HISTORY OF RAILROADS AND LOCOMOTIVES.
The railroad—which, thanks to the application of steam as the pro pelling power, has become tile system by which the principal part of the internal traffic of the civilized nations of the world is carried on—has de veloped to its present state from ancient and very crude practices. The first step in this direction seems to have been to provide a hard and smooth surface over which heavy bodies could be moved with economy of power. There is reason to believe that the stones used in the building- of the pyra mids and temples of ancient Egypt were brought from the quarries upon causeways formed of large hewn stones over which rollers bearing great blocks weighing many tons were made to pass. The Romans employed blocks of stone to form a way upon which heavy burdens could be drawn with greater ease than upon common roads, and a similar practice appears to have been followed by other peoples of Europe.
Early three hundred years ago, in the mines of the Harz Mountains, in Germany, and somewhat later in the English coal mines, wooden tracks were introduced upon which the coal- and ore-wagons w2re drawn. The first road of this kind is known to have been laid down in 16°2 at Newcastle, and from this date onward, roads provided with tracks of one kind or another gradually found their way throughout the mining districts of England, Scotland, and Wales, and from time to time their construction was improved. Toward the close of the seventeenth century they had come into general use, and a century later the utility and economy of such " tramways," as they were called, had become so well recognized that considerable sums were expended upon their construction, the inequalities of the ground being overcome by cutting and filling, as is done to-day in order to bring the roads to a uniform grade.
The development of the rail proceeded from the crude tim ber way above spok-en of until eventually it came to be made of iron. At first this was merely a thin strip of wrought iron or a moulding of cast iron, to protect the wooden rails from rapid wear. In 1776, a tramway was laid at Sheffield having cast-iron rails with an upright flange, spiked down to longitudinal sleepers of timber 05/. 22, fig. 4). The cast-iron edge rail of Jessop, introduced in 1789, was the first approximation to modern methods of construction. This rail was of oval section, and in connection
therewith a chair was used—a block of iron slotted to receive the ends of adjacent rails Cfig. 5). The wheels of the wao-ons were made with fl-mo-es to keep them on the rail, in the manner of those now employed. Since 183o, the T-rail has come into general use. Wrought-iron rails were first rolled by Birkenshaw in England about the year 182°. The first steel rail was rolled in 1857 by Mushet at the Ebbw-Vale Iron Company's works, in South Wales, and at the present time Bessemer steel has almost completely supplanted iron for this purpose. The rails are made from 75 to 3o feet in length, and, according to the severity of the traffic they are to withstand, have a weight of from forty-five to one hundred pounds to the yard.
For drawing the comparatively light loads on the prhnitive railways, men or horses were employed, or in the case of steep ascents a loaded train, de scending, was made to haul up an empty one by- means of cables or bands passing over fixed rollers. More rarely stationary steam-engines were used.
First Application of Steam to L0007110i1071. —The successful application of the steam-engine to locomotion was not actually accomplished until well into the present century. In 1769, Watt, in England, patented the use of steam-engines for running carriages on land, but there is no evidence that be ever attempted a practical application of the idea. The first actual experiment with a steam-carriage (fig. 1) of which there is authentic record WaS made by a French army-officer, Nicholas Joseph Ctignot. It was intended for the transportation of artillery. It consisted of two heavy beams of timber extending from end to end. Two heavy wheels were placed at the rear of the structure, and one heavier bnt smaller driving wheel in front. The steam-boiler was of copper, and was fashioned flinch like a common kettle; the driving-wheel was actuated by two single-acting engines, one on each side of it, having, steam-cylinders 13 inches in diame ter. This engine is preserved in the Museum of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, in Paris. From Thurston's account, the carriage and its machinery are substantially built and well finished, and in respect of work manship are exceedingly creditable.