{"id":"travel-through-time","version":"philadelphia-new-york-three-eras-v1","retrievedAt":"2026-10-04","time":{"kind":"snapshot","epochs":[1766,1834,2026],"unit":"year"},"bounds":[-75.35,39.8,-73.85,40.9],"places":[{"id":"philadelphia","name":"Philadelphia","coordinates":[-75.1652,39.9526]},{"id":"new-york","name":"New York","coordinates":[-74.006,40.7128]},{"id":"newark","name":"Newark Penn Station","coordinates":[-74.1637,40.7347]}],"sources":[{"name":"Pennsylvania Journal, February 13, 1766, as transcribed with archival citation by Trenton Historical Society","url":"https://www.trentonhistory.org/His/transportation.html","license":"Factual timing and route observations; original MapifyStats synthesis. No source text or imagery redistributed.","sourceLocator":"Transportation chapter, Flying Machines; footnote41, New Jersey Archives VolXXV p25"},{"name":"Smithsonian National Museum of American History — John Bull locomotive","url":"https://americanhistory.si.edu/press/fact-sheets/landmark-object-john-bull-locomotive","license":"Factual five-hour benchmark; original synthesis. No source images or quotations reused.","sourceLocator":"Fact sheet compares two days by road with five hours by rail and cites the Camden & Amboy1834 annual report"},{"name":"Amtrak — Acela route timetable","url":"https://content.amtrak.com/content/timetable/Acela.pdf","license":"Factual departure times only; original arithmetic and diagram. Timetable images, branding and protected layout are not reused.","sourceLocator":"Wednesday September30,2026, page1, train2150: PHL06:30, NWK07:30, NYP07:57"},{"name":"Wilson's railroad guide,1849 — Library of Congress public-domain item","url":"https://www.loc.gov/item/01021358/","license":"Public domain; used to corroborate Camden–South Amboy water/rail corridor rather than infer historical leg costs.","sourceLocator":"Routes section, printed pp1–2; https://archive.org/download/wilsonsrailroadg01newy/wilsonsrailroadg01newy_djvu.txt"}],"eras":[{"id":"stagecoach-1766","name":"1766 stagecoach","year":1766,"datePrecision":"advertised1766 service","color":"#e1b983","origin":"philadelphia","destination":"new-york","startMinute":0,"costType":"advertised elapsed days converted to minutes","assumptions":["The source advertises two calendar days in summer, three in winter, including the overnight stop at Princeton.","The diagram uses the advertised elapsed-day benchmark, not48hours of continuous movement or a reconstructed hourly timetable.","Origin and destination labels refer to the cities; historical terminals differ from modern stations.","Sourced route waypoints are illustrative geographic anchors. Exact road geometry and separate ferry/overnight costs are not known.","Summer means April14–November14 in the advertised1766 schedule; winter is the remainder."],"edges":[{"id":"stagecoach-corridor","from":"philadelphia","to":"new-york","mode":"stagecoach and ferry","season":"summer","minutes":2880,"transferWaitMinutes":0,"includesTransfersAndOvernight":true,"costStatus":"advertised-benchmark","coordinates":[[-75.1652,39.9526],[-74.759,40.217],[-74.6672,40.3573],[-74.4032,40.4862],[-74.2296,40.5457],[-74.035,40.716],[-74.006,40.7128]],"sources":[0]},{"id":"stagecoach-corridor-winter","from":"philadelphia","to":"new-york","mode":"stagecoach and ferry","season":"winter","minutes":4320,"transferWaitMinutes":0,"includesTransfersAndOvernight":true,"costStatus":"advertised-benchmark","coordinates":[[-75.1652,39.9526],[-74.759,40.217],[-74.6672,40.3573],[-74.4032,40.4862],[-74.2296,40.5457],[-74.035,40.716],[-74.006,40.7128]],"sources":[0]}]},{"id":"early-rail-1830s","name":"1830s early railway","year":1834,"datePrecision":"1830s institutional benchmark; not an exact1834 timetable","color":"#c1b2ee","origin":"philadelphia","destination":"new-york","startMinute":0,"costType":"institutional historical elapsed-journey benchmark","assumptions":["Smithsonian gives a five-hour