what happened to american R.R.?

[VAE VICTUS]

1800 miles of iron,what happened to it?is it still out there? and what happened to the silver spike driven in at promontory point, utah?

[Oaty]

Well for 1 thing your track milage is way off, 1800 miles of track would not get you from 1 coast to the other, so you might be missing a number there. Track mileage of railroads peaked up until the automobile became common. Railroad usage (passenger) rose again during world war 2 due to many factors, 1 of them being people were limited on how much gas they could buy. Up until 1940 passenger trafiic was in decline and barely profitable. The railroads were back in business with passenger traffic but became unprofitable by the late 40's early 50's and at this time track mileage went into a constant decline. At this time railroads were hurting on business because the government forced them to keep passenger lines running. Then AmTrak was formed and was the only railroad forced to maintain passenger traffic, relieving the rail business of there burdonesome passenger routes. The rails were once again a profitable businesses but the track mileage would never stretch to its fromer glory.

Also rails don't give smooth rides, where as a car rides nice and smooth. Another factor it may be economical for 1 ticket but buying tickets for the family is too costly so the car gets used.

[ajaxfetish]

It was a gold spike, not silver, and was removed immediately after the ceremony, replaced by a regular iron one. It's now on display at Stanford University.

Also, Promontory Point is a point of land jutting out into the Great Salt Lake far south of the railroad; the event actually took place at Promontory, or Promontory Summit. The misnamed location is a common mistake, though.

Here's a link about the spike itself:
http://ccva.stanford.edu/spike.html

Ajax