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. . Their day is long past, memories fade but steam locomotives and early
railroads remain forever fascinating. In most countries a few steam locomotives
survived and many have been rescued, rehabilitated by historical societies and
newly formed tourist railroads. Rail fans can still enjoy excursions through
beautiful landscapes on a train pulled by a steam locomotive.
Early
Locomotive History begins with the Romans, who were first to utilize pairs
of rails to take the heavy load of wheeled freight vehicles. Early English coal
mines often transported coal on a rail system, the loaded railway cars were
drawn by horses. Around 1630, Beaumont developed wooden rails which had a
superior surface that could be closely fitted to the rims of channeled iron
wheels. This rail system was widely used to descend and ascend hills, and cross
irregular terrain. Motive power was horses. A superior track was developed when
iron plates were used to cover the top surface of the rails, thereby reducing
wear and extending the lifetime of the rails. In 1776 a horse drawn railway was
constructed using prismatic, strained iron bars on wooden beams.
A stronger design for railway tracks followed with parallel steel rails
supported by ties, the heavy wood resting upon a bed of crushed stone. This
development awaited a new source of power to draw heavily loaded cars. As
everyone knows, the invention of the steam engine on wheels was the breakthrough
that led to railroads as we know them. The first railroad using steam locomotive
power was built by sn Englishman, Richard Trevithick. In February 1804, he used
a steam locomotive to pull coal cars at Penydarran, in South Wales. Cylinders
were positioned vertically, steam pressure of 40 lbs/sq inch was achieved and
the locomotive worked well. This locomotive ran only three times, pulling a
train of five wagons, 10 tons of iron and 70 passengers. The bottom line problem
was weight. The locomotive was too heavy for the cast iron rails. Trevithick
built additional experimental, steam locomotives one of which was to have
considerable influence because it was seen by George Stephenson.
The next successful railway steam locomotive was that of Blenkinsop in 1812.
It also had vertical cylinders with pinions that rotated a large dented wheel
that was fitted to the rail edges, the supporting wheels were not driving
wheels. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray's
rack locomotive, the Salamanca, which was built for the narrow gauge Middleton
Railway in 1812.
In the following year (1813) Puffing
Billy was built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam
Colliery Railway. it was the first successful locomotive to run by adhesion and
it was also the first commercial steam locomotive. Puffing Billy hauled coal
chaldron wagons from the mine at Wylam to the docks at Lemington-on-Tyne in
Northumberland. It was one of a number of similar engines built by Hedley, the
resident engineer at Wylam Colliery. These engines remained in service for many
years and the last was retired in 1862. Puffing Billy incorporated a number of
novel features patented by Hedley, which were important to the development of
locomotives. Piston rods extended upwards to pivoting beams, connected in turn
by rods to a crankshaft beneath the frames, from which gears drove and also
coupled the wheels thereby allowing maximum traction. This was the first time
that coupling had been employed on a locomotive.
Puffing Billy had a number of serious technical limitations, however. Relying
on smooth wheels running on a smooth track, its eight-ton weight was too heavy
for the rails and it crushed them. This problem was alleviated by redesigning
the engine with eight wheels so that the weight was spread more evenly. "The
engine was eventually rebuilt as a four-wheeler when improved track was
introduced around 1830. It was not particularly fast, being capable of no more
than 3 to 5 mph (5 to 8 km/h). Puffing Billy has been on display since 1862 in
the Science Museum in London, the oldest locomotive in existence."
George
Stephenson's Rocket is often mistakenly identified as the world's first
railroad steam locomotive. It's true fame rests upon several design innovations
that were subsequently incorporated into all steam locomotives. "Rocket used a
multi-tubular boiler, which made for much more efficient and effective heat
transfer between the exhaust gases and the water. Previous boilers consisted of
a single pipe surrounded by water. Rocket also used a blastpipe for the first
time which could utilize the blast of exhaust steam to induce a partial vacuum
to pull air through the fire . .. It was designed and built to compete in the
Rainhill Trials, a competition to select the best locomotive for the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway. The competition was held October 6-13, 1829. All
competitors broke down except Rocket who was declared the winner. "Rocket
fulfilled the key requirement of the contest, that a full simulated 50 mile
(90-km) round trip under load be completed with satisfactory fuel consumption.
It averaged 12 miles per hour while hauling 13 tons ......" Major design changes
were done in 1830, and this heavily modified Rocket with horizontal cylinders is
on display in the Science Museum of London.
The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, chartered in 1823 was
one of the first railroads in the United States although its original purpose
was to build and operate canals between New York City and the coal fields near
Carbondale, PA. In 1825, company engineers began to plan for a railroad. John B.