city-to-city rail benchmark; its page links the early Camden & Amboy success to the1834 annual report.","This is a1830s benchmark, not a claim that every1834 train took exactly five hours.","The corridor combines ferry/steamship with rail through Camden and South Amboy, corroborated by the public-domain1849 guide.","All transfer/boat time is included in the aggregate benchmark. Separate leg speeds, departure schedules and seasonal variants are unavailable.","Only the same aggregate benchmark is shown for summer and winter; the source does not establish seasonal equality in real travel."],"edges":[{"id":"early-rail-corridor","from":"philadelphia","to":"new-york","mode":"steam rail, ferry and steamer","season":"all","minutes":300,"transferWaitMinutes":0,"includesTransfersAndOvernight":true,"costStatus":"institutional-benchmark","coordinates":[[-75.1652,39.9526],[-75.1196,39.9259],[-74.709,40.146],[-74.586,40.208],[-74.391,40.374],[-74.28,40.477],[-74.047,40.701],[-74.006,40.7128]],"sources":[1,3]}]},{"id":"acela-2026","name":"2026 scheduled Acela","year":2026,"datePrecision":"September30,2026 weekday timetable snapshot","color":"#89d7c7","origin":"philadelphia","destination":"new-york","startMinute":390,"costType":"published station departure interval","assumptions":["Train2150 in the September30,2026 weekday timetable: Philadelphia06:30, Newark07:30, New York07:57, a station departure-to-departure interval of87minutes.","The scene starts at the published Philadelphia departure. Access, boarding, fares and reliability are outside the benchmark.","The source provides scheduled departure intervals; Newark dwell is included in those intervals rather than estimated separately.","Timetable edges are evaluated on this one service-day snapshot. Missing the listed departure makes that edge unreachable; tomorrow's service is not assumed.","Summer/winter variants are not supported for this fixed dated schedule. Exact intermediate track position is illustrative."],"edges":[{"id":"acela-phl-nwk","from":"philadelphia","to":"newark","mode":"Acela","season":"all","minutes":60,"transferWaitMinutes":0,"departureMinutes":[390],"costStatus":"scheduled","coordinates":[[-75.181,39.955],[-74.755,40.22],[-74.404,40.491],[-74.1637,40.7347]],"sources":[2]},{"id":"acela-nwk-nyp","from":"newark","to":"new-york","mode":"Acela","season":"all","minutes":27,"transferWaitMinutes":0,"departureMinutes":[450],"costStatus":"scheduled","coordinates":[[-74.1637,40.7347],[-74.089,40.747],[-74.013,40.759],[-73.994,40.751]],"sources":[2]}]}],"limitations":["Three specific corridor models, not a global speed surface or a complete transport network.","Travel durations come from advertised or institutional benchmarks and one dated modern timetable. Their different precision is labeled.","Historical terminals and modern stations differ. The comparison is between cities, excluding access and boarding costs.","Moving dots illustrate progress along sourced corridors; intermediate historical arrival positions are not observations.","The summer/winter control changes only the documented1766 stagecoach variant. The other models retain their dated or aggregate benchmark.","Reverse journeys, arbitrary destinations and missing service dates are unsupported rather than assigned a uniform speed."],"story":[{"position":0,"title":"The same pair of cities","text":"Start each traveler at its model's departure from Philadelphia. These are three documented corridor examples, with different evidence precision."},{"position":0.55,"title":"Time moves at different scales","text":"The modern railway arrives first, followed by the1830s benchmark. The elapsed budget grows logarithmically so each arrival is visible."},{"position":1,"title":"Days become hours","text":"The1766 stagecoach completes its advertised two summer days (three in winter). Compare the source assumptions before treating any number as a complete door-to-door trip."}]}