WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will mark the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad by opening two new exhibits on Friday.
“Forgotten Workers: Chinese Migrants and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad” and the accompanying “The Transcontinental Railroad” will be on display until spring 2020.
“Forgotten Workers” will focus on the Chinese laborers whose work made possible completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, with objects providing a look into the daily lives of Chinese laborers, a large floor map showing the terrain that challenged the builders of the railroad, and two interpretive carts. The “Stereoscope Cart: Building the Transcontinental Railroad” will feature historic 3-D images from the construction. The “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” cart will learn about the jobs involved in building and operating the railroad.
“The Transcontinental Railroad” display will feature models of the locomotives that met at Promontory Summit, Utah, and a replica spike donated by Union Pacific in 1958. More information on the displays is available here; additional information on the museum is available here.
It is ironic that the homeland of the impoverished Chinese workers that built America’s first transcontinental railway has far surpassed America in passenger rail infrastructure. America ‘shot itself in the foot’ neglecting its railways and only funding highways and airline infrastructure.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum (6th & Jefferson streets, Springfield IL) has a display of model trains and other information depicting the 150th anniversary of the transcon’s completion. It’s located across from the ALPLM at Union Station and will be available until January 2020. Union Pacific’s main line is just two blocks from the former Illinois Central’s Station. The clock tower which was dismantled decades ago has been restored in its entirety.