Editing First transcontinental railroad (section)

==In popular culture==
The joining of the Union Pacific line with the Central Pacific line in May 1869 at [[Promontory Summit, Utah]], was one of the major inspirations for French writer [[Jules Verne]]'s book entitled ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]]'', published in 1873.<ref>[[William Butcher]] (translation and introduction). ''Around the World in Eighty Days'', [[Oxford Worlds Classics]], 1995, Introduction.</ref>

While not exactly accurate, John Ford's 1924 silent movie ''[[The Iron Horse (film)|The Iron Horse]]'' captures the fervent nationalism that drove public support for the project. Among the cooks serving the film's cast and crew between shots were some of the Chinese laborers who worked on the Central Pacific section of the railroad.

[[File:Unionpacific movie postcard.jpg|thumb|170px|Postcard for the film ''[[Union Pacific (film)|Union Pacific]]'', released in May 1939]]
The feat is depicted in various movies, including the 1939 film ''[[Union Pacific (film)|Union Pacific]]'', starring [[Joel McCrea]] and [[Barbara Stanwyck]] and directed by [[Cecil B. DeMille]], which depicts the fictional Central Pacific investor Asa Barrows obstructing attempts of the Union Pacific to reach Ogden, Utah.

The 1939 movie is said to have inspired the ''[[Union Pacific (TV series)|Union Pacific]]'' Western television series starring [[Jeff Morrow]], [[Judson Pratt]] and [[Susan Cummings (actress)|Susan Cummings]] which aired in syndication from 1958 until 1959.

The 1962 film ''[[How the West Was Won (film)|How the West Was Won]]'' has a whole segment devoted to the construction; one of the movie's most famous scenes, filmed in [[Cinerama]], is of a buffalo stampede over the railroad.

The construction of what presumably is—or is suggested to be—the transcontinental railroad provides the backdrop of the 1968 epic [[Spaghetti Western]] ''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]'', directed by Italian director [[Sergio Leone]].

[[Graham Masterton]]'s 1981 novel ''A Man of Destiny'' (published in the UK as ''Railroad'') is a fictionalized account of the line's construction.

The 1993 children's book ''Ten Mile Day'' by Mary Ann Fraser tells the story of the record setting push by the Central Pacific in which they set a record by laying {{convert|10|mi|km}} of track in a single day on April 28, 1869, to settle a $10,000 bet.

[[Kristiana Gregory]]'s 1999 book ''The Great Railroad Race'' (part of the "Dear America" series) is written as the fictional diary of Libby West, who chronicles the end of the railroad construction and the excitement that engulfed the country at the time.

In the 1999 [[Will Smith]] film ''[[Wild Wild West]]'', the joining ceremony is the setting of an assassination attempt on then U.S. President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] by the film's antagonist [[Dr. Loveless#Other versions|Dr. Arliss Loveless]].

The main character in ''[[The Claim (2000 film)|The Claim]]'' (2000) is a surveyor for the [[Central Pacific Railroad]], and the film is partially about the efforts of a frontier mayor to have the railroad routed through his town.

In the 2002 [[DreamWorks Animation]] movie ''[[Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron]]'', the title character, a horse named Spirit, is delivered with other horses to pull a steam locomotive at a work site for the transcontinental railroad.

The ''[[American Experience]]'' series' [[American Experience (season 15)|2002–2003 season]] documents the railway in the episode titled "Transcontinental Railroad".

The building of the railway is covered by the 2004 BBC documentary series ''[[Seven Wonders of the Industrial World]]'' in episode 6, "The Line".

The popular sci-fi television show ''[[Doctor Who]]'' featured the transcontinental railroad in a 2010 BBC audiobook entitled ''[[The Runaway Train]]'', read by [[Matt Smith (actor)|Matt Smith]] and written for audio by Oli Smith.

The construction of the transcontinental railroad provides the setting for the AMC television series ''[[Hell on Wheels (TV Series)|Hell on Wheels]]''. Thomas Durant is a regular character in the series and is portrayed by actor [[Colm Meaney]].

The campaign mode of [[Kalypso Media]]'s 2018 video game ''[[Railway Empire]]'' covers the construction of the transcontinental railroad and features key figures such as Thomas Durant and Collis Huntington.