Jervis became the chief engineer of D&H and ordered four locomotives from
England. The Stourbridge Lion built at Foster, Rastrick and Company became the
first steam locomotive to operate in America but at 7.5 tons was much too heavy
for the track upon which it ran. The Agenoria is a duplicate of the Stourbridge
Lion and is on display at the National Railway Museum in York, England.The
boiler and associated parts of the Stourbridge Lion are now on display at the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, MD. Oswego, New York played a
prominent role in the later years of the Delaware and Hudson
Coal Company railroad, some of whose track was utilized by Conrail until
recently. See also the Delaware and Hudson Railway.
Peter
Cooper's Tom Thumb built in 1830 was the first American built steam
locomotive used on a passenger railroad. Although it lost a race to a horse
drawn car, the newly incorporated Baltimore and Ohio Railroad agreed to put the
Tom Thumb into service as its overall superior performance was recognized. Tom
Thumb was a 4 wheel steam locomotive with a vertical boiler and vertical
cylinders. The design was improvised as boiler tubes were made from rifle
barrels and a blower mounted in the stack was driven by a belt to the powered
axle. Cooper's interest in the railroad was by way of substantial real estate
investment in what is now the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore; success for the
railroad was expected to increase the value of these real estate holdings. Tom
Thumb was scrapped long ago, but an inaccurate replica built in 1926 may still
be seen at the Baltimore and Ohio RR Museum.
Early railroad development in Massachusetts is typical of many
east coast states during the first decades of American railroad creation and
expansion. Several charters for new railroad companies were issued by 1830 but
only three were activated. Early studies focused upon an investment - financial
return business model that utilized horse drawn carriages but experiments in
England effectively did away with this approach by 1830. The first three
Massachusetts railroads were begun in 1832 and completed by 1835. By the end of
1840, these railroads operated 285 miles of track, with an additional 80 miles
in three neighboring states. The business model considered these early railroads
to be turnpikes that anyone could use with their own engines and cars if willing
to pay the required fees. Early passenger cars resembled stage coaches and
engines were often wood burners in timber rich New England. Although cost
overruns were common, revenue flow and profit far exceeded expectations and
these early railroads gave a very good return to their investors. These early
successes created the confidence that led to rapid expansion of railroads in all
New England states. In the succeeding decade 1840-50, the number of railroad
companies rapidly increased and several branch lines served the expanding city
of Boston and its suburbs. At the end of 1850, there were 1037 miles of track in
Massachusetts, with this state's railroads operating an additional 421 miles in
adjoining states. Branch lines for commuter travel within cities and suburbs
became a serious priority but they were overbuilt and many small lines failed in
the 1860s.
Railroads were first viewed as enterprises to be made available for the
public good, but good profit and ROI rapidly changed that attitude. Return On
Investment occasionally reached 10% which was considered a spectacular financial
success at the time. Rails were first believed to never need replacement.
However, stock offerings were often oversubscribed and stock obligations were
sold at increasing levels of discount throughout the 1840s. In May 1849, the
Norfolk County Railroad in Massachusetts assigned all of its property to
creditors on the day it began service and it became the first New England
railroad to fail financially. New track construction decreased by 75% in
Massachusetts in the 1850s. At the close of 1860, there was 1227 miles of track
in Massachusetts, with the state's railroads operating and additional 527 miles
in adjoining states - a modest increase over the 1850 figures.
Small railroad companies continued to proliferate but the era of buy out,
take overs and consolidation was upon the industry. Several large railroads were
formed as the result of this activity, such as the Boston & Albany Railroad
(Dec.1, 1867) and some had the strength to continue well into the 20 the
century. At the close of 1870, there were 1439 miles of railroad track in
Massachusetts with the state's railroads operating an addition 688 miles in
adjoining states. Massachusetts had a railroad for every 5.5 square miles and
984 inhabitants.
However, railroads were soon to extend west and then to California and the
Pacific coast. The famous golden spike ceremony that signaled the completion of
the first transcontinental railroad took place at Promontory
Utah on May 10,1869. The Irish, German and Italian crew of the Union
Pacific, which may have numbered 10,000, met the 10,000 man Chinese crew of the
Central Pacific in a ceremony that has gone down in history. The nation was now
traversed by a network of iron rails upon which flowed not only passenger travel
but the lifeblood of the nation's commerce. As we look back upon the history of
American railroads in the early years of the 21st century, there is much fondest
and a great sense of loss. One can envisage reviving America's railroads so they would once
again provide efficient, pleasurable and cost effective passenger service as
well as recapture their dominance as the nation's premier freight carrier.
Learn more about early
Steam Locomotives and East Coast Railroads.. This page has an excellent
collection of links.
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