Picture of the day - March 1, 2006

Railroad Tracks Near Emory, VA

Today's picture features the Norfolk & Southern railroad tracks near Emory, Va. Norfolk & Southern is one of the nation's largest and most powerful railroads with operations in 22 eastern states, Washington, DC and Ontario, Canada. Long before interstate highways crisscrossed the nation - in fact long before there were automobiles to drive on them, the primary mode of long-distance transportation was the train. It's doubtful that the America we know and love today would even exist in its present form were it not for the railroads. In the early 1800's, California and what would eventually become the western United States was more or less isolated from the by-then well established population centers and industrial infrastructure back east. An overland trip "out west" took several months of very difficult travel, and moving heavy machinery across the country was simply impossible - it had to be taken by ship all the way around Cape Horn! Recognizing the need to build a railroad that crossed the entire North American continent, orators of the day joined the newspapers in lobbying the politicians for money and personnel to build this transcontinental railroad. In 1853, Congress approved a then-whopping $150,000 to seek out a feasible route for the railroad bed. After several fits and starts, the surveying and construction began in earnest. As crews moved across the country trying to decide where the railroad should go, numerous small towns and villages lobbied them with explanations of why the tracks should run through their towns. The "winning" localities prospered because of the money, supplies and settlers that came into town on the trains - inevitably some of each would stay behind when the trains pulled out to continue their cross-country journey. On May 10, 1869, the "Golden Spike" was driven at Promontory, Utah, the place where the tracks laid by the Central Pacific Railroad had finally joined those of the Union Pacific - the Transcontinental Railroad was now complete. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad was the single most important event leading to the cultural and economic development of the west. A trip that once took months now took just a few days, and not just for settlers and workers. It also included the heavy machinery that was so desperately needed to build modern cities and industries on the west coast. Eventually, several other transcontinental railroads were built and tracks were laid connecting most parts of the U.S. like a huge spider web. Within just a few short years the culture and economic power of the west coast has pretty much caught up with the east. In recent times we haven't given much thought to the railroads - indeed, many smaller rail lines now sit idle. But thousands of miles of those cold steel rails still deliver much of the nation's goods to points far and wide, and with the price of crude oil recently reaching record levels the railroads are quickly regaining the respect they enjoyed back "when the west was young".   Picture Of The Day Homepage | Submit a photo Interesting Articles