When Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern announced their merger deal Tuesday to form “America’s first transcontinental railroad,” it puzzled some who recalled the golden spike driven in 1869 at Utah’s Promontory Summit. That last spike only connected two railroads from Omaha, Neb., to Sacramento, Calif.

Railroad company Union Pacific will buy Norfolk Southern in a cash and stock transaction valued at $85 billion, combining two of the largest rail operators in the nation. The merger will combine Union Pacific’s Western,