Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Railroads have been around for a long time. As far back as the
16th century, they were used to haul coal out of mines in Eng-
land and Wales. Really, those were hardly what we would call
railroads—just horses and mules pulling wagons along crude
tracks—but they had the same fundamental advantage that mod-
ern railroads offer. By reducing friction, more weight could be
moved with less energy. The people who ran those coal mines
understood the concept in even simpler terms: the easier it was
for a horse to pull one of their carts, the more coal they could
put into it.
The potential of steam power had been understood for a long
time; in fact, steam engines had been used for years to pump
water out of those same coal mines. The big breakthrough came
about 1803 when Richard Trevithick, an English mining engineer,
figured out how to mount a steam engine on a movable platform.
Within a few years, the very first steam locomotives were being
used to haul coal from mines to seaports, where it was shipped
all over the world. In 1825, the first passenger rail service began,
and word of this new means of transportation started spreading
beyond England's shores. It found fertile ground in America.
7
Search WWH ::
Custom Search