Wyhog posted:Frankly I think the idea of a 'transcontinental railroad' has been mistakenly identified with the Union Pacific. The idea at the time I believe was that the 1862-1869 expansion to the western coast _completed_ a transcontinental rail system that included the several RRs east of Council Bluffs from the east coast. The 'transcontinental' applied to the entire route(s) not just the Union Pacific (+Central Pacific/Southern Pacific) half-con. But somehow along the way, 'transcontinental' became almost synonymous with U.P. alone. We still don't don't have a single true transcontinental RR in the U.S.
What about Amtrak? Granted it does not own the rails but it goes from sea to shining sea.