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RAILWAYS

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 822 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RAILWAYS . Railways had their origin in the tramways (q.v.) or See also:

wagon-ways which at least as See also:early as the See also:middle of the 16th See also:century were used in the See also:mineral districts of See also:England See also:round See also:Newcastle for the See also:conveyance of See also:coal from the pits to the See also:river See also:Tyne for shipment. It may be supposed that originally the public roads, when worn by the cartage of the coal, were repaired by laying planks of See also:timber at the bottom of the ruts, and that then the planks were laid on the See also:surface of See also:special roads or ways' formed between the collieries and the river. " The manner of the See also:carriage," says See also:Lord Keeper See also:North in 1676, " is by laying rails of timber . . . exactly straight and parallel, and bulky carts are made with four rowlets fitting these rails, whereby the carriage is so easy that one See also:horse will draw down four or five chaldrons of coals " (from 1o•6 to 13.2 tons). The planks were of See also:wood, often See also:beech, a few inches wide, and were fastened down, end to end, on logs of wood, or " sleepers," placed crosswise at intervals of two or three feet. In See also:time it became a See also:common practice to See also:cover them with a thin sheathing or plating of See also:iron, in See also:order to add to their See also:life; this expedient caused more See also:wear on the wooden rollers of the wagons, and, apparently towards the middle of the 18th century, led to the introduction of iron wheels, the use of which is recorded on a wooden railway near See also:Bath in 1734. But the iron sheathing was not strong enough to resist buckling under the passage of the loaded wagons, and to remedy this defect the See also:plan was tried of making the rails wholly of iron. In 1767 the Colebrookdale Iron See also:Works See also:cast a batch of iron rails or plates, each 3 ft. See also:long and 4 in. broad, having at the inner See also:side an upright ledge or flange, 3 in. high at the centre and tapering to a height of 21 in. at the ends, for the purpose of keeping the See also:flat wheels on the track. Subsequently, to increase the strength, a similar flange was added below the See also:rail. Wooden sleepers continued to be used, the rails being secured by spikes passing through the extremities, but about 1793 See also:stone blocks also began to be employed—an innovation associated with the name of See also:Benjamin See also:Outram, who, however, apparently was not actually the first to make it. This type of rail (fig.

1) was known as the See also:

plate-rail, See also:tramway-plate or barrowway-plate--names which are preserved in the See also:modern See also:term " platelayer " applied to the men who See also:lay and maintain the permanent way of a railway. Another See also:form of rail, distinguished as the edge-rail, was first used on a See also:line which was opened between See also:Loughborough and Nanpantan in 1789. This line was originally designed as a " plate-way " on the Outram See also:system, but objections were raised to rails with upstanding ledges or flanges being laid on the See also:turnpike road which was crossed at Loughborough on the level. In other cases this difficulty was overcome by paving or " cause-the road up to the level of the See also:top of the flanges, but " Another thing that is remarkable is their way-leaves; for, when men have pieces of ground between the colliery and the river, they sell leave to See also:lead coals over their ground " (See also:Roger North).on this occasion See also:William Jessop, of the Butterley Iron Works, near See also:Derby, proposed to get over it by laying down two plates of iron, perfectly flat and level with the road but each having on its outside a groove 4 in. wide and t in. deep to See also:control extra guiding wheels which were to be of somewhat larger See also:diameter than the bearing wheels and to be affixed to them. The See also:rest of the line was laid with what were substantially plate-rails placed on their edge instead of flat. These were cast in 3 ft. lengths, of a See also:double-flanged See also:section, and for the See also:sake of strength they were " See also:fish-bellied " or deeper in the middle than at the ends. At one end of each rail the flange spread out to form a See also:foot which rested on a See also:cross See also:sleeper, being secured to the latter by a spike passing through a central hole, and above this foot the rail was so shaped as to form a socket into which was fitted the end of the next rail. Each length was thus fastened to a sleeper at one end, while at the other it was socketed into the end of its See also:fellow. This method, however, was not found satisfactory: the projecting feet were liable to be broken off, and in 1799 or ',Boo Jessop abandoned them, using instead See also:separate cast-iron sockets or chairs, which were fastened to the sleepers and in which the rails were supported in an upright position. In the first instance he proposed to See also:place the guiding wheels outside the bearing wheels, and the Nanpantan line was laid on this plan with a width of 5 ft. between the See also:guide wheels; but before it was opened he decided not only to cast the guiding wheels and bearing wheels in one piece but also to put the former inside the rails, arguing that with this arrangement the edge-rails themselves would keep the wheels in position on the axles, whereas with that first contemplated fastenings would have been required for them (fig. 2). Jessop thus produced what was virtually the flanged See also:wheel of to-See also:day, having the flanges inside the rails, and further, it is said, established what has become the See also:standard See also:gauge of the See also:world, 4 ft.

