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Steam Trains

By Micah Blake-Smith

5/18/2014

The Steam Engine

"The wonderful progress of the present century is, in a very great degree, due to the

invention and improvement of the steam engine, and to the ingenious application of its

power to kinds of work that formerly taxed the physical energies of the human race."~

Robert H. Thurston

Introduction

Why are railroads so important? Without them, it would have taken much longer to get anywhere

especially the southwest area of the United States. There would be no southwest without California,

Nevada, Arizona, Texas, North and South Dakota, and Oregon. Without them, this U.S.A. would be much

smaller. By connecting people much faster, railroads allowed access to those faraway places and

transporting materials and supplies to those places as well.

Now on to the railroad pioneers. The steam engine pioneers are James Watt, Oliver Evans,

Richard Trevithick, and George Stephenson.

History

The person who invented the steam engine was James Watt. He was Scottish and lived in

Britain. One interesting fact is Britain threatened a penalty of a year in prison and 200

pounds for someone telling America about the steam engine. However, it still it got to

America. Later Oliver Evans made the first steam vehicle and it was an amphibious vehicle.

The creator of the first successful railway was Englishman named Richard Trevithick. Then

inventor named George Stephenson made the world’s first commercial railway. It went on to

have its first passenger in 1822. During the second half of the 1800’s builders made a new

train called the American type. It had eight wheels instead of four. In 1867, Cheyenne

Native Americans were destroying train tracks. Then in 1880’s, the Cheyenne’s were

scalping people left and right in the Wild West. The first Wild West town to be reached by

train was Abilene and the company was the Kansas pacific the town was reached in 1867.

During the civil war, trains played a huge part from transporting supplies to troops and

transporting cannons. Trains were used mostly by the north and the south had some but not

many. During the civil war, England invented steel rails. The most famous thieves of the late

1800’s were Jesse James and his brother who robbed their first train in 1873.

Types of Steam Engines

The Challenger no 39885 is the largest and strongest working steam train. It was retired

in 1962 then brought back out in 1981. The name Challenger was given to steam trains with

a 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement. In the 1930’s, the 2-6-6-6 “Allegheny” was made. It was the

biggest train. The train type got its name from the mountains it worked on. The Alleghenies

were taken out of service starting in 1952 the last fire went out in 1956. The first,

Yellowstone was made in 1928. Only one was made and it had the largest firebox and before

it was used there was a party in it and 12 people were able to fit inside. It could not go fast

and only had 5,000 horsepower. Around the same time the Yellowstone was made the

Cabforward was made. The Cabforward used oil instead of coal. The Cabfoward got its

name from how its cab was in front. The last Cabfoward was scrapped in 1960. In 1937 the

first duplex drive was made for B&O railroad. It was scrapped in 1950. In 1939 the P.R.R

had its first duplex drive. It could pull a 1200 ton train at 100mph. In 1944 the duplex drive

16131 type was built for the P.R.R. They were the best types of duplex drive trains. Sadly

they were all scrapped for diesels. In 1930 At&Sf had the 2-10-4 built. They had the

nickname of “Madam Queen”. In 1938 ten Texas type trains were built. Instead of coal five

used oil while the other five used coal.

In 1970’s the 4-4-2 “Atlantic was built it was bought in 1975 to pull a train called Hiawatha

it went between Chicago and St.Paul Minneapolis. It could go up to 120mph with an average

speed of 60 mph. It usually pulled nine passenger cars. In 1926 the 4-6-4 “Hudson” type was

built. In 1902 the 2-10-2 “SantaFe” were built. They were used as pushers on AT&ST. In

1883 the 4-10-0 or “El Gobernador was built. In 1925 the 4-10-2 it was called the Southern

pacific or overland it was built for southern pacific and union pacific.

Steam Appliances

One steam appliance for the engine is the Bell. The bell was used to warn people and

animals of the train coming. The bell was one of the things capped after the train was

scrapped. Another steam appliance was the Dynamo. It is used steam to power the lights on

the train. Also, the lights they powered were heavy duty. Also, there were the stokers which

helped fireman. It helped the fireman by collecting coal from the tender and spreading the

coal around the firebox. Another steam appliance is the whistle.

