Building the Transcontinental Railroad
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2019
- It was the moonshot of the 19th century - crews working East from Sacramento and West from Omaha to build the Transcontinental Railroad, meeting on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah. To help mark the project's 150th anniversary, the 7,000 horsepower Union Pacific steam engine #4014, built in the 1940s, has been restored. John Blackstone takes a ride, and talks with descendants of Chinese immigrants who were key to completing the 1,776-mile-long railroad.
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Finally, I was wondering when the media would at last give this story attention. Big Boy is more than a mere steam train, it's an American icon (and the largest successful engine ever). Glad to see it finally getting the spotlight it deserves.
I told my wife the same thing. This is a few weeks late, but at least it got the Nat'l attention it deserves. Big Boy IS more than just a mere steam train.
WELL in Utah they did I was there ALOT of people were too
Well didn't take long before the diversity narrative clouded the point of the video. Anything history related and make sure you throw some white guilt in there.
Let’s hope the king can get 1218 as his queen or the up challenger
Yep. The story was quickly turned into race, and away from the great accomplishment of the United States.
Fake news always has to find the race, gender or gay angle.
I'm so glad the descendants of the Chinese railworkers are in this piece, and their history reviewed!
When isn't it? I haven't seen a doc made in the last 30 years that didn't review the Chinese contribution extensively. For example, this piece here is at least 2/3 about how abusive people were to the Chinese.
I never thought I'd see Abraham Lincoln talking into a cell phone 2:34! 😄
Anything is possible lol
It’s the internet, it must be true 😂
Historical note Lincoln was killed at the end of the Civil war years before the Transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869 is that guy playing Lincoln's ghost?
@@robc8468 Lol true
Isn't he the same guy who said never believe anything on the internet?
I'm always glad to see an old locomotive rebuilt; but even more to see the descendants of the Chinese workers finally put in the picture.
They probably don't even look Chinese any more.
I adore CBS Sunday Morning. Imagine a world where most of the programming was like this. Positivity would shine through.
, I also adore CBS Sunday Morning, especially when they show there true bias, and endorse butchering innocent little new born babies,,mentally ill, fake boys that whan to be girls,also FAKE news and lying propaganda concerning the terrible poisons in vaccines, GMOs, chem trails, human trafficking with Child Protective Services being child rapists,,,etc.
@Costa Zambaras , on the bright side, maybe you can look up a brain ,so says the talentless loser hack, that you are, with "This channel doesn't have any content: on your POS UTube channel and especially "NO ORIGINAL CONTENT" double loser, liberal hater.
Show less
But seriously who is up that early on Sunday?
Our nation is built on the contributions and sacrifices of many people from many lands. WE would not be America or Americans if it were not for our rich tapestry of people who chose to become Americans. Thank you, let's stand together, not divided and be proud moving forward always.
America was over 90% white until the 1960s. Sure, lots of different races made contributions, but it was vast majority white men that built this nation. Look at all the old footage of the empire state building being built for example. All white men. America was founded on European values, which made it they way it is today.
Did all of them really chose?
@@dylanjames4706 Thank you....true that. Even those who were forced contributed.
@@victorhuey2892 Thank you, Yes that is true. The seminal issue is giving non-caucasians credit for contributing to the growth of the United States. Below is an article that does well to speak to that as I lack the talent to articulate the argument. Please take a look.
www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/15/1485434/-THE-ABSURD-MYTH-THAT-CAUCASIANS-ALONE-BUILT-AMERICA
our nation is built upon exploiting and slavery
Next time you are stuck at a crossing; sit, breathe, relax. Remember; we are moving the freight that supplies a nation.
Indeed. I tend to look at those freight trains and think, "That's at least 150 semi trucks not on the road and potentially causing traffic headaches right now." I also want to thank you and the other railway workers for the important jobs that you do.
I've crossed America four times via train. One of the great experiences. Love it when a freight and passenger train pass each other.
I took video footage from the back door of the train. Awesome,it takes one's breath away!
Eight Irish workers laid ten miles, fifty six feet, of rail from sunup to sundown, on one of the last days before the join up.
They picked up, and laid down, 3520 rails, each weighing 560 lbs, for a total of 1,971,200, nearly two million lbs.
Therefore each man carried , and put in place 246,400 lbs of steel, or 123.2 tons of steel, and walked at least ten miles, while doing so.
