Planes, Trains and Automobiles....

 

Ancient History

Roads of rails were being used in Europe as early as 1550. At first, these primitive tramways (Wagonways) consisted of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons or carts might be moved with grater ease than over rutted dirt roads. To prevent wear and to provide a smoother running surface, strips of iron were later fastened securely on the tops of the wooden rails.

The first all iron rails were cast in 1767 by the Colebrookdale Iron Works in England. These rails were about three feet long and were flanged to keep the wagon wheels on the track. Many years later, the flange was transferred to the wheels.

Meanwhile, the inventive genius of man was busy with the problem of harnessing steam power. Thomas Newcomen invented a crude steam engine in 1712. James Watt produced a geatly improved steam engine in 1769 and a better one in 1774.

William Murdock's steam vehicle of was another milestone. But it was not until 1804 that the Englishman Richard Trevithick built the first crude steam railway locomotive.

In 1814, George Stevenson of England built a steam locomotive, the Blucher, which actually drew a train of eight loaded cars at the weight of 30 tons at a speed of 4 miles per hour! By 1825 Stevenson had improved his locomotive, and in 1829 built the Rocket, the first really successful steam locomotive. Ever since, he has been honored as the father of steam locomotive. Stevenson's "Rocket"

Meanwhile, in 1815 , John Stevens of Hoboken, N.J., had obtained from the state of New Jersey the first railroad charter ever issued in America.

By this time there were several short, horse powered railroads in the United States, including one on Beacon Hill, Boston, built by Silas Whitney and opened in 1807, and owned by Thomas Leiper in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, built in 1809.

In an alcove inside the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania rests a strange vehicle, apparently part farm wagon and part boiler-driven steam propulsion system. It is a replica of the first steam locomotive built in America to run on rails -- a circle six hundred and sixty feet in circumference, on John Stevens' estate at Hoboken, now the site of the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Built in New Jersey in 1825, it was intended to encourage the construction of railroads in Pennsylvania. Fifteen years earlier, Stevens had turned over operation of his steamboat lines to his sons, and shifted his attention to the use of steam for propulsion on land. A visionary who saw the need for railroads, he spent much of his personal fortune advocating their construction.

Colonel John Stevens' initial efforts had been to dissuade New York's Governor De Witt Clinton (1769-1828) from building the Erie Canal. Canals, he maintained, would not be efficient, and would be frozen when the farmers most needed them to move their threshed grain to market.

Unable to block the Erie Canal, and lacking capital for a railroad in New Jersey, Stevens turned to Pennsylvania, which was also considering construction of a series of canals. His locomotive was designed to propel itself by a rotating cog-wheel, not unlike that in use today on New Hampshire's famous Mt. Washington Railway, for he had to show the feasibility of railroads climbing the hills and mountains that had blocked westward development.

Stevens' ideas would eventually become reality. The Pennsylvania Railroad, under a new charter of 1846, was to become a giant among American railroads, representing the consolidation of over six hundred smaller lines, extending from its Philadelphia headquarters to New York, Washington, DC, Chicago and St. Louis. Its main line followed much of the route surveyed by Stevens, and it passed through Paradise, PA, at a place called Strasburg Junction, where a short line known as the Strasburg Rail Road came into existence as a result of an 1832 charter.

At the other end of the Strasburg Rail Road is the location destined to see the opening of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 1975. But what was there to house? Why did the state need a railroad museum? The answer lies in more than a century of railroad growth and activity that impacted the Commonwealth and its people as no other development had.

It was the massive web of railroads, mostly of compatible rail width, that gave the North a major advantage over the Confederacy during the Civil War. Railroads allowed the Union's industrial might to be brought to bear at the battlefront. The battle of Gettysburg was preceded by an almost continuous line of trains on the Western Maryland Rail Road, carrying Federal troops and supplies from Baltimore to Westminster, MD. Operating under Federal military authority, it became a major line of supply for the Army of the Potomac. For several days after the battle, it transported prisoners, the wounded and the dead.....but this skips over the De Witt locomotive....

 

The DeWitt Clinton
The DeWitt Clinton, 9 August 1831. One of the earliest Americam built locomotives.

The De Witt Clinton

The first locomotives used in the United States were built in England for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. The first locomotive to operate in the Americas was the Stourbridge Lion, one of the four original locomotives built in England at the order of John B. Jervis, chief engineer of D. & H. C.C.

The first locomotive actually built in the United States, in 1830, was named the Tom Thumb. It ran on the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad.

The steam locomotive John Bull was made by the English firm Stephensons for the Camden and Amboy Railroad in New Jersey. It arrived as a set of parts at Philadelphia in late in August 1831 and was assembled by Isaac Dripps. The John Bull had been purchased by New Jersey entrepreneur and engineer Robert Stevens.

