While waiting for the train the other day, I looked down at the railroad tracks, and the ties and ballast that support them. I was noticing the way the rails are fastened to the ties involves some complexity - they are not just fastened down with driven spikes. then I noticed how far apart the railroad ties were. About a foot between each tie. And then it hit me - imagine how many ties were needed to construct the transcontinental railroad! Wow! At one foot apart, that means over five-thousand ties per mile. Wikipedia tells us that the first transcontinental railroad ran from Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska, via Ogden, Utah, and Sacramento, California with the Pacific Ocean at Oakland, California. The total distance was 1777 miles! THAT is a lot of railroad ties!
No comments:
Post a Comment