They were supposed to be relieved at noon, but didn't trust the relief crew, so they worked all day.
This shows the pride, and toughness, the workers of those day's had.
Bless their memories.
I'm actually Chinese American with possible European blood and I'm proud that we contributed to building the railroad system here stateside
Thank you CBS for giving some exposure to the Chinese-Americans who helped built America. This piece of history has long been ignored and it's way overdue for Chinese-Americans to receive the respect & recognition they deserve. Give credit where it's due.
Who cares. At one point or another, everyone was discriminated against. The Irish, Italians, Greeks, and Germans. At one point in time, Germans were the countries "undesirables"
@@TheBandit7613so Sorry that you can’t seem to feel for other people. I suggest therapy
My History teacher Is making me watch this
same bruh
Me too xd
I’m watching it on my own
@@zachthomas7810 Nerd
@@billnye5972 ok
So many accomplishments by Asian-Americans have been erased. As an Asian-American (a Filipino-American), I'm glad this didn't happen to the immense contributions of Chinese-Americans to the creation of the transcontinental railroad.
Same as one after all we built the railroads
"If they can build a wall, they can build a railroad" Charles Crocker - Central Pacific R.R.
I’m very glad No.4014 is up to its own power and running again, the big boy No.4014 was my favorite steam locomotive. I started liking big boy No.4014 when I was 3 or 5!
U do realize there is also an SD70M No. 4014 as well right?
Big Boy - What a collosus !
Memories of
Rail Road Tycoon 2 !
What a game. Still play the 1998 classic.
I believe at school we should talk more about the transcontenental railroad because it was like the first man to go to the moon in the 1800 and it was such a big accomplishment in history without the transcontenental railroad America woldint be America I am happy that this history finally hit the spotlight. And thank you UP for bringing back the iorn giant that we thought would never rule the rails agen.
So happy to say I got to be there on May 10th! Something like 10,000 people turned out for the 150th anniversary at Promontory Summit (and that might have been just on May 10th!). Just as the Chinese were the bulk of the workforce on the Central Pacific, the Union Pacific's workforce was made up of a lot of Irish immigrants who too faced prejudice from their non-Irish counterparts. When both railroads entered Utah and were building side by side, the Irish and Chinese workers often worked together and could both relate to facing prejudice and discrimination. At the 150th anniversary the music group the Black Irish Band told this story and invited some Chinese descendants up on stage to sing some traditional work songs, showing how the two groups came together and shared a story that not many may have known about.
More freight trains less trucks.
Agreed but you still need a way to get it from the train to the market. Not every market or shop has tracks going to them. If they did you would be complaining about all the trains blocking your path to the store. Trucks take up where trains can't go. Trains are great for moving bulk items from one area to another. But terrible at getting it directly into your pocket.
Without trucks, goods would not be able to get into your hands
@@wayned1807 Long distance trucking makes no sense only for the last 150 miles or less.
@@robc8468 I ship a lot of tooling we make at my business to areas all over the country. Mostly small specialty items like molds, dies, assembly fixtures, etc. that will fit on one pallet or in a box. It's picked up by truck and delivered by truck. What it does in between is out of my control. I know trucking companies that specialize in refrigeration make long hauls with team drivers so they never stop except for fuel and food. Fed-Ex and UPS do the same. There is a huge Fed-Ex Ground facility down the street from my shop. A Fed-Ex truck pulls in there and leaves every minute like clockwork. Drivers are only in there long enough to swap trailers. Trucks have there place and trains have their place. Working together and competing against one another is what makes commerce work in a free country.
@@wayned1807 Trucks are inefficient when using the interstate - Use the rails at that point. But short range trucking is absolutely important.
Thank You John Blackstone. I dressed the part, took a chance, you made my dream come true! I got to be part of the historic day. 2:33.
In the 1970s, a couple of college friends and I came up to the Donner Summit area and camped out ovenite with the idea to go rock climbing. Well, I don't recall any rock climbing there, but we walked thru the tunnels when there was no grafitti yet in place. I will never forget going thru those tunnels. Can't do that any more.
After they built the railroad, most of the Chinese who worked there came down to the Central Valley of CA (near Stockton) to work on creating the levees that allowed the central valley to become the breadbasket for much of the world in the late 1800s. To allow use of the peat dirt created by the reclamation by the levees, Stockton created the caterpillar tractor that ultimately became the army tank we see now all over the world.
Now that's cool, good for them bringing our history back to life. I want to see it.
