History of Railroad Travel
In the 21st century, rail travel is not common for most Americans. Cars are more accessible and rail travel is only convenient in larger metropolitan areas. European countries have a much more established rail system. Regardless of popularity, railroad travel has come a long way from the wagon roads of the 17th century to the steam engines, diesel and electric train cars that transport people today.
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Wagon Roads
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The first recorded above-ground railroad was in the early 17th century in England and worked as a wagon road, according to the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum. Wooden planks served as roads on which the horses pulling wagons and carts traveled to and from coal mines. Huntingdon Beaumont introduced these wagon ways across England and by the end of the 17th century they had spread across the country.
Iron Rails and Steam
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Wagon roads were successful for the 17th and 18th centuries, traveling alongside canals and helping productivity at coal mines. Two major innovations for the wagon ways helped to transition them to railroads: iron rails and the steam engine. The second half of the 18th century saw a quick pace of development of the steam engine. In 1758 the Middleton Railway in Leeds opened and claims to be the world's oldest railway.
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First Passengers
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The first railways carried materials rather than passengers. The first passenger train service occurred on March 25, 1807, and ran from Swansea to Mumbles, Wales. These passengers were transported in an iron railroad car much different from modern rail cars. It was not a steam engine, but rather an iron car pulled by horses on iron rails. This was the first fare passenger train. Later it was electrically powered, and it operated until 1960.
United States
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The first westbound railroad in the United States was the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad and its construction began in 1827. The first completely American-built steam-powered passenger train with a regular schedule was the Best Friend of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1830. Railroads changed life in the United States as the second half of the 19th century saw an explosion of railroad construction. That meant opportunities for work and later travel in the West as vast country was opened up.
Passenger Numbers
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According to the Duke University Libraries, Brief History of the U.S. Passenger Rail Industry, in the 1920s, once automobiles had gained greatly in popularity in the United States, the percentage of people who traveled from city to city by rail decreased. Once trains became diesel (shortening travel time) and were streamlined as well as included the latest technology such as air conditioning, train travel started to increase. However, after World War II, the numbers dropped and never rose to the pre-1920s heights. Families had automobiles and roads were more efficient, especially with the creation of the interstate highway system. Many railroads folded or merged and a national rail passenger system, Amtrak, was created in 1971.
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