Hell on Wheels is a highly
fictionalized version of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad that ran
on AMC from 2011 to 2016. Americans had long envisioned a railroad line from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. This would go a long way in connecting the East
and West coasts and speed up settlement out west. For years the construction of
such a railroad was held up by sectional disputes. Predictably Southerners
wanted to go south and Northerners vice versa. When the Civil War broke out the
absence of Southern clout in Congress removed any obstacles to beginning the
railroad. The undertaking was so daunting that the government felt it had to
support the Union Pacific, going west from Omaha, and the Central Pacific,
going east from San Francisco. The two railroad companies also took much longer
than planned to start as they sought further financial backing. Construction
was rough, with obstacles ranging from high mountains to deserts to hostile
American Indians. The railroad was completed, but both companies soon went
bankrupt for their troubles, and practiced unethical shortcuts as they raced
each other. The title of the show comes from the name for the Union Pacific’s
traveling town, Hell on Wheels.
History is dramatic enough, but the show understandably takes it to another level. Foremost there are a lot more shootouts and murders (the latter was not unheard of). Let’s just say that certain happenings in the show would have been legendary fixtures of American memory if they really happened. The cast of characters is also quite colorful. Most are fictional and they explore all the different perspectives of western life. There are Irish immigrants, pimps, hookers, Mormon settlers, preachers, scheming businessmen and politicians, black laborers, American Indians, Chinese immigrants, etc.