82 in., or 5 ft. minus the width of two of his rails. These two systems of constructing railways—the plate-rail and the edge-rail—continued to exist side by side until well on in the 19th century. In most parts of England the plate-rail was preferred, and it was used on the See also:

Surrey iron railway, from See also:Wandsworth to See also:Croydon, which, sanctioned by See also:parliament in 1801, was finished in 1803, and was the first railway available to the public on See also:payment of tolls, previous lines having all been private and reserved exclusively for the use of their owners. In See also:South See also:Wales again, where in 1811 the railways in connexion with canals, collieries and iron and See also:copper works had a See also:total length of nearly 150 See also:miles, the plate-way was almost universal. But in the north of England and in See also:Scotland the edge-rail was held in greater favour, and by the third See also:decade of the century its superiority was generally established. The manufacture of the rails them-selves was gradually improved. By making them in longer lengths a reduction was effected in the number of See also:joints—always the weakest See also:part of the line; and another advance consisted in the substitution of wrought iron for cast iron, though that material did not gain wide See also:adoption until after the patent for an improved method of See also:rolling rails granted in 1820 to See also:John Birkinshaw, of the See also:Bedlington Ironworks, See also:Durham. His rails were See also:wedge-shaped in section, much wider at the top than at the bottom, with the inter-mediate portion or See also:web thinner still, and he recommended that they should be made r8 ft. long, even suggesting that several of them might be welded together end to end to form considerable lengths. They were supported on sleepers by chairs at intervals of 3 ft., and were fish-bellied between the points of support. As used by See also:George See also:Stephenson on the See also:Stockton & See also:Darlington and See also:Whitstable & See also:Canterbury lines they weighed 28 lb per yard. On the See also:Liverpool & See also:Manchester railway they were usually 12 ft. or 15 ft. long and weighed 35 lb to the yard, and they were fastened by iron wedges to chairs weighing 15 or 17 lb each. The chairs were waying " in turn fixed to the sleepers by two iron spikes, See also:half-round wooden cross sleepers being employed on embankments and stone blocks 20 in. square by 10 in. deep in cuttings.

The fish-bellied rails, however, were found to break near the chairs, and from 1834 they began to be replaced with parallel rails weighing 50 lb to the yard. The next important development in rail See also:

design originated in See also:America, which, for the few lines that had been laid up to 1830, remained content with wooden bars faced with iron. In that See also:year See also:Robert See also:Livingston See also:Stevens (1787-1856), devised for the See also:Camden & Amboy railway a rail similar as to its top to those in use in England, but having a flat See also:base or foot by which it was secured to the sleepers by See also:hook-headed spikes, without chairs (fig. 3); he had to get the first See also:lot of these rails, which were 15 ft. long and weighed 36 lb to the yard, manufactured in England, since there were then no See also:mills in America able to See also:roll them. This type, which is often known as the Vignoles rail, after See also:Charles Blacker Vignoles (1793-1875), who re-invented it in England in 1836, is in See also:general use in America and on the See also:continent of See also:Europe. The See also:bridge-rail (fig. 4)—so called because it was Bottomed Rail. Rail. first laid on See also:bridges—was supported on continuous See also:longitudinal sleepers and held down by bolts passing through the flanges, and was employed by I. K. See also:Brunel on the See also:Great Western railway, where, however, it was abandoned after the line was converted from broad to standard gauge in 1892. In the double-headed rail (fig.

5), originated by See also:

Joseph See also:Locke in 1837, and first laid on the See also:Grand Junction railway, the two tables were equal. This rail was more easily rolled than others, and, being reversible, was in fact two rails in one. But as it was laid in cast-iron chairs the See also:lower table was exposed to damage under the hammering of the See also:traffic, and thus was liable to be rendered useless as a See also:running surface. In consequence the See also:bull-headed rail (fig. 6) Headed Rail. was evolved, in which the lower table was made of smaller See also:size and was intended merely as a support, not as a surface to be used by the wheels. There was a See also:waste of See also:metal in these early rails owing to the excessive thickness of the See also:vertical web, and subsequent improvements have consisted in adjusting the dimensions so as to combine strength with See also:economy of metal, as well as in the substitution of See also:steel for wrought iron (after the introduction of the See also:Bessemer See also:process) and in See also:minute See also:attention to the See also:composition of the steel employed. It was found, naturally, that the rails would not rest in their chairs at the joints, but were loosened and bruised at the ends by the blows of the traffic. The fish-See also:joint was therefore devised in 1847 by W. Bridges See also:Adams, the intention being by " fishing " the joints to convert the rails into continuous beams. In the See also:original design two chairs were placed, one under each rail, a few inches apart, as in fig. 7.

