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Period: Sep 1, 1550 to
Wooden Rails
First form of railroads were made from weood and horses were used to pull the wagons. Nickenamed "Wagonways". -
Sep 27, 1550
Wagonways
trainsThe first forms of rail roads were called Wagonways and were being used in Germany as early as 1550. These early rail roads consisted of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons or carts. Wagonways were the beginnings of modern railroads. -
Mining
Wagon roads built by english were used in coal mines using heavy planks on which horses pulled carts and wagons. -
Innovations
trains Iron had replaced the wood in the rails and wheels on the carts. Wagonways turned into Tramways and spread though out Europe. Horses still pulled the wagons. -
New Wheels
trainsEnglishman, William Jessup designed the first wagons with flanged wheels it had a groove that allowed the wheels to better grip the rail, -
Ideas
trainsThe invention of the steam engine was critical to the development of the modern railroad and trains. Samuel Homfray funded the development of a steam-powered vehicle to replace the horse-drawn carts on the tramways. -
Period: to
Steam engine
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Steam
trains Richard Trevithick funded by Samuel Homfray built the first steam engine train. The train hauled a load of 10 tons of iron, 70 men and five extra wagons. -
Puffing Billy
The Puffing Billy was built by William Hedley to pull coal wagons at the Wylam Colliery in Northumberland. It was so reliable that it was used for fifty years. -
Passengers
trainsEnglishman, Julius Griffiths was the first person to patent a passenger train. -
Patent
trainsEnglishman, Julius Griffiths was the first person to patent a passenger road locomotive. -
Passenger and goods
Stockton & Darlington Railroad Company began as the first railroad to carry both goods and passengers on regular schedules using trains designed by English inventor, George Stephenson the train pulled six loaded coal cars and 21 passenger cars with 450 passengers over 9 miles in about one hour. -
Period: to
Trains
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Coming to the United States
trainsTom Thumb, built in 1829 first ran in 1830 on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad to Ellicots Mill, Maryland.This was the first public railroad in the United States. -
Brakes
trains George Stephenson applies a small steam brake cylinder to operate brake shoes on driving wheels of locomotives -
Great Western Railway
Isambard Kingdom Brunel completed his London to Bristol line - also known as the Great Western Railway. -
Bridges
trainsThe first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River is completed between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. -
Miles
By 1900, Britain had 22,000 miles of rail track. -
U.S Mileage
In 1933 the U.S. railway mileage was about 258,000, over twelve times that of Great Britain.