Well done Ed Dickens, Glad your taking up the torch of steam especially restoring the Big Boy
One of those Chinese Railroad Workers was named Bing. After the Railroad was completed he found work on an Orchard in the Pacific NW. There, he developed a Cherry we know today as the Bing Cherry.
0:23 they forgot to mention that what we railfans might never see again is the doubleheader.
A doubleheader is where two steam engines supply traction on one train. Union Pacific #844 was behind #4014. This was a doubleheader, this is what we may never see again.
Well I don’t know if 4014 and 844 will *never* double head again. I wouldn’t be surprised if UP had them double head every year for the “Depot Days” event.
Conditions were so bad on the Central Pacific's path through the mountains that a saying it the time "Chinamans Chance" meant no chance at all.
good vid....i actually never understood why we have "China Town" in cities now I do Thank you so much to the Chinese who helped build the Transcontinental railroad!
Chinatowns were the only places where the Chinese could live, they made them into what they are today
Good job connecting two different stories. The stories of railroads are always more about people than iron and steam.
The same happened to the Irish on the eastern route.
The West by Ken Burns covers this topic very well if anyone wants to know more.
It's very simple:
They started in the east, laying down the rail, and out in California folks were blazing out a trail. Towards the center they did strive; no one knew when they would arrive, building the Transcontinental Railroad. They cleared the way and blasted through the mountainside, and built big tressel bridges stretched across the valleys wide, and it's a fact they laid more than three thousand miles of track to build the Transcontinental Railroad.
It took six years, and in the spring of 1869, in Promontory, Utah they connected the first line. And across the growing nation, folks joined in the celebration of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Ed Dickens is the man.
Yes he is. Love your channel btw. Keep up the great work.
cMaC Thank you!
Love the Big Boy!!
Lincoln on the phone
🤣
I want to get on a steam train.
Jump onboard the Durango-Silverton train. You'll have a great time. But bring sunglasses, a jacket & don't wear white.
The Irish weren't thauht of too highly eather.
The Irish dug the Erie canal,mostly by hand in the early 1800s.
Whoever was there at the celebration, hit the like button!
The Irish workers of the Union Pacific part of the transcontinental railroad construction weren't even mentioned once, unfortunately. Just as much proud history on the UP than on the CP.
Alot of Chinese history and other ethnic groups of building America has been hidden and not giving any recognition for their efforts. I am sure glad that the people who contributed in building this great country has been recognized. We should have a special holiday to honor their efforts.
So what? At one point or another, everyone was discriminated against. The Irish, Italians, Greeks, and Germans. At one point in time, Germans were the countries "undesirables"
Someone proposed at Promontory AND judging by her reaction I AM sure she said yes. Can't find my video of it almost all the pics are the engines with selfie stick and arms There was a fighter jet flyover and News Hour did something on it Last if the couple is reading this Congratulations
Good reporting
Well done... Great story... Other than the little Sun logo down in the RT hand corner, you kept the standard corporate crap clutter out of the story. God bless Ed Dickens and his crew. The "experts" said bringing the loco back to life would never be done, since it was coal burner, "too big", etc.
Very nice...
4014 has returned in 2019 and is still in operation as of today.
I had to watch this for school :) interesting!
Hardly any comments onthe Big Boy 4014 wow
Because most people already know the story of 4014 already. Not many folks know the deeper parts of the Transcon
the only thing i enjoy on TV
my techer mad me whach it
My stepmom is half Chinese...ABSOLUTELY LOVE HER AND THAT CULTURE!!! 😍
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that one of those steam engines weighed over a million pounds and that one wheel was 17,000 pounds. That is biblical.
Yes and they were built 75 years ago before computers and modern machinery. Simply amazing!
That's pretty inaccurate to say as analog (and even some early digital) computers have existed before the development of the Big Boy started, and modern machinery was definitely not a recent development by that time as well.
@@kevinchan1598 Computers used in manufacturing as we know them today certainly did not exist 75 years ago believe me. I've worked in the manufacturing world as a machinists for 50 years. There were no CNCs, no CAD/CAM software programs, no desktop computers until 30 years ago. Just drafting boards and slide rules. The early computers were the size of warehouses used for secret government code breaking and had less power than a cheap calculator of today. You can pretty much guarantee they didn't use anything close to what we use today. It took brains and brawn back then, something a 20 year old today can't begin to understand.