In 1831-32, D. & H. C.C.’s Jervis had two more locomotives built in the United States, one of which was named the DeWitt Clinton.

 

 

The origins of the railroad : The locomotive of Trevithick , 1804 .

 

HISTORY OF LOCOMOTIVES

The history of the early days of the locomotive is closely related to the evolution of the automatic steam vehicle devised to circulate in the roads and later left aside after being developed the transport on tracks. The idea to tend a special pair of rails for the wheels of the load vehicles goes back to the time of the Romans, who were used to paving with stone blocks located in parallel channels the portion the road through where they passed the wheels.


The same method was adopted frequently in the early times of the operation of the stone coal deposits in England, where this coal was transported from the mines in railroad cars drown by horses . Towards the 1630, nevertheless, an individual called Beaumont ran seating wood tracks with the same object; and by the end of XVIII century it was of current use railroads with wood tracks that had a cleared superior surface, adjusting to them the channeled rims of the iron wheels of the wagons; it also was appraised the advantage for the economy represented by the easier transportation ascending or descending the slopes, reducing the hills, filling up the depressions of the land and constructing bridges on the rivers.

 
    
  Later the wood tracks were covered with strained iron plates, to extend their duration diminishing the wearing down, and in 1776 a railroad was constructed in Sheffield (United Kingdom) tending prismatic strained iron bars on wood beams.

Starting off from these coarse principles, the modern railroad was developed, a road composed of parallel steel rails supported by ties and providing a track for locomotive-drawn trains or other wheeled vehicles , with its heavy woods resting on divided stone and maintaining prismatic steel tracks that weigh of 45 to 65 kilograms per meter, with all its complete cohort of auxiliary elements: nails , signals, dispositions for rescue, etc.
 

The locomotive in its childhood and its first vacillating steps .

At the end of 18th. century , the steam engine became a real and positive factor in the industry, and different attempts had been made to apply it to the road vehicles. The merit to carry out the construction of the first locomotive that marched on tracks corresponds to Richard Trevithick, that, in February of 1804, used a locomovible machine to carry coal in the road of Penydarran, in South Wales , United Kingdom.

  
         
 

Locomotive of Blenkinsop, 1812

  The first locomotive used successfully

The locomotive of Trevithick, according to the most authorized references, was very similar to the attached figure in this page . The boiler was made of strained iron with inner furnace, and the products of the combustion were directed to a chimney located in the same end of the mouth of the firebox . The steam engine, that is to say, the cylinder with the piston, was arranged vertically, and the connecting bars represented in the figure by the D, that acted as a connecting rod, and the L, connected with the motor axis.

         
   

The steam, after having operated, escaped by the chimney to increase the shot, and this system it depended on the friction of the driving wheels on the tracks to assure sufficient traction power . The pressure of the steam was about 40 pounds by square inch; so that strictly speaking it was a machine of high pressure. The safety valve, E , prevented an excessive pressure in the boiler. This locomotive worked well, but its economic results were not satisfactory.

The following successful attempt to obtain a steam locomotive was done by Blenkinsop in 1812. This machine, as it appears in the corresponding figure , had two cylinders of 203 millimeters of diameter each one and arranged vertically , like in the machine of Trevithick. The connecting bars, nevertheless, acted on axes with pinions that rotated a great dented wheel, that matched as well in the edges of the rails of the track . The supporting wheels of the machine were not, then, driving wheels. The machine of Blenkinsop was followed, in 1813, by another denominated " Puffing Billy ", devised by Blackett, that almost completely agreed upon the same Blenkínsop's system in the general structure of the vehicle, but that obtained the effect of traction by means of the supporting wheels, like in the locomotive invented by Trevithick.

 

    
 

Locomotive Killingworth , 1816

Locomotive "Puffing Billy" , 1813

    
But the same time, Jorge Stephenson, engineer of the coalmine of Killingworth, England , had been working in the resolution of the problem, and in 1814 introduced his first machine, denominated the " Blucher ", which had a boiler of 863 millimeters of diameter and 2.43 meters in length, with a heating tube of 507 millimeters of diameter. The cylinders had 203 millimeters of diameter, being the race of the piston of 609 millimeters. This locomotive did not defer greatly from any of its precedents; but in the second machine devised by the same Stephenson, and constructed the following year, he began to show the originality that gave him the merit and the triumph of making a locomotive a commercial success. In this machine, the connecting bars were in direct communication with the four wheels, and both axes were connected by rods that acted on trees inside the bearings. The rods later were replaced by chains, as it is seen in the attached figure. In a third locomotive, constructed by the same Stephenson, the boiler was transported in steam cylinders, anticipating then the future disposition of the support by springs .
 

All these locomotives were devised to drag wagons of coal at little speed from mines of particular property, and for a long time, after having used them with a recognized success in that kind of job, the wagons destined to passengers still continued being dragged by horse, and only by force of persistence Stephenson obtained allowance to construct three locomotives for the new Stockton and Darlington railroad , of which he was named engineer-chief in 1823, and that was constructed to use horses as a mean of traction .

