The Gould transcontinental system was a system of railroads assembled by George Jay Gould I

George Jay Gould I

George Jay Gould I was a financier and the son of Jay Gould. He was himself a railroad executive, leading both the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad ....

 in the early 1900s. This was Gould's attempt to fulfill a goal of his late father, financier

Financier

Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

 Jay Gould

Jay Gould

Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has long been vilified as an archetypal robber baron, whose successes made him the ninth richest American in history. Condé Nast Portfolio ranked Gould as the 8th worst American CEO of all time...

. Due to financial troubles following the Panic of 1907

Panic of 1907

The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on...

, it was never completed as a fully transcontinental line

Transcontinental railroad

A transcontinental railroad is a contiguous network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass with terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad, or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies...

.

At its peak the system stretched from San Francisco to Pittsburgh, and was composed of the following railroads:

• Western Pacific Railway
• Rio Grande Western Railway
• Denver and Rio Grande Railroad
• Missouri Pacific Railway
• Wabash Railroad
  Wabash Railroad
  The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including trackage in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Ontario. Its primary connections included Chicago, Illinois, Kansas City, Missouri, Detroit,...
  
  
• Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad
• Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway
• (Gap between Pittsburgh and Connellsville, PA)
• Western Maryland Railroad

See also

• First Transcontinental Railroad
  First Transcontinental Railroad
  The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
  
  
• Fuller Syndicate
  Fuller Syndicate
  The Fuller Syndicate was a group of American financiers that invested in railroads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.The group was organized by investor Edward Laton Fuller, President of the International Salt Company, and led by George Jay Gould I...
  
  
• History of rail transport in the United States
  History of rail transport in the United States
  Railroads have played a large role in the development of the United States of America, from the industrial revolution in the North-east to the colonization of the West. The American railway mania began with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad‎ in 1828 and flourished until the Panic of 1873 bankrupted...