Gilded Age financier Jay Gould dreamed of a transcontinental railway connecting the West Coast with the East Coast of the United States. His dream was never realized. Today, however, the late 1800s business tycoon’s vision is on the cusp of reality.

This week, Union Pacific, UNP, a large railroad, principally operating in the western U.S., said that it had reached a deal to buy Norfolk Southern, NSC, a railroad system that mainly owns tracks east of the Mississippi. The proposed transcontinental network would cross 43 states and operate around 50,000 miles of track. The market is valuing the transaction at about $85 billion.