[1][2] The railroad purchased its first steam locomotive from a manufacturer in Taunton, Massachusetts; it arrived at St. Louis by river in August 1852.
[1] On December 9, 1852, the Pacific Railroad had its inaugural run, traveling from its depot on Fourteenth Street, along the Mill Creek Valley,[2] to Cheltenham[3] in about ten minutes.
Financial difficulties meant that Pacific Railroad did not reach Washington, eighteen miles away, until February 1855.
[1] On November 1, 1855, an excursion train carrying 600 passengers from St. Louis to celebrate the opening of the railroad to Jefferson City crashed through a temporary bridge over the Gasconade River killing at least 30.
[1] In 1865, it became the first railroad to serve Kansas City, after construction was interrupted by the American Civil War.