As<br>early as 1812 Colonel John Stevens, of Hoboken, N.J., began to speak for a new kind of railway. He<br>wanted one that would provide long-distance transportation, linking distant areas of the country. In<br>1815 Stevens obtained the first charter to build a railroad across New Jersey, but he was unable to<br>raise the money needed to build it. The first common carrier railroad to be built in the United States<br>was the Baltimore and Ohio. It was chartered in 1827 and construction started on July 4, 1828<br>The first steam locomotive to run in the United States, the English-built Stourbridge Lion, made<br>a trial trip over the tracks of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company in Pennsylvania in 1829 On<br>the day of a test trip a lot of people came from miles around the small Pennsylvania town to see the<br>first run of the steam locomotive. The engineer2 refused to let anyone ride with him – perhaps<br>because the engine had not been tested before. As the signal to start was given, there was a moment<br>of suspense. Then, slowly, the wheels began to turn. Cheers went up as engineer Allen opened the<br>throttle3 wide and began his historic trip. All along the route, men were waving their hats, small<br>boys were shouting, and women were looking in amazement as the Lion thundered past at the<br>fantastic speed of ten miles per hour. Who would have believed that anything so big could move so<br>fast without a horse to pull it! But the engine was too heavy for the track and the trip was not<br>repeated.<br>In the summer of 1830 service began on the Baltimore and Ohio line, with horses providing the<br>power. Finally, in December 1830 an American-built locomotive, the Best Friend of Charleston,<br>hauled a train of cars on the tracks of the South Carolina Railroad. The railroad had come to<br>America.<br>Railroads spread rapidly in the eastern and southern United States, with short lines being merged<br>to form through routes. By the mid-1850s, railways linked the Atlantic seaboard and the Midwest.<br>In 1869 the first transcontinental route was completed to the Pacific coast. Railroads became the<br>dominant mode of overland transportation in the last half of the 19th century. Faster and more<br>powerful locomotives and larger freight and passenger cars were built. Standardization of track<br>gauges and the adoption of standard time zones aided efficiency. The invention of air brakes4,
正在翻譯中..
