3-021-059 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Aspinwall, Central America: the train starting for Panama, 1865. The seaport town of Aspinwall, on the coast of New Granada, in the Gulf of Mexico, is the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railroad by which passengers are conveyed in a few hours to the shore of the Pacific Ocean. It...[was] founded on Feb. 29, 1852, by the Panama Railroad Company, and named after one of the most active promoters of the scheme...The principal feature of the place is the railroad, with a number of hotels and bars, which thrive amazingly...The time of leaving is supposed to be six a.m., but it is not always punctual. This Panama Railroad is one of the most striking examples of American energy and perseverance. It was commenced in 1850, and finished in five years, being the first railway ever undertaken in a tropical country. Its length is forty-seven miles and a half, and the charge (there is no distinction of class) is £5 4s. 2d., or 2s. 2½d. per mile - the most expensive railway travelling in the world...The time of crossing from one ocean to the other is about four hours... The rolling stock is, of course, American...it will be seen that the passengers enter at the end instead of the side of the carriages'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.