What if the transcontinental railroad had gone differently?

Rails meet at Promontory Summit; the American coasts are a week apart, not a month.

If it had gone differently: The American West stays remote; settlement and the national market crawl for another generation.

The real history on Wikipedia ↗

Later turning points that leaned on the transcontinental railroad. Change it in the game and the ripples reach all of these.

1. 1870The first globalisation. Without it, The world economy stays a patchwork of regions; no belle-époque boom, and no 1914 shock when it unwinds.