Monday, August 21, 2006

First "intercontinental railroad"

From: "Wendell Huffman" wwhuffma@clan.lib.nv.us

I'm curious where the first "intercontinental railroad" was built. Russia? between Europe and Asia? ...

—W.

7 Comments:

Blogger CPRR Discussion Group said...

Very strange ... a Google search gives page after page of links to websites referring to the U.S. first transcontinental railroad as the "first intercontinental railroad."

Of course, "intercontinental" means between continents and is not a synonym for "transcontinental."

Could this usage be due to the Pacific Railroad having been touted as connecting Europe with India via North America?

8/21/2006 2:32 PM  
Blogger CPRR Discussion Group said...

From: "Wendell Huffman" wwhuffma@clan.lib.nv.us

Very good point. And perhaps so.

—Wendell

8/21/2006 3:13 PM  
Blogger CPRR Discussion Group said...

Are you looking for the first railroad to cross a border between two continents; the first railroad to span a continent and continue into another adjacent continent; the first railroad to span two entire adjacent continents; or some other definition?

8/21/2006 3:18 PM  
Blogger CPRR Discussion Group said...

There is a book:

Intercontinental Railway Commission. Report Of Surveys And Explorations Made By Corps #2 of Costa Rica, Columbia and Ecuador. 1891-1893. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C., 1896. 326 pages. Photographs, and many fold out maps throughout showing the railroad routes through the various Central American countries. Half of the book is written in English, the other half in Spanish. An early report on the railroad routes through these Central and South American countries with many good fold out maps of the railroad routes through these locations.

From various volumes currently offered online:

This appears to be one volume from Cassatt, Alexander J., Intercontinental Railway Commission. a Condensed Report of the Transactions of the Commission and of the Surveys and Explorations of Its Engineers in Central and South America. 1891-1898 4 Volumes.

Macomb, M.M. INTERCONTINENTAL RAILWAY COMMISSION. REPORT OF SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. VOL I, PART II. Washington: 1898, Government Printing Office. Corps No. 1 in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica in 1891-93. Three folding panoramas, tipped in photo of a 'native place of worship', 36 photo plates.

Intercontinental Railway Commission. Corps No. 3 In Ecuador And Peru. Washington, 1895. Intercontinental Railway Commission. Volume III. Reports of surveys and explorations made by Corps No. 3 in Ecuador and Peru. Twenty tipped in plates illustrating people, architecture, landscape and existing railways. Numerous folding table. 188 p. + unpaginate tables and indexes. Text in English and Spanish.

Intercontinental Railway Commission. Volume I. Part I. A Condensed Report of the Transactions of the Commission and of the Surveys and Explorations of Its Engineers in Central and South America. 1891-1898. Intercontinental Railway Commission., 1898 charts in slipcase inside rear cover, 403 pp, index, 11 x 9 1/2 inches, cloth-covered boards (hardbound). Text in English and Spanish. (Argentina Bolivia Brazil Central America chile Colombia Costa Rica Ecuador El Salvador Exploration Guatemala Honduras map Nicaragua Paraguay railroad Railways South America spanish Surveying Uruguay Venezuela South America, Central America & the West ...) Numerous black and white plates, 11 foldout color maps ...

8/21/2006 3:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The main route of the [Trans-Siberian railway] runs from Moscow to Vladivostok via southern Siberia and was built between 1891 and 1916."

8/21/2006 3:51 PM  
Blogger CPRR Discussion Group said...

From: "Wendell Huffman" wwhuffma@clan.lib.nv.us

I'm not looking for anything. I was commenting on the query posted earlier by the individual indicating he was going to write a novel about the first "intercontinental" railroad.

—W.

8/21/2006 3:54 PM  
Blogger CPRR Discussion Group said...

From: "Wendell Huffman" wwhuffma@clan.lib.nv.us

Now, there is always the San Francisco & Buenos Aires Railroad organized in San Francisco in 1876. I don't believe it was ever built (joke). And I have here The Three Americas Railway, an international and intercontinental enterprise ...

—W.

8/21/2006 6:51 PM  

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