Testing the National Railroads

Learn about the different times like the depression and the 2 world wars that tested the rail roads of the country, and the Transcontinental Railroad especially.

How the Transcontinental Railroad Was Built Part 4/7 Narrator: From the time Theodore Judah began plotting the route of the transcontinental railroad to the beginning of the 20th century, we’re talking 40 some odd years and yet you can already see great periods of success for Sacramento— and periods of severe unrest. This roller coaster ride would continue in local railroad history— even in the face of international strife. Paul Hammond: When WW1 hits, the railroad system as a whole is not ready to handle the demands of war so the government steps in partway into the war and actually nationalizes all of the railroads and begins to give oversight and coordination for how they will be run. The Sacramento shops of course being the hub of the Southern Pacific during that time, everybody working there is working ultimately for the government during that time frame. Narrator: Many people call the time between the Great War and the Great Depression the golden age for the railroads. Riding the rails aboard passenger cars was all the rage and again, the Sacramento shops were the pioneers of new trends. Passenger traffic increased, the shops grew, railroads nationwide prospered. Then the other shoe dropped. Jeff Asay: Well what you had was the 20’s came to an end is the start of the depression, which was really a bad thing for the railroad industry as well as the country as a whole. All the passenger services started to contract, freight service kind of died out in all the small towns and it was just a real hard time for the railroads. Narrator: On the heels of the depression come world war two and the railroads-- especially here in Sacramento—are essential for moving military troops and supplies. Jeff Asay: Then you get into World War 2, it starts, a lot of the skilled people go off to the armed forces and the railroads, Southern Pacific especially over here in the shops had a great shortage of people to do the work and they had no choice really. They tried to encourage women to come to work in the shops and they were very successful at that. They were working right alongside the men. Bill Burg: And while these were described as temporary expedience, only for the duration of the emergency, they did end up in the long run I think opening doors. Narrator: After the war, many women left their railroad jobs as the men returned home. But fast forward 30 years, and doors did indeed begin opening for women in the male dominated railyards.