   

The "Locomotion" , built by Stephenson in 1825 , over the first railroad bridge .

The first of the three machines that Stephenson constructed, and denominated "Locomotion", was not different from the previous locomotives, but it had outer lateral rods. The boiler had 1.21 meters of diameter and three of length; both vertical cylinders were of 254 millimeters of diameter; the driving wheels were connected by lateral bars, like in the modern locomotives. The machinery altogether weighed six tons and a half, and it was accompanied with a tender to transport coal and water.    
             
               
The railroad of Stockton and Darlington was the first in which the locomotives were used with regularity for the transport of passengers and merchandise. The cavalries were thus discarded.
The supremacy of the locomotive was definitively and totally consecrated in the contest inaugurated by the Company of the railroad of Liverpool and Manchester to decide what traction method would be the best one for its new rail , and offering a prize for the best solution. The plan counted , of course, with the opposition of the Companies of diligences and the land owners along the way. Stephenson, that had been named engineer-chief , was greatly ridiculed after assuring that he could construct a locomotive that would march at the speed of 30 kilometers per hour. During the debate that for the concession was originated in the House of Commons, a member of a Committee of this Camera asked to him: "Let's suppose now that one of your machines is marching at the rate of two and a half or three kilometers per hour and that a cow crossed the line and intercepted the way of the machine, wouldn't it be a very delicate circumstance ?, to which the engineer responded "Yes , very delicate for the cow." And when asked if the people and the animals would not be intimidated themselves by the red chimney of the locomotive, he answered back with very good sense: "But how they would know to distinguish if the chimney did not go painted ? " .
 		    

The locomotive  "Rocket" built by  Stephenson in 1829 and winner of a public contest . 

 For the contest that took place in October of 1829, Stephenson constructed his locomotive "Rocket", that not only defeated all its competitors, but it got to march at the rate of 40 kilometers per hour in the tests, and two days later it dragged 13 tons of weight at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour. The "Rocket", that weighed only four tons and a half, had a boiler constructed with very similar tubes to the system of the modern tubular boilers, being its dimensions altogether of 1.82 meters in length with 1.015 meters of diameter. The cylinders were assembled in a sloped position , and the piston rods were connected to single great working wheel each one of them. The steam, after acting, was expelled by the chimney by means of sharpened exhaust pipes. The "Rocket" presented, therefore, practically all the special characteristics of a useful and practical locomotive and worked for many years.    
The first attempt to test a commercial use of the locomotive in America was carried out in 1829 by the Company of the Channel of Delaware & Hudson, which imported from England the locomotive "Stourbridge Lemon" to work in the line of 25 kilometers from Carbondale to Hones (Pennsylvania). But that the tracks were too weak, and the use of the machine was stopped immediately .
The first locomotive constructed in the United States of America was a small model, designed by Peter Cooper and tried successfully in the railroad of Baltimore to Ohio. The tubes of the boiler were done with rifle barrels, and the machine developed only 1.43 horsepower. This was the principle, and just in a short time they appeared, in the order that follows, the locomotives denominated: "Best Friend", 1830; the "West Point", 1831; the "Sonth Carolina", 1831; the "De Witt Clinton", 1831; the "Atlantic", 1832; the "Old Ironsides", 1832.
The last machine mentioned was the first locomotive constructed by Matthias W. Baldwin, founder of the great factories of locomotives "Baldwin", in Philadelphia. The development of the locomotive marched then by good way in the United States; and many special facilities, several of which were destined to become famous world-wide institutions, began to occupy the place of what were in the beginning small factories destined to construct machines in general, and without nothing of the special instruments that are common in the modern industry.
 		    

Locomotive "South Carolina" , 1831 .

Locomotive  "Best Friend" , 1839

    

Locomotive  "West Point" , 1831 .

Many peculiar and interesting improvements of the essential parts of the locomotive were tried by the rival constructors before arising the definitive type of locomotive. The boiler was then installed along its length, and the motor cylinder, with their pistons and accessories, placed horizontally in the previous end. Two axis-motors were adopted, and the connector bar of the steam engine was linked directly to one of the motor wheels. These wheels were connected to each other by means of lateral bars .The furnace was still sufficiently narrow to be placed between the wheels, and it was found that it was necessary to add an auxiliary set of front wheels, due to the length of the boiler and to help the locomotive to turn the curves.    
   

Photo of 1925 of the "Twentieth Century Limited", the most famous train of the world at the beginning the XX Century, this luxurious and fast train circulated from New York to Chicago, crossing a distance of 1,546 kilometers on the lines of the New York Central in 20 hours, it was provided with all the necessary comforts for long trips.

