‘Railroad’ tells the good, bad of historic train project

The next time you’re in Union Station preparing to board that eastbound train to New York, perhaps you should give a silent note of thanks to the 19th century visionaries who made such a journey possible.

More than likely, though, your experience with rail travel these days is limited to commuter shuttles and amusement parks. Sadly, many people now seem to consider trains to be little more than a quaint anachronism, a dirty, noisy relic from another era.

But in tonight’s exceptional PBS special “American Experience: The Transcontinental Railroad,” a pivotal point in that era is resurrected with a true storyteller’s skill (9 p.m. on KCET, KVCR).

The two-hour program -- from writer-producer Mark Zwonitzer and executive producer Margaret Drain, with evocative original music by Brian Keane -- mixes hundreds of period photos, some filmed re-creations and dozens of interviews with writers and historians to cover an 1860s engineering feat that changed this country forever.

The idea was to link both coasts by rail, a concept that was put on the fast track once gold was discovered in California. The problem was that the East’s rail lines ended roughly at the Missouri River, so two competing companies were established to finish the job: the Central Pacific Railroad laying track from Sacramento eastward, and the Union Pacific working from the Missouri west.

But along with the way are enough unsavory revelations to make the most patriotic history teacher cringe. With all the corrupt politicians and businessmen, the battles with Native Americans and the bullying of Chinese rail workers, “Transcontinental Railroad” could be the western companion piece to Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York.”