The joint was thus suspended between the two chairs, and two keys of iron, called " fishes," fitting the side channels of the rails, were driven in on each side between the chairs and the rails. In subsequent modifications the fishes were, as they continue to be, bolted to and through the rails, the sleepers being placed rather further apart and the joint being generally suspended between them. The iron tramway or railway had been known for half acentury and had come into considerable use in connexion with collieries and quarries before it was realized that for the carriage of general merchandise it might prove a serious competitor to the canals, of which a large mileage had been constructed in Great See also:

Britain during that See also:period. In the See also:article on "Railways" in the Supplement to the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannica, published in 1824, it is said: "It will appear that this See also:species of inland carriage [railways] is principally applicable where See also:trade is considerable and the length of conveyance See also:short; and is chiefly useful, therefore, in transporting the mineral produce of the See also:kingdom from the mines to the nearest See also:land or See also:water communication, whether See also:sea, river or See also:canal. Attempts have been made to bring it into more general use, but without success; and it is only in particular circumstances that See also:navigation, with the aid either of locks or inclined planes to surmount the elevations, will not See also:present a more convenient See also:medium for an extended trade." It must be remembered, however, that at this time the railways were nearly all worked by horse-See also:traction, and that the use of See also:steam had made but little progress. See also:Richard Trevithick, indeed, lead in 1804 tried a high-pressure steam See also:locomotive, with smooth wheels, on a plate-way near Merthyr Tydvil, but it was found more expensive than horses; John Blenkinsop in 1811 patented an See also:engine with cogged wheel and See also:rack-rail which was used, with commercial success, to convey coal from his See also:Middleton colliery to See also:Leeds; William Hedley in 1813 built two locomotives—Puffing Billy and Wylam Dilly—for hauling coal from Wylam Colliery, near Newcastle; and in the following year George Stephenson's first engine, the See also:Blucher, See also:drew a See also:train of eight loaded wagons, weighing 30 tons, at a See also:speed of 4 M. an See also:hour up a gradient of 1 in 450. But, in the words of the same article, " This application of steam has not yet arrived at such perfection as to have brought it into general use." The steam locomotive, however, and with it the railways, soon began to make rapid progress. On the Stockton & Darlington railway, which was authorized by parliament in 1821, See also:animal See also:power was at first proposed, but on the See also:advice of Stephenson, its engineer, steam-engines were adopted. This line, with three branches, was over 38 m. in length, and was in the first instance laid with a single track, passing-places being provided at intervals of a See also:quarter of a mile. At its opening, on the 27th of See also:September 1825, a train of See also:thirty-four vehicles, making a See also:gross load of about 90 tons, was See also:drawn by one engine driven by Stephenson, with a signalman on horse-back in advance. The train moved off at the See also:rate of from 10 to 12 M. an hour, and attained a speed of 15 M. an hour on favourable parts of the line. A train weighing 92 tons could be drawn by one engine at the rate of 5 M. an hour.

The See also:

principal business of the new railway was the conveyance of minerals and goods, but from the first passengers insisted upon being carried, and on the loth of See also:October 1825 the See also:company began to run a daily See also:coach, called the " Experiment," to carry six inside, and from fifteen to twenty outside, making the See also:journey from Qarlington to Stockton and back in two See also:hours. The fare was Is., and each passenger was allowed to take baggage not exceeding 14 lb See also:weight. The rate for carriage of merchandise was reduced from 5d. to one-fifth of a See also:penny per ton per mile, and that of minerals from 7d. to 12d. per ton per mile. The See also:price of coals at Darlington See also:fell from 18s. to 8s. 6d. a ton. The example of the Stockton & Darlington line was followed by the Monklands railway in Scotland, opened in 1826, and several other small lines—including the Canterbury & Whitstable, worked partly by fixed engines and partly by locomotives—quickly adopted steam traction. But the Liverpool & Manchester railway, opened in 183o, first impressed the See also:national mind with the fact that a revolution in the methods of travelling had really taken place; and further, it was for it that the first high-speed locomotive of the modern type was invented and constructed. The See also:directors having offered a See also:prize of L500 for the best engine, trials were held on a finished portion of the line at Rainhill in October 1829, and three engines took part—the See also:Rocket of George and Robert Stephenson, the Novelty of John Braithwaite and John Ericsson, and the Sanspareil of See also:Timothy Hackworth. The last two of these engines See also:broke down under trial, but the Rocket fulfilled the conditions and won the prize. Its two steam cylinders were 8 in. in diameter, with a stroke of 161 in., and the See also:driving wheels, which were placed in front under the See also:funnel, were 4 ft. 81 in. in diameter. The engine weighed 41 tons; the See also:tender following it, 3 tons 4cwt.; and the two loaded carriages drawn by it on the trial, 9 tons 11 cwt.: thus the weight drawn was 124 tons, and the gross total of the train 17 tons.

