The use of rails, or other types of guides, for roads dates to antiquity, when the Greeks and Romans carved trails in stone streets to guide cart wheels. By the third century b.c. this system of sunken guide ways was used in some parts of China. The first raised rail roads were likely used in mining and quarrying industries during the sixteenth century. These early rails were made of wood, which wore and rotted quickly. Over the years engineers tried to protect the wooden rails with various materials, such as layers of hardwood and later metals. Finally, in 1738, the first wholly iron rails were introduced in Britain. Still the power source used on these rail roads was a team of horses. A number of inventors, including James Watt and John Stevens (1749-1838) and his son Robert (1787-1856), aided in the development of steam engines. Experiments with and demonstrations of steam-powered locomotives reached a pivotal point in 1804 when Richard Trevithick introduced the first viable steam locomotive. Still others were more concerned with the track aspect of land transportation. In 1811 English engineer John Blenkinsop designed a cog rail system to overcome fears that the traction between metal wheels and metal rails might be insufficient to climb hills. Prior to this time, horses were still used to pull loads uphill. Blenkinsop's device utilized an extra, toothed rail laid inside the regular tracks. A gear mounted on the locomotive meshed into the teeth and provided the extra traction needed to replace horse teams. In 1821 John Birkinshaw perfected a method of rolling wrought-iron rails in 15 ft. (4.6 m) sections. These rolled rails withstood extreme weight and required fewer joints. Rail promoter George Stephenson admitted the superiority of Birkinshaw's rails over his own and laid them on England's Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&D). The S&D railway was originally planned as a horse-powered, wooden rail road, but Stephenson's appointment as engineer led to the laying of iron track and the use of some steam locomotives. Stephenson's Locomotion eventually demonstrated some of the advantages of steam power over horses. While serving as engineer on that line, Stephenson also began drafting improvements for his new Liverpool and Manchester branch (L&M). Unlike the S&D, he wanted the L&M to operate entirely with steam locomotion. He not only had many technological obstacles to overcome, he also had to convince his proprietors that it was a practical idea. At the Stephenson Works in Newcastle, George and his son Robert began designing and building a locomotive so improved that even his strongest skeptics would be convinced. The result of their work was the 1829 Rocket--and success. When the 31 mi. (50 km) long L&M opened the next year, it was the first railway in the world to rely exclusively on steam locomotion. It was also the fastest and most reliable line to that date. Railway mania had begun in Europe. English rail projects had proven the feasibility and profitability of land transport by steam. After years of battling skepticism, money for development and expansion suddenly became readily available. In the mid-1800s, England's rail companies were employing 250,000 construction workers, nearly 10,000 mi. (16,090 km) of railroads had been laid, and capital investments exceeded 250-million pounds. Although slowed by a vast lobby of canal supporters and enthusiasts, railway mania was not slow in arriving in America. The Delaware and Hudson Railroad opened in 1829 with the imported locomotive, Stourbridge Lion. Another foreign locomotive, the John Bull, served the Camden and Amboy Rail-Road and Transportation Company (C&A) in New Jersey. It had been built in England by the firm of George and Robert Stephenson. Shipped disassembled, it arrived in 1831 and was put together by a teenage boy named Isaac Dripps, who added a distinctly American feature: the cowcatcher. Robert Stevens was in charge of laying the track for the C&A. During this period, rails were anchored directly onto stone blocks. When a delivery of blocks was delayed to the construction site, Stevens laid a bed of crushed rocks and placed on top a series of wooden cross ties to which the rails were anchored. To his surprise, his design provided a smoother ride for passengers and helped absorb and distribute the weight the locomotive's weight. It has been used for virtually every rail placed since. Henry Campbell invented a locomotive in 1836 that became an American prototype. Traction was a concern of many at the time. Europeans solved the problem with cog railways and by making bigger and heavier locomotives. Physical limitations on American railways prevented this solution, so Campbell proposed using two sets of driving wheels placed close together on each side of the locomotive. Despite its rougher ride, the new arrangement worked and became standard on American locomotives. The Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad opened in 1831 with horse-drawn vehicles, but by 1834 it had acquired locomotives. Other early rail companies included the Mohawk and Hudson Company and the South Carolina Canal and Rail-Road Company. The Baltimore and Ohio Railway (B&O) used Peter Cooper's small Tom Thumb (1830) to prove that steamlocomotives could compete with canals and horse teams even on curvy and hilly track. The Tom Thumb--the first to pull a load of passengers in America--was a short, wheeled platform that supported an engine with a vertical cylinder and a vertical boiler with tubes made from gun barrels. The vertical layout was important because of the many curves and sudden grade changes common to early American railways. In 1831 the B&O announced a contest for designing a lightweight locomotive that could reach a speed of 15 mph (24 kph) and pull a load of 15 t. (13.6 t) on level ground. Phineas Davis 's York, which won the contest, used a vertical boiler and vertical cylinders. Two problems persisted over the many years railways used vertical layouts. The locomotives were top heavy, and the up-and-down motion of the pistons made the engines bounce and derail. Robert Stevens's pilot, an attachment of two wheels connected in front of a locomotive to act as guides, partly solved this problem. The B&O chief locomotive designer, Ross Winans, improved engines, some of which operated so well that the line continued using vertical engines into the 1890s after most companies had adopted horizontal layouts.
