Railways In America

Railways in America

American life changed significantly during the Industrial Revolution due to its need for a more efficient way of traveling and transporting goods. The railroad era was an answer to economic growth by changing people's perception of time and distance. Trains could achieve a trip in hours, while riding horseback or walking could take up to days. Wagon trains were the first primitive mode of mass transportation that carried pioneers and their belongings. The invention of railroads made it easier for people to transport themselves or their goods faster, easier, and safer. The railroad soon became the nation's symbol of progress to a new period of time. The symbolism of the new era was met with mixed emotions. Some people were enthusiastic, others were tentative in accepting the concept of a new method of traveling, and some were skeptical about the technology of how the development of a steam powered locomotive could initiate the beginnings of an industrial revolution in a newly expanded continent. Not only did the Railroad improve mass transportation, but many attributes also followed. These consisted of the steam powered engine, the transportation and commercialization of goods, modernizing mass travel from wagon trains, to railroad systems, to the inventions of cars and paved roads, in an effort to urbanize all regions of this country.

In 1828 the first American Railroad was constructed in Maryland. It was called the B & O (Baltimore and Ohio) line. In September, 1830, the Stockton & Darlington Railroad Company began as the first railroad to carry both goods and passengers on regular schedules using locomotives designed by English inventor, George Stephenson. Stephenson's locomotive pulled six loaded coal cars and 21 passenger cars with 450 passengers over 9 miles in about one hour. In 1840, the nation had over 3,300 miles of track. By 1850, the nation had over 9,000 miles of track. By May1869, the last spike of the Transcontinental Railroad was hammered in place. The tracks of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads were now joined to make one transcontinental railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad spanned from San Francisco to New York in efforts to insure greater opportunities for the future of our developing nation; both economically and socially. The movement of people, goods and information are all fundamental aspects that go into the economic growth and the emerging civilization. Advances to communication were also made during the growth of transportation. It was easier to send and receive mail, for it would get to the designated destinations quicker. The mail that was in circulation created "a national network of information" since it carried things such as, newspapers, magazines, and books. News from each of the geographical regions would circulate rapidly as a result of more movement of people via the railroad systems. A trip that took six weeks by horse powered wagon was now available to make the same trip in one week's time as a result of this enhanced mode of transportation. The development of the railroad systems is deemed the "greatest historical event in transportation". This railway became a vital role in transforming a nation in which the pre-railroad era was predominately a closed structure comprised of rural farm lands to the sophistication of urbanization across all regions of this nation.

Before moving abundant amount of people, and goods, the train industry considered it necessary to find an efficient way to power the trains. The use of Steam Power was the only option at the time. They saw steam powered engines as being simple machines, but require high maintenance. "Steam locomotives can be fairly simple machines, maintainable under fairly primitive conditions and amenable to a wide variety of fuels. They are also relatively inefficient and require constant maintenance, and need substantial labor to do so."(Wikipedia) Most early railroad technology was brought over from Britain. Several inventors in England and the United States adapted Watt's steam engine technology to build a steam locomotive- a self propelled vehicle used for pulling railroad cars.

The Transcontinental Railroad was complete in 1869, the amount of rural farm lands decreased while the amount of urban cities increased. The building of the railroad accelerated population mainly in the west by white homesteaders, and the Native American population slowly washed away with the population of people coming from the east. The drastic difference in travel time from horseback to train opened up the Eastern part