Just because they happened doesn’t make them an obviously correct application of eminent domain.
My point is that there would be no westward expansion without the railroad. They enriched private companies and citizens but without ED, they wouldn't exist... and neither would we.
There are uses that benefit private companies and people that are for the greater good. Kelo? No. Kelo was about taking someone's property because they didn't pay enough property tax. The railroads and the pipeline benefit the whole country and economy. They are appropriate uses.