Here is the first published timetable for the newly completed Pacific Railroad between Omaha and Sacramento. The first transcontinental railroad was in all likelihood the greatest American engineering achievement of the nineteenth century. It does appear, though, that it took a little time for the Union Pacific and Central Pacific to shift their focus from just getting the line built to operating the railroads as a going concern. The schedules of the two railroads as shown here are hardly conducive to close connections between the lines at Promontory—of course, this could be mere realism; trains running on the hastily and cheaply built tracks were liable to run several hours late.

Steven Ambrose's book Nothing Like It In The World gives the cost of a ticket from New York to San Francisco in the summer of 1869 as $150 for first class, $70 for second. A Central Pacific timetable on the cprr.org web site from October of 1869 backs those figures up, while also noting that the fare from San Francisco to Omaha, Chicago, or St. Louis was $60 for second class and $111, $130 and $130 respectively in first class. A 25% discount could be had if you paid your fare in gold or silver coin as opposed to the inflated wartime "greenbacks". Not included in the fares were the Pullman charges of $6.00 between Sacramento and Promontory for either a lower or upper berth, or $12.00 for a stateroom.