Product Details

• Actors: Lloyd Sherr, Harlan Saperstein, Alexander B. Rubinow, William Atwater, Vince Staten
• Writers: Bruce Nash
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 6303977235
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,040 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

" On a somber day in Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln ended his famous address with a promise that the war-torn nation would be reborn. The greatest symbol of that rebirth had already begun, hailed as an engineering feat to rival the pyramids the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.Its construction was an engineering marvel and a technological nightmare. The Union Pacific built westward from Omaha, and the Central Pacific eastward from Sacramento, hoping they would someday meet. The work crept inch by grueling inch across the forbidding continent and the treacherous Sierras. Here is the epic tale of the struggle to forge an iron link across the untamed West, and the only engineering feat to spawn an American folk tale: the legend of John Henry. After a decade of work, on May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah, as the last symbolic spike linking the two railways was driven, a nation was united and forever transformed. "

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Was great in my social studies class!, November 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Modern Marvels: Transcontinental Railroads [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I enjoyed using this video with my 8th grade students. It was very informative on many aspects of the building of the transcontinental railroad. It showed the dangers faced by these hard-working men as they struggled to link the eastern and western parts of the US. Great images and great information! Thanks History Channel!