1www. Steamlocomotive.com

Types of railroad cars

The railroad car used the most in the late 1800’s and 1900’s was the boxcar! 2Railroad used

boxcars to transport anything in them like cars, car parts, paper, and produce. Another over

used car is the Gondola.3 They carried scrap, tracks, and other junk. They are and were so

beat up the sides look like they pushed out. Another type of car is the Hopper car4 which

looks like the Gondola but has angled shouts at the bottom. Also there is the tank which is

most common. It usually carries fuel or oil. Another type of car is the flatcar.5 It usually

carries tracks or big shipping boxes. Now on to the passenger cars. There is the coach car. It

used to be very uncomfortable because they had no middle isle and to get in there were

doors right next to the seat. Also the seat was basically just a bench. Another car is the

probably second most liked car is the Dining car. It used to serve the best food that was as

good as or better than a five star restaurant. What this writer thinks is the most liked car is

the sleeper car. Sleeper cars used to be chairs that could be turned into beds. Also some beds

would be over others.

Steam Engine timeline

100 A.D. Hero's Engine is Created5th-15th Centuries Needs of the people surpass the ability of human and animal labor

1606 Giovanni Battista Della Porta uses steam to make water rise through a column

1690 Denys Papin discovers a way to produce a vacuum using steam but does not pursue the knowledge

1698 Thomas Savery combines the force of steam with the pressure of the atmosphere and patents the first atmospheric engine

1712 Thomas Newcomen produces a self acting atmospheric engine2 Railroad, Boxcars Good to Haul About Anything!3 Gondolas, The “Do Anything Railroad Freight car.4 Hopper Cars, the “coal car”5 Flatcars, The first freight train car.

1769 James Watt is granted a patent for the Separate Condenser

1780James Pickard and Matthew Wasborough create an engine with rotary motion by fitting a crank, rod and flywheel to Newcomer's Model

1783 A double acting engine is introduced by Watt - Steam pushes on each side of the piston alternately as opposed to just one side

1786 Boulton and Watt produce a double acting rotative engine

1802 A steam railway locomotive is built at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire A stern wheel steam paddle tug is created by William Symington

1807 Robert Fulton's ship the "Clermont" becomes the first steamship to provide regular passenger service in America

1825 The First Public Railway to use steam locomotives opens1827 The era of locomotive success begins in Britain1838 The Great Western Railway opens1844 The "Lancashire" boiler is introduced in Manchester by William Fairbairn

1846 The Regulation of Railways (Gauge) Act is passed The "Tank Engine" is born

1850 Randolph Elder fits the first marine compound engine

1865 Commuter Traffic becomes prominent in large cities - Passenger traffic locomotives are introduced by the railways

1878 Willans patents the high speed fully enclosed "inverted vertical" engine1890 Charles Pain patents the forced-lubrication-high-speed-enclosed engine1898 The first British express locomotive travels on the Great Northern Railway

1906 Superheating of steam is invented by Dokter Schmidt and used in British Railway locomotives

1938The streamlined "Pacific" 4-6-2 locomotive "Mallard" reaches a speed of 126 miles per hour (201 kph); This speed still stands as a world record.

1960 The final steam locomotive is built by British Railways -6

Meaning of railroad signs

6 http://campus.udayton.edu/~hume/Steam/steam.htm

The Pennsylvania railroad was one of the first railroads to use signal lights along the track.

PRR lights were displayed in rows of three. The meaning of the signal lights are close to car

signal lights. Green means clear, yellow mean approach, lunar means go at slowest speeds,

and red means stop. Bad weather such as rain and fog was one of the main reasons of the

creation of the railroad lights.

