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The age of railroads
Railroads would play an important role in the expansion of business and industry during the Industrial Revolution. Mechanized rail transport systems first appeared in England in the 1820s, with passenger railway systems coming on the scene in the 1830s.
In the United States the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was established in 1828. Although technically not the first railroad in the United States, it built the first passenger and freight station and was the first railroad that earned passenger revenues, according to History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, by John F. Stover.(1)
Railroads would be equally important in the United States during the Technological Revolution
The days of moving people and packages by wagon train had officially moved on to the age of transcontinental railroad lines.
The iconic event was the opening of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, providing six-day service between the East Coast and San Francisco
An equally significant but generally less known event in the history of railroads also occurred in 1869, George Westinghouse invented the railroad air brake.
The locomotive was not an invention of the Gilded Age. Indeed Americans had traveled by rail in the decades that preceded the Civil War. But such travel was risky.
After the Civil War many rail problems were solved. George Westinghouse invented the air brake and trains could stop more reliably as a result. Railroad firms agreed on a standard width between tracks to reduce transfers.
The Golden Spike - The government declared that the two lines would merge at Promontory Summit near Ogden, Utah. On May 10, 1869, Leland Stanford, representing the Central Pacific Railroad, was provided the honor to hammer a golden spike into the ground that marked the completion of the coast-to-coast line. Celebrations erupted across the land. Even the Liberty Bell tolled once again to commemorate the occasion.
The locomotive was not an invention of the Gilded Age.
Soon, other transcontinental lines were constructed and travel across the continent became worlds simpler, less expensive, and much faster, than by the old Conestoga wagon.
Indeed Americans had traveled by rail in the decades that preceded the Civil War. But such travel was risky.
One man that would play a significant role in the railroads the the development of electricity was George Westinghouse.
Work done by a machine was measured in horsepower
The unit of measurement done by a machine was measured in horsepower.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in his 1939 memoir Wind, Sand, and Stars about the way people tend to react to new technology using the slow embrace of the railroad.
The change in perception reflected in the language - we began calling it the iron horse
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