In 1854, the stockholders of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad Company honored the company’s president with this elaborate silver presentation service, which incorporated representations of trains, stations, tunnels, and a bridge executed in repoussé on each vessel. This service celebrates the romantic vision of America that prevailed in the decades immediately preceding the Civil War. As the railroads promoted western expansion, Americans became increasingly interested in images of the natural landscape and contemporary industrial progress. Here, for example, a pitcher is made to resemble the branch of a tree and a tea service is bordered with railroad tracks.