How many days would a railroad trip from New YOrk or Philadelphia to
San Francisco have taken in 1890?

Hello narrative and thank you for your question.

The length of time varies from 5 days to 8 days, but the majority of
sites say 6 days. Presumably some of the variation in time would
depend on the time of year, and natural (or not!) delays.

The railroad was completed in 1869, and I suppose the journey might
have got slightly quicker over the next 21 years but not by more than
probably 1 day.  So we can say that in 1890 a journey from New York to
San Fransisco would have taken approximately 6 days.


"Major new technologies often change the general concept of time.
Burgum points out that the transcontinental railroad permanently
changed time. Before, moving anything from one coast to the other took
six to eight months. After, it took five days."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/cckev055.htm

"the trip from New York to Sacramento took six days and 22 hours -- a
monumental achievement compared to the six months it took by horse and
wagon."
http://www.sltribune.com/2002/Dec/12262002/thursday/thursday.asp

"A trip which had taken 4 to 6 months overland by horse or on foot now
took 6 days and connected California with the rest of the country."
http://www.learnnc.org/newlnc/beacon.nsf/0/9888075a4c93267185256a230060da57?OpenDocument

"The trip from New York to San Francisco took 6 days. Before the
railroads the trip took 6 Months!"
http://www4.d25.k12.id.us/hhs/adams_comphatch/industry.ppt.

"Once a railroad linked New York to San Francisco, the trip took seven days"
http://www.geocities.com/eeyorejeff/books/transrailroad.html

"Prior to its completion it could take six months to a year for
someone to travel from New York to San Francisco. After completion it
took seven days for the same journey."
http://www.worldhistoryhub.com/Nothing_Like_It_in_the_World_The_Men_Who_Built_the_Transcontinental_Railroad_18631869_074350643X.html"

"New York to San Francisco, which once took as long as nine months,
now only took eight days"
http://users.bicnet.net/~spirit/4generations.htm


Very best regards

THX1138

Search strategy included:
railroad  "Transcontinental Railroad" "took * days"
://www.google.com/search?q=railroad++%22Transcontinental+Railroad%22+%22took+*+days%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&start=80&sa=N

Thanks for the speedy, interesting and excellent answer!

In the novel "Captains Courageous"  by Rudyard Kipling there is an
account of a high speed train journey based on a real transcontinentle
race. Both in the book and in real life . San Diego to Boston in Three
days Fifteen and one half hours.