How many hours did railroad workers work in the 1800s?

Railway workers labored an average of 12 hours a day, six days a week. Sometimes they worked 16 to 20 hours without a rest. Their average wage was $2.50 a day. Railroad work was difficult and dangerous, and in 1877 a nationwide rebellion of railroad workers brought the United States to a standstill.



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Because trains operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, railroad workers' schedules may vary to include nights, weekends, and holidays. Most work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week.

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The author was just one of the thousands of people who flocked to the Transcontinental Railroad beginning in 1869. The railroad, which stretched nearly 2,000 miles between Iowa, Nebraska and California, reduced travel time across the West from about six months by wagon or 25 days by stagecoach to just four days.

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Chinese workers made up most of the workforce between roughly 700 miles of train tracks between Sacramento, California, and Promontory, Utah. During the 19th century, more than 2.5 million Chinese citizens left their country and were hired in 1864 after a labor shortage threatened the railroad's completion.

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