The See also:

boiler evaporated 181 cub. ft., or 114 gals., of water an hour, and the steam pressure was 5o It) per square See also:inch. The engine drew a train weighing 13 tons 35 M. in 48 minutes, the rate being thus nearly 44 M. an hour; subsequently it drew an See also:average gross load of 40 tons behind the tender at 13.3 M. an hour. The Rocket possessed the three elements of efficiency of the modern locomotive—the See also:internal water-surrounded See also:fire-See also:box and the multitubular flue in the boiler; the blast-See also:pipe, by which the steam after doing its See also:work in the cylinders was exhausted up the See also:chimney, and thus served to increase the See also:draught and promote the rapid See also:combustion of the See also:fuel; and the See also:direct connexion of the steam cylinders, one on each side of the engine, with the two driving wheels mounted on one See also:axle. Of these features, the. blast-pipe had been employed by Trevithick on his engine of 1804, and direct driving, without intermediate gearing, had been adopted in several previous engines; but the use of a number (25) of small tubes in place of one or two large flues was an innovation which in See also:conjunction with the blast-pipe contributed greatly to the efficiency of the engine. After the success of the Rocket, the Stephensons received orders to build seven more engines, which were of very similar design, though rather larger, being four-wheeled engines, with the two driving wheels in front and the cylinders behind; and in October 183o they constructed a ninth engine, the See also:Planet, also for the Liverpool & Manchester railway, which still more closely resembled the modern type, since the driving wheels were placed at the fire-box end, while the two cylinders were arranged under the See also:smoke-box, inside the frames. The See also:main features of the steam locomotive were thus established, and its subsequent development is chiefly a See also:history of See also:gradual increase in size and power, and of improvements in design, in material and in See also:mechanical construction, tending to increased efficiency and economy of operation. In America the development of the locomotive See also:dates from almost the same time as in England. The earliest examples used in that See also:country, apart from a small experimental See also:model constructed by See also:Peter See also:Cooper, came from England. In 1828, on behalf of the See also:Delaware & See also:Hudson Canal Company, which had determined to build a line, 16 m. long, from See also:Carbondale to Honesdale, See also:Pennsylvania, Horatio See also:Allen ordered three locomotives from Messrs See also:Foster & Rastrick, of See also:Stourbridge, and one from George Stephenson. The latter, named the America, was the first to be delivered, reaching New See also:York in See also:January 1829, but one of the others, the Stourbridge See also:Lion, was actually the first See also:practical steam locomotive to run in America, which it did on the 9th of See also:August 1829. The first See also:American-built loccmotive, the Best Friend, of See also:Charleston, was made at the See also:West Point Foundry, New York, in 183o, and was put to work on the South Carolina railroad in that year. It had a vertical boiler, and was carried on four wheels all coupled, the two cylinders being placed in an inclined position and having a See also:bore of about 6 in. with a stroke of 16 in.

Itis reported to have hauled 40 or 50 passengers in 4 or 5 cars at a speed of 16-21 m. an hour. After a few months of life it was blown up, its attendant, annoyed by the See also:

sound of the escaping steam, having fastened down the safety-See also:valve. A second engine, the West Point, also built at West Point Foundry for the South Carolina railroad, differed from the Best Friend in having a See also:horizontal boiler with 6 or 8 tubes, though in other respects it was similar. In 1831 the See also:Baltimore & See also:Ohio Company offered a prize of $4000 for an American engine weighing 3i tons, able to draw 15 tons at 15 M. an hour on the level: it was won by the York of Messrs See also:Davis & Gartner in the following year. See also:Matthias W. See also:Baldwin, the founder of the famous Baldwin Locomotive Works in See also:Philadelphia, built his first engine, Old See also:Ironsides, for the Philadelphia, See also:Germantown & See also:Morristown railroad; first tried in See also:November 1832, it was modelled on Stephenson's Planet, and had a single pair of driving wheels at the fire-box end and a pair of carrying wheels under the smoke-box. His second engine, the E. L. See also:Miller, delivered to the South Carolina railroad in 1834, presented a feature which has remained characteristic of American locomotives—the front part was supported on a four-wheeled swivelling See also:bogie-See also:truck, a See also:device, however, which had been applied to Puffing Billy in England when it was rebuilt in 1815. The Liverpool & Manchester line achieved a success which surpassed the anticipations even of its promoters, and in See also:con-sequence numerous projects were started for the construction of railways in various parts of Great Britain. In the decade following its opening nearly 2000 M. of railway were sanctioned by parliament, including the beginnings of most of the existing See also:trunk-lines, and in 1840 the actual mileage reached 1331 M. The next decade saw the " railway See also:mania." The amount of See also:capital which parliament authorized railway companies to raise was about 44 millions on the average of the two years 1842-1843, 174 millions in 1844, 6o millions in 1845, and 132 millions in 1846, though this last sum was less than a quarter of the capital proposed in the schemes submitted to the See also:Board of Trade; and the See also:wild See also:speculation which occurred in railway shares in 1845 contributed largely to the See also:financial crisis of 1847.

In 185o the mileage was 6635, in 186o it was 10,410, and in 1870 it was 15,310. The increase in the decade 1860-1870 was thus nearly 50%, but subsequently the rate of increase slackened, and the mileages in 188o, 1890 and 1900 were 17,935, 20,073 and 21,855. In the See also:

United States progress was more rapid, for, beginning at 2816 in 1840, the mileage reached 9015 in 185o, 30,600 in 186o, 87,801 in 188o, and 198,964 in 1900. See also:Canada had no railway till 1853, and in South America construction did not begin till about the same time. See also:France and See also:Austria opened their first lines in 1828; See also:Belgium, See also:Germany, See also:Russia, See also:Italy and See also:Holland in the succeeding decade; Switzer-land and See also:Denmark in 1844, See also:Spain in 1848, See also:Sweden in 1851, See also:Norway in 1853, and See also:Portugal in 1854; while See also:Turkey and See also:Greece delayed till 186o and 1869. In See also:Africa See also:Egypt opened her first line (between See also:Alexandria and See also:Cairo) in 1856, and Cape See also:Colony followed in r86o. In See also:Asia the first line was that between Bombay and Tannah, opened in 1853, and in See also:Australia See also:Victoria began her railway system in 1854 (see also the articles on the various countries for further details about their railways). Transcontinental Railways.—A railway line across North America was first completed in 1869, when the See also:Union Pacific, See also:building from the See also:Missouri river at See also:Omaha (1400 in. west of New York), met the Central Pacific, which built from See also:San Francisco eastwards, making a line 1848 to. long through a country then for the most part uninhabited. This was followed by the See also:Southern Pacific in 1881, from San Francisco to New See also:Orleans, 2489 miles; the See also:Northern Pacific, from St See also:Paul to See also:Portland, Ore., in 1883; the See also:Atchison, See also:Topeka & See also:Santa Fe, from See also:Kansas See also:City to San Diego; and the Great Northern from St Paul to See also:Seattle and New See also:Westminster in 1893. Meanwhile the See also:Canadian Pacific, a true transcontinental line, was built from See also:Montreal, - on See also:Atlantic See also:tide-water, to the Pacific at See also:Vancouver, 2906 M. But these lines have been dwarfed since 1891 by the Siberian railway, built by the See also:Russian See also:government entirely across the continent of Asia from Cheliabinsk (1769 M. by rail See also:east of St See also:Petersburg) to See also:Vladivostok, a distance of 4073 m., with a See also:branch from Kharbin about 5oo m. long to Dalny and See also:Port See also:Arthur. The main line was finished in 1902, except for a length of about 170 M. in very difficult country around the south end of See also:Lake See also:Baikal; this was constructed in 1904, communication being maintained in the See also:interval by See also:ferry-boats, which conveyed all the carriages of a train across the lake, more than 40 m., when the See also:ice permitted.

A transcontinental line was long ago undertaken across South America from Buenos Aires to See also:

Valparaiso, where the continent is only about 900 m. wide. The last section through the See also:Andes was finished in 1910. (H.

End of Article: RAILWAYS

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