USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Central Pacific Railroad began operating freight and passenger trains over the first 31 miles of track to Newcastle in June 1864. The line began in Sacramento, the railroad’s western terminus.

Detailed explanation-2: -Sacramento, Calif., which was incorporated in 1849, has been a railroad town since the Sacramento Valley Railroad operated the first steam-powered railroad in the far West between Sacramento and Folsom in 1855.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Central Pacific laid 690 miles (1, 110 km) of track, starting in Sacramento, California, in 1863 and continuing over the rugged 7, 000-foot (2, 100 m) Sierra Nevada mountains at Donner Pass into the new state of Nevada.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Central Pacific broke ground in Sacramento in January 1863; the Union Pacific in Omaha in December 1863. Progress was slow until the Civil War ended.