were the completion of 4 more railroads which helped to complete "east to west" transportation. Now although a "date" is not given, I would assume that the "sticky pot" operation would have been prior to the "meeting of the rails". This assumption be based on some of the first engines were in the 1830s, such as the Norris. It is more evident from pictures, that engines of the 1950-60s, such as the Baldwin, show indications that there was a "lubricaing device" in operation. HOWEVER, the article which I am in reference, indicted that the device was not in operation until the later 1880s. SO, your guess is as good as mine, but the article does give us the knowledge, that there was a device, which helped to eliminate some of the hazardous duties of a fireman.

The Westinghouse Air Brake System was introduced in the late 1880's, which made the Brakeman's job less dangerous, but still does not lessen the danger of "coupling the pin and hole" responsibility. Nothing to do with the firemens duties, but just tossed into the post, as it also helps to eliminate Brakeman's hazardous duties.

Hope all this helps for everyone to draw their own conclusions. More could possibly be found on the internet.

[Lone Cat]

So how many snow sheds and tunnels were there in the SP portion of the Transcontinental ? The sheds did influenced the SP locomotive designs--The Cab Forwards, once Mallet shown up in America.
And why did the first transcontinental had been rebuilt after JUST THREE YEARS after the Promontory meeting? meow~
And about UP using Civil War veterans as their track crew. Was it union veterans only? did the Rebel veterans work with UP (or any railroad projects sprung up following the end of Civil War)?

[RayofSunshine]

Well LoneCat,
The article of which I have obtained the information, does not give all the particulars of each continental railroad. There are sometimes just a mention of a problem in their routing, but not the complete history. Now I do not have much luck with obtianing articles from the internet, but I would assume that Wikipedia would have some documentary on the Southern Pacific. In other words, the article did not go into great detailing of some of the question you proposed.

[Lone Cat]

Few more on American RR history. This time about couplers.
1. What is the first coupling systems used by ANY Railroads in the US? Link & Pin or Chain and Buffer?
2. What is the first railroad to use Janney couplers? and when? before or after the completion of First Transcontinental?
3. In many computer games portraying wildwests... for example... Desperados ... you'll see a generic 2-6-0 Mogul (which looks distinctively American) hauls a train linked with chain and buffer couplings (sometimes the RT3 too!). some American railroads uses Chain and Buffer coupling systems, while in real life... the Link & Pin was used (to the point that there's no referreces to Chain and Buffer being used by any American railroads before Janney knuckle couplers... However many 'North American' locomotives seen in RT3 ... including ones that's originated in the United States.... uses what appears to be chain & buffer ... to be specific look at 'Baldwin 0-6-0' that shown up in 1845 . Did Americans really EVER use chain and buffer before? if so why wasn't it popular (or not even exists there!) compared to link and pin ?

[RayofSunshine]

That is interesting LoneCat,
As I have never heard of the Chain & Buffer, it could be an interesting "search" to see about it use, and not having much information about either is "creation, benefits, and discontinuence".