The
vast continent of America offered a massive
was an opportunity eagerly seized. The railways, as much as any other single force, opened up the interior of the country. Thus the lands to the west of the Appalachian fold mountains only exploited and populated after the construction of the were railroads. They were of great significance in this continent's history and development. The history of America and the history of its opportunity for railway pioneers.
It
railways are inseparable.
There were a few horse tramways built in the early part of the nineteenth century for example the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's line running in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, was built in 1829. Work started on the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1828. It was North America's first long-distance line, intended to link the Atlantic seaboard with the Mississippi valley. The company at first intended to use horses, but on completion of a substantial section of track-laying, it arranged for a locomotive contest on similar lines to the Rainhill trials held for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in Britain and won by Stephenson's Rocket. The company had been able to offer steam traction before this competition, but with little success. A local Baltimore resident, Peter Cooper, a gluemaker from New York and amateur inventor, had produced an experimental loco called Tom Thumb which had made the occasional trip along the line. It was, however, technically limited and was rejected in favour of a competition. There were five entries, all American. The winner was Phineas Davis, a watchmaker, who entered the engine York, a four-wheeled machine with a vertical boiler. It was a practical proposition and a further eighteen engines were built and continued to be used by the company until 1893. However, it proved impossible to enlarge the design, and eventually it died out. The president of America's first steam passenger railway was the plump and pleasant Philip E. Thomas (1776-1861), a merchant banker. Once he saw the success of the scheme, he ordered its expansion. By the time of his retirement in 1836 he had extended the line to Harper's Ferry and built a further 36-mile branch to Washington. By this time its success was clear for all to see. It had gross revenues of over 260,000 dollars per annum, seven locomotives, over 1000 freight cars and forty-four passenger coaches. Its next president, Louis McLane (1786-1857), a former cabinet member in the Jackson administration, pushed the Baltimore and Ohio on to Cumberland in 1842, though further westward extension was slowed partly by the high mountains and partly by opposition from the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania who feared competition. It was not until Christmas Eve 1852 that the last spike was driven in, when the line actually reached the Ohio river at Wheeling, Virginia. These early developments in the railway era in America have been much overshadowed by one of the greatest projects in the ;
71
Opposite The scene at Promontory Point, 10 May 1869 when the locomotives of the Central Pacific (left) and the Union Pacific (right) steamed slowly towards each other and the construction of the first transcontinental line was complete.
Utah on