 

            
   

The train "Overland Limited" crossing the great Salty Lake in the United States, the first American transcontinental railroad was shortened by cuts that added 161 kilometers.

           
   

Photo Canadian Pacific .

Train crossing the viaduct at Lethbridge, 1622 meters of steel through the valley of Alberta in Canada , in the line of the Crow's Nest Pass .

            
   

 

  

Photo 1920 - Entrance to the tunnel of the Summit ("La Cumbre") on the Andes in Chile's side .

           
   

Locomotive of the Argentine State Railways , built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the heavy service in the government railways of the Huapi-Viedma section in the province of Rio Negro . Powered by petroleum.

 

 

In 1866, in the factories of Baldwin locomotives, it was constructed the first machine of a new type for the transport of loads , destined for the railroad of the Lehigh Valley, pertaining to a Company that had just finished forming by fusing several small lines, thus it was given to this type of locomotive the name of "Consolidation". These locomotives had four pairs of motor wheels and an auxiliary front set of two wheels, and it's got to be the favorite type of transporting locomotive for heavy weights, for example, in the shipments of mineral coal . The following year the same Company constructed the first of its new type of locomotives for the transport of heavy loads with three pairs of motor wheels and an auxiliary set of two wheels; this new type was known with the name of "the Great Mogul" and this Mogul term later came to be the one that served commonly to designate almost all the great locomotives, although the first Baldwin machine of this type was not remarkable by its dimensions.

The first true Mogul probably was constructed by the Rogers Locomotive Works Company, towards 1863. In 1897, Baldwin constructed a new style of locomotive for heavy loads, destined to the Nippon Railroad of Japan, and, naturally, to this new type of machine it was applied the name "Mikado" .

 

  

La locomotive "Atlantic" , 1832 .

  This kind of locomotives had four motor wheels, a front auxiliary set of two wheels and another rear one, also auxiliary, of two wheels that were located under the engineer's cab. The fireplace was placed near the back of the motor wheels and on the rear auxiliary set of wheels , so that it could be widened whatever was necessary to obtain the heating surface required by the great boiler. In the forthcoming years, it has been common practice to designate all of these different types of locomotives regarding the number and disposition of their wheels. Thus, the American types with four front auxiliary set motor wheels , four motor wheels and without rear auxiliary set , were designated with the expression "the 4-4-0" , the type "Consolidation" was designated by "2-8-0", and the Mikado by "2-8-0". This way to designate the different types has been simplified later omitting the intermediate scripts.  
       
 

The figures below show the silhouettes of different locomotives displaying the development of the machine throughout the years:

 

1831- Locomotive of " De Witt Clinton", compared with a train of three vehicles, it had a smaller length than the Pacific type.

   
 

1863.-.Military locomotive with fireplace to burn firewood; chimney in pear form; weight, 30 tons.

1848.-"Governor Paine" .One of the first machines aspiring to the honors of great speed: 1610 meters in 43 seconds.

 
 

1876.- American type, constructed by Baldwin; exhibited in the Exhibition of the Centenary, Philadelphia; weight, 36 tons. The chimneys in diamond form, according to the image above , were the most used. Pay attention in the transversal sections how when increasing the diameter of the motor wheels and that of the boilers, grew the height of the locomotives, and how the fireplace goes lower on the back wheels in the modern locomotives.

 
 

1893.- Type American "999", exhibited in the Exhibition of Chicago of 1893. Weight, 62 tons; weight of the dragged train, 205 tons. It obtained the "world-wide record": 1610 meters in 32 seconds

  
 

 

 

 

  
 

1910 -Type Pacific "Twentieth Century Limited". Weight, 135 tons. "world-wide Record" of capacity to maintain great speed in all the route, dragging II steel wagons of 810 tons of weight, in a march of 110 kilometers per hour .

 
 

1905 -Consolidation Type. Weight, 113 tons. The best type for train of merchandise of its time.

  
 

1912 - (Pennsylvania "1067") type. Weight, 120 tons. Type that showed a great advance in capacity to maintain great force of drag at great speed

  
 

1912 - Pacific type (Erie "2509") Weight of the locomotive: 1.35 tons. The locomotive, that made number 50,000 of the constructed machines by the Company "American Locomotive", made as an experiment, represented the best improvement in plan, materials and construction. The locomotives of this type were destined to trains of passengers.

   
 

1914 - Mountain type (C. & 0. "36"). Weight, 165 tons. The greatest and most powerful locomotive for the service of passengers anywhere in the world, in 1914 .

  
   

 

  
 

1914 - Mikado Type (Reading "1170"). Weight of the locomotive: 166 tons. Enormous tractive force.

   
 

1911 -Mallet type (Virginian "604") Machine of powerful tractive force, employed to raise slopes of 381 meters in 18 kilometers. The motor wheels, divided in two groups.

   
 

 


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