Railroad Builders

This episode tells the sweeping story of the men who conquered America’s greatest natural barriers to unite a growing nation by rail. From the brutal, decades-long struggle to bore the Hoosac Tunnel through solid granite in Massachusetts, to the epic race between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads to span the continent, the program captures the ingenuity, endurance, and determination that powered America’s railroad age. Through innovation in engineering, explosives, and sheer human will, the builders of the railroads transformed mountains, deserts, and distance into pathways of progress. Originally aired: April 15, 1936