The Allegheny Steam Locomotive was even bigger, too big for the tracks:
www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/9628/
yay
The glory of steam at its finest. USA! USA!
My grandpa worked as a welder helping build the Big Boy locomotives in Chicago
I thought American Locomotive Company (ALCO) was located in Schenectady, New York had built the Big Boys.
The first transcontinental transportation was the Butterfield Overland Mail.
Is nostalgia
Who’s watching this because it’s an assignment from their history teacher?
This is really what the Chinese brought to the United States. Thank you 🇨🇳
Herritage finally recognized.
Good
Collis Potter Huntington spins in his grave because that "union" company now owns his Central nee Southern Pacific.
Anybody else watch this in History class?
They didnt really use blackpowder to blast though the Seirra's they used nitroglycerin. Its more powerful but much much more dangerous.
They used black powder at first then switched to nitroglycerin when it became available.
As no captions here, CBS feel free to please disable your sound, too!
@SC,,this why CBS, is well known as the "Communist Broadcasting System" ,,the most hated, "Enemy Of The People" in modern times.
@@saminaneen You're off your rocker.
@@bosco7717,, so says the talentless loser hack, that you are, with "This channel doesn't have any content: on your POS UTube channel and especially "NO ORIGINAL CONTENT" double loser, liberal hater.
Summer McEwen laughs
i saw the front of my car in the last clip
UP has an amazing 150 year history. I wondered when CBS would do this story.
Wish the media would cover the mudflood theory
huh
China 🇹🇼 and Ireland 🇨🇮 was to America for the Transcontinental Railroad in the 19th Century as to what Germany 🇩🇪 was for Project Apollo in the 20th Century.
i am here for a school project.
Lol fellowtomes!
Thank you to all 🇺🇸 🇨🇳 and all the men and women, politicians and ALL who made 🚂 🚊 🚞 happen! 💪🏻🗣🙏🏼
good story. mentioned the asian constributors.
why am i reading the comments on this i just have to watch it for school😐
The age of steam is still going strong. How do you think every power plant creates power? By boiling water into steam,
See, I keep telling people don’t knock China, they built this country.
The Irish were a huge part.
Such an old train.
4-8-8-4 locomotive
Hannah meloche laughs
Certainly today we need more trains and less trucks on the highways.
Why do you believe that?
@@artnc4139 because energy issues, if you place that trailer on a train instead of driving it over 1000 miles, it would use much less fuel than to ship it by truck.
@@hbarudi - you are assuming that the beginning and end of the journey are located near a rail terminal and that the cargo is appropriate for a train. It isn't just about the energy consumption. Lettuce used to be shipped from California to Chicago on a daily non-stop Salad Train. That train no longer exists.
@@artnc4139 I assume rail terminal means a station for freight trains to load and unload materials, but at this point, still think it is worth bringing back the train that no longer exists for this kind of shipping as trucks are inefficient.
Their ancestors build the Great Wall.
peace wer auch von der 8c is loooool
Hey rail fans (foamers), check out Trains magazine stories and video. Very informative.
Tara Babcock laugh
all this about the chinese building eastward,
what about mentioning the drunken Irishmen who were building westward?
Or the Mormons.
Oh, wait, no white man ever accomplished anything. We need to get woke.
Papaw was a coal mining irishman. He was a great papaw! He never drank.
I'll take the Western route any day over trying to tunnel through the Sierra Nevada mountains...
Fair. But the Irish are celebrated plenty. Far and away. Gangs of new york. Anything set in boston. Chinese Americans are always left out. Metaphorically. And literally. Chinese exclusion act. Google it friend.
Wait what about all the Indians they killed czcams.com/video/ieMgn_Gy9Gk/video.html
Groan...enable your captions, please. You never read the comments here, don't you?
Thanks for building our tracks, now GIIIIIIIIIIIIT OUT!!!
The thing about the Chinese and the Irish and the Italians that came over in the 1800's for work was that they NEVER complained about being victims all the time. That's such a childish thing to do, and they never ever did it. It's only for political reasons that all peoples who came to America because it was literally a land of opportunity compared with where they had come from. And why they don't have black Americans who were slaves being seen, once they were freed, as people who now had the exact same opportunity as any other immigrant (maybe even with MORE opportunity since they had skills and abilities and natural familiarization with American culture that the other immigrants didn't have....I mean, within 25 years of the Irish potato famine, the Irish were already welcomed with signs saying "Irish need not apply!" signs...... I had an Irish ancestor who was pushed out of the NYC domestic workers market by the mass abundance of ex-slaves applying as maids. The Irish had a seriously bad reputation for being "Typhoid Mary's" and being hard to deal with and drinking to much and worst of all, Catholics....
