Episode 2 of 2

First Revenue Train

When: 1855-01-28
Where: Isthmus of Panama
Part of: Panama Railway becomes first railroad linking Atlantic and Pacific

The first revenue train ran over the full length of the railway, establishing operational connectivity between the oceans.

On January 28, 1855, the first revenue train traveled the entire length of the grade. This event confirmed the railway's operational status. By this time, more than one-third of the $8 million construction cost had been covered by fares and freight tariffs.

Sources

Panama Canal Railway Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-01

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.