Past, Present and Future of Railroads and Rail Construction

With renewed interest brewing in railroads and rail construction, it would be prudent to look at the history of railroads and rail construction and see how far the technology has come.

Invention

The first signs of a primitive rail system came out of Europe in the 1500′s. This consisted of wooden rails which helped horse drawn wagons to move more smoothly over ground. In the 18th century, iron became more prevalent in use and iron wheels on iron rails was in use by this time. However, horses were still the main means of power. In the 19th century, everything changed with the invention of the steam engine by Richard Trevithick. In February of 1804, a locomotive piled with tons of iron, dozens of men and about 5 wagons steamed nearly 10 miles between two towns in Wales. The trip took approximately two hours. From there, the snowball began with cargo and passenger trains being invented not long after. In the early 19th century, Colonel John Stevens experimented with steam locomotives on a test track in New Jersey. Colonel Stevens is widely credited as being “The Father of the American Railroad”. Thanks to Stevens, the first north American railroad charter was granted in 1815. Grants for other projects came soon after and this began the building of the rail system in the United States.

20th Century

By the 20th century, the steam trains have been mostly replaced by gas and electric engines. Though, some historic steam engine trains still run in various areas of the country. Many are used for tourist related businesses including scenic trains and dinner trains.

Modern Rail

In the 20th and 21st century, what is known as maglev trains are now in use. Maglev trains use magnetic levitation to keep the train on the rails, with a cushion of air between them. In addition, what is known as bullet or high speed trains are in use in many parts of the world, most notably Japan, China and Europe. These trains have been tested to run at up to 500 km per hour, but most have a normal running speed of between 200 and 350 km per hour.

Future Rail

In addition to new technologies in magnetic levitation and high speed trains, there is now a high speed train that tilts around bends to lessen friction and allow better efficiency and speed in areas where bends are frequent. With the renewed interest in rail technology and the environmental friendliness of modern rail, there are more plans than ever to build new rail lines and high speed trains in many different countries, including the United States.

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