As a publicity stunt, the express train called the ''Transcontinental Express'' arrived in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, California, via the

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

on 4 June 1876, only 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The feat was reported widely in U.S. newspapers.

References

"Completing the Transcontinental Railroad, 1869" EyeWitness to History, w (2004)
Passenger rail transportation in the United States Union Pacific Railroad 1876 in rail transport {{US-rail-transport-stub