I’m sharing about a website I’ve used quite a lot over the years since I started writing historical romance. It’s for the Central Pacific Railroad, and the URL is cprr.org.
I’m the type of historical reader who wanted to know about the details of daily life for the people in the story. I’ve read too many stories that included vague statement like “The train trip lasts five days and she arrived at ten a.m. looking fresh as a daisy.” Those books I set aside. As a logical human who has traveled in real life, I know planes can take off at two a.m. (I booked one of those flights on a cheap ticket website) or a train can arrive at a small town at eleven at night. Those inconveniences can act as added tension in a novel.
This site is great for writers, as well as the general public, because of the historical photographs of the construction of the railroad, the picturesque locations, and maps of the actual routes of where the railway traveled, including elevations. Advertisements enticing travelers to go on excursions can be accessed. One fact that surprised me was some timetables listed connections with foreign travel to China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. And this is in 1876!
What I have used extensively are the timetables for the various lines, which allow me to create realistic situations my characters experience. I can plan the travel route, using the names of the stops (some of these cities no longer exist) but, more importantly, the number of times the train stops. Hard to imagine anyone getting any sleep if the train makes eight to ten stops in an eight-hour period.
Ever thought about what westward travelers did once they encountered the Mississippi River? Or what happened when that traveler reached the end of the railroad line but still needed to reach a location fifty miles farther west or north? The timetables often list connections to other rail lines or stagecoach lines, in addition to listing when meals were served and how much luggage was allowed.
A visit to this site will spark questions you didn’t even know you had.
I used this resource extensively in my second Lockets and Lace story titled Taming A Scandal.
Socialite
Mercia Saunders is traveling to her brother’s Texas ranch to let the gossip
settle from a Philadelphia scandal. Pinkerton agent Dominic Prentice is pairing
surveillance on the spoiled lady and hunting down stolen jewelry. Will the
confinement of a cross-country train ride toss them together and ignite sparks?
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