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In OTL connecting by Rail Toronto and Montreal to Winnipeg and points west was considered to be a National Priority for Canada to connect the country (and fulfill promises made to British Columbia).
With a POD after 1700, let us assume that a single Nation exists which contains at least the OTL United States north of a line connecting OTL San Francisco and Washington DC as well as all OTL Canadian Provinces Ontario and West (it may contain all of North America or anything in between ) at the time when continent wide Railroads can be started.
Without a separate county whose connection must go north of Lakes Superior & Huron, how much after the first transcontinental Railroad does a Railroad crossing north of these lakes get built? Is it reasonable to get to the age of the Atom (OTL 1940) without such a railroad?