How long did it take for trains to travel cross-country in the 1800s?

Answer 1

were long and dangerous

Answer 2

By "east" I'm guessing you mean the northeast, New York and places farther north.

If you're speaking of the time after railroads were built connecting the principal cities, then travel from New York City to New Orleans could be done in maybe three or four days, a week at most. Before this time the fastest way was by coastal ship, but this was only good between towns on the coast. This was where most large towns were, because water transportation was the best way before railroads. New Tork to New Orleans was two to three weeks, depending on a number of factors.

If you mean overland, weeks. It was 1944 before the date of the inauguration of new presidents was moved back, from March 4, which it had always been, to the present January 20. It had been March 4 to allow the new president time to travel to Washington DC. There were nothing but dirt roads, often nothing but mud, few bridges, no signs. There were some ferries operated by private people for profit to carry travelers across rivers, and some toll bridges, also privately owned and for profit. Otherwise, rivers and streams had to forded - waded across at known shallow places. There was one "major" road, the north-south "Post Road" about where I-95 runs up the east coast today. But it was still only a dirt road and nonexistent in places.

When John Adams was elected in 1800, Abigail took a ship from Massachusetts to Baltimore, then was going to go overland the forty more miles to Washington. This was planned as a two day journey, with an overnight layover at a friend's home. When the road would get bad, with deep mudholes, new passersby would go around and start a new path. None of these were marked, and often there would be six or seven around a bad place, but you couldn't know which was the best and might get stuck. Abigail got lost, hopelessly lost, and would have had to spend the night in her carriage if her overnight host had not grown worried and sent out parties which found her. And this was the first lady of the US, trying to travel a relatively short distance between one of the nations largest seaports and its capital.

In many counties men were required to work one day a year on the public roads or pay a fine. They had to bring their own tools. You can imagine just how good these roads were.

Answer 3

How long is a railway line? The journey time depended if the services were express or stopping, and on the distance and number of stops, as much as train speeds, but by the end of the 19C the fastest trains could generally manage about 60mph mean speed on the level.

Answer 4

3 to 4 weeks in a boat. it was cold and cramped and often people would grow sick on the trip over