A Pictorical History of the Panama Railroad

Railway Workers living in rail cars



Construction, Panama Railroad offices

Panama Railroad Station, Panama City







The Panama Railroad  Culebra Station - 1911
  

  

The Panama Railroad
Bridge across the Chagres River at Gamboa

 

Panama Railroad Train Crossing Gatun River Bridge



The Panama Railroad Atlantic Terminal Office Building, Cristobal Colon.



The Panama Railroad Atlantic Terminal Office Building, Cristobal Colon.

Passenger Train at the Panama City Station 1927

Panama Railroad Station 1928  

Panama Railroad, broad-gauge locomotive no.51, c.1884 (coll. Illinois Central)



Panama Railroad Train Crossing Central Avenue around 1930

Panama Railroad, passenger train with Alco road switcher no.903, departure Colon in 1974 (Dr. Fritz Stoeckl)

Which was the first vessel to transit the Panama Canal?

 

Website: http://www.panamatourismtravel.com

Tour Avaliable
Panama Canal Partial Transit
Panama Canal Full Transit

SS Ancon was an American steamship that became the first ship to officially transit the Panama Canal in 1914. The steamer began life as the SS Shawmut, built for the Boston Steamship Line in 1902. About 1910 she was purchased by the Panama Railroad Company to provide shipping required for the construction of the Panama Canal. The name was changed to Ancon after Ancon Hill and Ancon township in Panama, home to the head of the Canal Commission.

Ancon and her sister ship Cristobal played a crucial role in building the canal, bringing workers and supplies, notably massive amounts of cement, from New York to Panama for the construction project.

On August 15, 1914 Ancon made the first official transit of the canal as part the canal's opening ceremonies. (Her sister ship Cristobal had made the first unofficial transit on August 3, delivering a load of cement, while an old French crane boat Alexandre La Valley had crossed the canal from the Atlantic in stages during construction, finally reaching the Pacific on January 7.)

Ancon was acquired by the United States Navy from the US Army just after the end of World War I and fitted out as USS Ancon (ID-1467), a troop transport to return Americans home.

The Panama Railroad Company replaced SS Ancon in 1938 with a second SS Ancon, a larger steam turbine cargo liner which later saw considerable action as US Navy Transport USS Ancon in World War II.

Officially ,the SS Ancon was the first vessel to transit the Panama Canal on August 15, 1914. However, the first transit completed through the Canal was done as part of a work routine on January 7, 1914, when the crane Alexander La Valley crossed the Pacific locks without any type of ceremony

On August 15, 1914 marked the start of a revolution in global trade and transportation. It was on that day that a cargo ship called the S.S. Ancon made the first passage through the Panama Canal