Trains are one of the world's most common forms of transportation. Whether it's people, goods, within a city, across a country, or intercontinental, a couple of simple rails have positively changed many nation's economies.
Enter a somewhat obscure but very important location in this country: Golden Spike National Historical Park. Located nearly 100 miles northwest of Salt Lake City, this serves as a protected area for Promontory Summit, where Leland Stanford drove the golden spike to complete the Transcontinental Railroad, allowing people and freight to be transported from one side of the country to the other. Not only did it surpass the late President Lincoln's goal of 14 days of coast-to-coast travel down to 10, but became a turning point in the mid-century native wars of the west, as the military was able to be quickly moved to reinforce the federal government's positions across the territories.
Promontory Summit has been reduced to a ceremonial location, as the original rail line was decommissioned around the time of the Great Depression and its material salvaged for World War II. Visitors today will see approximately two miles of "demonstration rail" along with two active locomotives "facing off" with each other: Union Pacific's locomotive 119 to the east, and Central Pacific's Jupiter locomotive to the west, each carrying a single car behind it. Time your trip well, and you may be able to see one running along the tracks. Several miles of the original rights-of-way are now able to be driven by visitors, in the form of two auto tours on the west and east sides of the summit. There you'll be able to get a glimpse into the construction strategies, along with an interesting wager made between the two companies. The golden spike is presently held at Stanford University, and there are several routes available to travel across the country by rail.
Although train travel has fallen out of favor in the United States when compared to airplanes and automobiles, in addition to regular intercity travel offered by Amtrak, enthusiasts are able to experience railroad adventures enjoyed in yesteryear. One possibility to try is the Granite State Railway which travels seasonally in New Hampshire between Meredith and Laconia. Another is the 1880 Train running in South Dakota between Hill City and Keystone. There are several other scenic railroad routes across the country, as well as many rail preservation societies across the country trying to maintain this important means of travel.
If your Internal Compass runs along two rails, or even if it's just one via a monorail system, you may be excited to explore the history of the American train system.
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