What is thi--
“One of the biggest” ummm it IS the biggest
In the railfan community there is a debate between this locomotive and the Chesapeake and Ohio 2-6-6-6 built by Lima Locomotive Works in Ohio for which one is the biggest/most powerful.
@@OriginalBongoliath the big boy is longer, but the Allegheny is wider and taller
What about the Irish?
No kidding the Chinese carved through the rock,… There’s a Billion of those little suckers!!😳…. And they make good rice also!
What!? We shouldn't destroy something because it might remind us of bad times and bad behaviors!!!
like the Chinese ppl in Ventura califas...messed up
The other half was built by Irish and former Union and Confederate soldiers and freed slaves.
A lot of the Chinese workers went back to China after they had saved up enough.
Emma chamberlain laughs
P
I knew there would be some kind of racial component to a CBS Sunday Morning wholesome segment.
@Dean Ryan, what do expect from CBS, is well known as the "Communist Broadcasting System" ,,the most hated, "Enemy Of The People" in modern times.
Cheap, foreign labor has always been a part of American history, so maybe that's why it was discussed.
Why do you want history to be whitewashed?
@@bosco7717 , why you filthy lowdown liberal "RACIST" it is only your "White Privilege " that allows you to change the original term "blackwashed", you POS hypocrite, you had no problem with that West Virginia governor, who dressed in "blackface" and degraded African Americans, did you, sloppy seconds boy.
@@MarcusAurelius7777 No mention of the white irishmen who built the railway on the eastern side and received the same treatment as the Chinese 🤔
Hats off to all the Caucasian men who restored the ALCO 4014 at the UP Steam Shop. It really paid tribute to all the white men who originally built them back in the '40s.
Que? Como tu Problema Tonto ?
”modern diesels” haha. Haven’t seen those in 50 years. Electric ⚡️!
(Nordics)
I film diesels all the time. I've only seen electric when I was up in Philadelphia once. I live in northern Virginia and electric stops in Washington, DC. You might find some short lines that are electrified.
How did this go from a simple educational video to primarily focusing on the Chinese immigrants who aided. You left out the architects and the engineers (not locomotive) and, of course, the ones who funded it(excluding Abraham Lincoln). After the first 2 minutes, the video becomes a political video saying that they exclusively built the railroad without any other race or ethnicity/background in attendance. What about the unpaid African Americans and underpaid Irish on the east side. Or better yet, the captured Natives that were forced to the Midwest.
Otaku Bryson you are completely right!
Well if you watched the video, it was to regain recognition for the chinese people for their contributions that was erased from American history because of the anti-chinese movement that followed after they built it
I think it strikes a note to others to not forget this country is not built by one group of people but by many people from around the world and should not be forgotton. in todays political climate where Trump has ousted China again for Americas issues, i see another divide being created where we focus on the wrong thing and not the thing that actually made this country great which is the work through unity of differnt people
Matthew Ng America was built by its political standards and it’s unreliable politicians. Forgetting that the Transcontinental Railway was a political movement to deepen the pockets of politicians, it was also to connect the East and West. The people who built it would not be recognized, including but not limited to, the Chinese. But, the fact that the Transcontinental Railway was for politics, doesn’t necessarily mean that news coverage of Union Pacific’s 4014 4-8-8-4 Bigboy has to turn into politics as well. The locomotive was restored so that our generation, and future generations could marvel at the sight of the largest Steam Locomotive in history and be grasped by the historical aspects of the Railway system in the United States of America. You’re correct that our history was built by multiple groups of people from many nations, but it’s arrogant of this news channel to only focus on a single group as if they were the only ones. The Chinese worked in the west alongside captured Native Americans and Mexicans, and the records of this were almost erased. But, in the east, you had many African Americans who worked for no pay, and Irish and German immigrants who were paid less than the cost of a shot of whiskey at a saloon. I’m not saying your wrong, I’m actually illuminating the point behind my complaint in the first place.
The video clearly states that Chinese laborers ALMOST exclusively built the WESTERN portion of the railroad (90% of it). Not mentioning other groups isn't necessarily erasure in this case.