The switch became possible when curves and grades were improved as companies acquired more direct rights-of-way and dug tunnels, built bridges, and eased turns. Horizontal layouts both solved problems and allowed space to construct longer and larger boilers to generate more power. As rail lines spread and grew in importance, demand increased for higher speeds and greater efficiency. Belgian engineer Egide Walschaerts improved the valve gear in 1844, and by 1847 Britain's Great Western Railway ran some routes at 60 mph (90.5 kph). In 1859 greater rail adhesion was achieved with coupled driving wheels. By 1860 steel rails began to replace wrought iron, but the joint between rails proved to be a weakness until "fish plates" for actually connecting end-to-end rails were introduced in 1847. Between the Civil War and 1885 the United States eased travel between systems by standardizing the gauge, or width between rails, at 4 ft. 8.5 in. (1.42 m). And in 1898, Wilhelm Schmidt from Germany introduced the use of superheated steam to reduce condensation losses. In the 1860s comfort became another consideration. Railways had originally been envisioned as a method for moving freight; yet, in spite of many early catastrophic accidents, people soon began to seek passage on them. At first, passengers sat on wooden benches in open wagons. Those who could afford to travel at a higher level of comfort sat in their own carriages, which had been securely attached to a flat bed car. In the mid-1800s, special cars were commissioned for Ludwig II of Bavaria and Pope Pius IX, which consisted of three room suites and ornate throne rooms. In America George Pullman began making sleeping and dining cars for common use about this time. Though his were not the first, they were the earliest to be designed for safety and comfort. Early cars still resembled stage coaches: They were crowded, filled with smoke and ash from both the engine and car heaters, and tended to jump and rock. Pullman's 1864 Pioneer led the change in attitude and design, and before long his cars were in such demand, even in Europe, that he had built large manufacturing facilities near Chicago. Safety devices also became more necessary with staggering increases in rail traffic. Derailments caused by locomotives and cars jumping the track, especially on sharp curves, were largely solved by the similar and controversial invention of swiveling wheel trucks by Horatio Allen (on the South Carolina), John B. Jervis in 1831, and Ross Winans a few years later. Joining cars, a dangerous job for railroad workers into the middle of the nineteenth century, involved dropping a pin into a link at the ends of cars until adequate coupling mechanisms and systems were introduced. Claude Chappe's system of military semaphores became widely adopted for manual signaling. Once the telegraph became common, it was widely used for sending location messages. Braking systems were nearly always of primary importance, but none were as reliable as George Westinghouse's pressure (1868) and later vacuum (1872) brakes. Before the Civil War began, the American rail network covered 30,000 mi. (48,270 km). By the end of the century, more than 200,000 mi. (321,800 km) of track were considered largely responsible for opening the western half of the country to settlement. While developments may not be as dramatic or important as they once were in the realm of rail transportation, some advancements continue to be made. In the track department, after little change in track technology for many decades, continuous welded rails became common after 1950, providing improved safety, reduced noise, and lower maintenance. Since the 1960s several studies have focused on lower-friction and more maintenance-free types of track and bases using concrete. Current technology allows for eliminating rails altogether. In 1958 engineers began experimenting with TACVs ( Tracked Air-Cushion Vehicles). Based on the technology of hovercrafts, TACVs would not need rail maintenance at all and could operate faster and more smoothly since they ride on a cushion of air rather than a guideway. Another related high-speed option is magnetic levitation, or MAGLEV technology, in which an electromagnetic charge on the underside of a vehicle repels the opposite charge on the top of a support. Traveling about 4 in. (10.2 cm) above its guides, one prototype has demonstrated a speed of 321 mph (516.5 kph), a world "rail" speed record. Both of these technologies have been tested in Europe, Japan, and the United States, and by the mid-1990s, Germany committed itself to building a Transrapid maglev system. Proponents of Maglevs argue they are environmentally friendly, consume less energy than conventional track trains, and also are safer in that they eliminate the possibility of derailment. Critics say they are too costly and that their extremely high speeds could never be attained in short, between-city runs. Still, besides the German's definite commitment, Switzerland has proposed an underground Maglev and New York State is considering a Maglev link between New York City and Albany. Fuels also are a research focus. While diesel engines are still the most common power source in the United States, trains, buses, and other electric-powered vehicles are increasingly used in cities. While duorail, or two-rail, systems have predominated the railway scene since the beginning, monorail, or single-rail, systems have interested some inventors. The first monorail system was patented in 1821 by English engineer Henry Palmer and drawn by horses. In 1869 another English engineer, J. L. Hadden, used steam power for a system in Syria. In 1889 E. Moody Boynton of Portland, Maine, unveiled a bicycle monorail locomotive. In 1894 a monorail line based on French inventor C. Lartique's design (c. 1850) was built and electrified in France. Gyroscopes kept the 1903 system of Irish engineer Louis Brennon upright while carrying 50 passengers. Yet not until the later part of the twentieth century were commercially safe and successful monorail systems built. Modern systems usually operate in urban or commercial areas and frequently use rubber tires for smoother, quieter rides.
As the 21st century begins, the next major change for trains and railroads will be the use of advanced technology to run trains. By 1995, radio remote control systems were available and in use in which transmitters were adapted to existing freight locomotives, resulting in increased productivity and reductions in crew size. Safety is an issue that divides many, but Canada's years of remote control experience argue that remote control systems are actually safer than conventional systems. By 1997, communications-based train control was considered by most to be at the center of the next revolution in train control. In fact, most would agree that such systems are not only inevitable and welcome by the railroad industry, but that the only things keeping it from happening sooner are issues like standardization and interoperability.
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