Transcontinental railroad
Also known as: transcontinental railway
Community · Westward expansion trailsA transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders.
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technological successor that rendered overland trails obsolete
The completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869 provided a faster, safer alternative to the arduous months-long journey by wagon train.