A true Coast to Coast Transcon , in the Southern half of these United States, could have included Pennsy from New York area to Washington D.C., Southern and L & N to Memphis, then Cotton Belt to Texarkana, T & P to Sierra Blanca, and Espee to Los Angeles.
In the Northern half, a good one might have been Erie from New York area to Chicago, then Milwaukee Road to Seattle / Tacoma, perhaps with EJ&E as a good connection in between. Both these railroads were well engineered, and managed to avoid many large population centers. This DISadvantage in securing on - line traffic, could have become an advantage in Coast to Coast running times.
Back in the Day, Santa Fe started construction of an improved link in their Transcon lines. This line ran from Dodge City, KS., southwest to Boise City, OK., and was surveyed ( but never built ) further West to Albuquerque, NM. This line would have avoided Raton Pass, ( and Glorieta too ), as well as Abo Canyon on the Santa Fe Southern Transcon.