In reading Davis history, I have occasionally noticed claims
that the rail track built from Vallejo to Sacramento in 1868 was a fragile and
even jerry-rigged contraption that frequently failed and required near-constant
emergency repair.
In addition to that possibility, because rail track
technology was new and the land unexplored, it was impossible to know with any
precision how strong to build tracks to withstand what kinds of troubles. So,
one guessed at what was needed and dealt with track failures when they happened.