By 1860, American railroads had more than tripled in length, to some 30,000 miles, while investment soared to more than $1 billion. The largest firms soon commanded capital in the tens of millions, and by the mid-1850s four trunk-line railroads stretched from northeastern coastal cities into the Old Northwest. New England claimed the greatest density of lines, but construction proceeded throughout the country. ![]() Railroad investment, meanwhile, climbed from an estimated $96 million in 1839 to some $300 million in 1850. By 1850, canal mileage had leveled off at about 3,700 miles, while the nation boasted 9,000 miles of railroads. The first locomotives were English imports, but a style more appropriate to the United States soon developed-powerful enough to haul heavy loads up steep grades and with swiveling front wheels to handle sharp curves.įrom the 1830s, construction proceeded rapidly and absorbed increasing amounts of capital. railroad development, this American system of construction proved especially attractive when the terrain was rough, distances were long, or capital was scarce. Although a wide diversity of construction styles marked U.S. This resulted in railroads of shoddy construction that had sharp curves and steep grades, as well as comparatively high operating costs and low speeds. Work proceeded slowly, however, and the first long-distance railroad actually brought into operation, in 1833, was the 136-mile South Carolina Canal and Railroad.īy 1840 a distinctive so-called American system of railroad construction had emerged, characterized by economy of construction necessitated by capital scarcity: the builders minimized excavation and substituted wood for iron wherever possible, including in the rails themselves. passenger railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio, began on 4 July 1828. ![]() Pennsylvania pushed ahead with its Main Line canal system, linking Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, but steam power gradually prevailed, even though water transport generally remained cheaper than alternatives and could also be propelled by steam. As coastal cities from Boston to Charleston, South Carolina, weighed transportation projects that would enable them to compete with New York City for western markets, experts debated the relative utility of canals and waterways versus steam-powered railroads. Not only were steam railroads expensive to build and technologically complex, but the country had recently embarked on a canal-building boom, sparked by construction of the Erie Canal. ![]() By the 1830s, civil and military engineers such as Horatio Allen, Major William Gibbs McNeill, and Moncure Robinson had become railroad experts in their own right.Īs in Europe, the earliest American railroads-for instance, the Granite Railway in Quincy, Massachusetts, of 1826-were powered by horses, and well into the 1830s the superiority of steam-powered railroads remained an open question. ![]() English engineers established an early lead in this development, but Americans quickly caught up, often by visiting England to examine the latest innovations. The railroad's basic principle-lessening the power needed to move objects over land by putting them on rails-had been used since the late eighteenth century, but the railroad took on its modern form in the late 1820s when steam locomotives came into use.
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