The golden spike had been driven, thereby , indicating the completion of the first transcontinental railway. Now, it would be possible to enter a train on the East Coast and travel directly to the West Coast. Several different companies joined in enthusiastic competetion for pasengers to ride from the New York to San Francisco. However, they had not counted on one complication — the company that made the passenger cars had manufactured the seats with those skinny-bunned Continentals in mind. Most of the American passengers found the seats too small. Their seats would not fit in the seats, so to speak. The railroad companies were forced to counter the financial and public relations disaster with the soon-to-be-famous disclamer posted in all New York railroad stations — “No West for the Reary!”