Famous P.R.R stations

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) started in 1846. It was the largest railroad in the U.S. and

headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PRR stations relied heavily on using steam

locomotives. Broad street station was the first of the P.R.R stations and it was the first hub

in Philadelphia. It was demolished in 1953. Another P.R.R station is Union station. It was in

Washington D.C it also served as a hub for the P.R.R. Yet another P.R.R station is Penn

station in the NYC. It was built so that people from New Jersey could get to Manhattan

without taking a ferry. It was built in 1910. Another P.R.R station is 30th street station. It was

built to replace the broad street station. Also another P.R.R station is Union station in

Chicago.

Important Railroad Facts

1810s-1830s: Various inventors and entrepreneurs make suggestions about building

model railways in the United States; In 1825 John Stevens (inventor) builds a test track

and runs a locomotive around it in Hoboken, New Jersey.

1820s and 1830s: The Baltimore and Ohio is incorporated in 1827 and officially opens in

1830. Other railroads soon follow, including the Camden and Amboy by 1832.

August 8, 1829: The Sturbridge Lion is tested along tracks built by the Delaware and

Hudson company.

1830s-1860s: Enormous railway building booms in the United States of America.

Railroads replace canals as a primary mode of transportation.

1853 Indianapolis' Union Station, the first "union station" in the world, opened by the

Terre Haute & Richmond, Madison & Indianapolis, and Bellefontaine railroads.

1865: George Pullman becomes well-known for luxury sleeping cars, called Pullman cars

in his honor, after he loans one of his cars to house the coffin of Abraham Lincoln after

Lincoln's assassination.

1869: Union Pacific and Central Pacific complete first transcontinental railway link at

Promontory Summit.

1869: George Westinghouse establishes Air Brake Company.

1870s and 1880s: Strikes break out against railroads and the Pullman Palace Car

Company. Corporations hire Pinkerton guards to break up the strikes. Nonetheless, much

violence occurs in the strikes. Many people were killed; buildings and rolling stock were

burned, and reports of rioting shocked middle-class Americans.

1886: Many southern states convert from broad gauges such as 1,524 mm (5 ft) to

standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in). See also Broad gauge United States.

1887: The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) is created to regulate railroads, to

ensure fair prices.

1891: Webb C. Ball establishes first Railway Watch official guidelines for Railroad

chronometers.

1901: Eight locomotive manufacturing companies are combined in a merger to form the

American Locomotive Company (ALCO).

1902: Twentieth Century Limited inaugurated by the New York Central railroad.

1910s: Pennsylvania Railroad builds Pennsylvania Station in New York City; New York

Central Railroad builds current version of Grand Central Terminal.

1916: US railway reaches peak length.

1920s and 1930s: Automobiles and airplanes contribute to a decline in ridership and

mileage, as well as the Great Depression.

1934: Burlington railroad's Pioneer Zephyr completes its inaugural run from Denver,

Colorado to Chicago, Illinois, first diesel-powered streamliner in America.

May 12, 1936: The Santa Fe railroad inaugurates the all-Pullman Super Chief between

Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.

1940s: World War II brings railroads the highest ridership in American history, as

soldiers are being sent to fight overseas in the Pacific Theater and the European Theater.

However, automobile travel causes ridership to decline after the war ends.

March 20, 1949: The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Denver and Rio Grande

Western Railroad and Western Pacific Railroad jointly launch the California Zephyr

between Chicago, Illinois, and San Francisco, California, as the first passenger train to

include Vista Dome cars in regular service.

1950s and 1960s: Drastic decline in railroad travel in the United States of America, due

to automobiles, trucks, and airplanes, as first jetliners take to the air. Railroads respond

through mergers and attempts to shut down trains and railroad lines. However, the ICC

refuses to let railroads shut down many trains.

December 1, 1959: ICC approved Virginian Railway merger into Norfolk & Western

begins modern-day period of railroad mergers and consolidations

December 3, 1967: The New York Central's Twentieth Century Limited makes last run.

1968: Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central merge to form Penn Central.

June 21, 1970: Penn Central declares Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

1971: President Richard Nixon and the United States Congress create Amtrak and

eliminate several passenger routes.

March 22, 1970: The CB&Q, D&RGW and WP railroads' California Zephyr on its last

run, arrives in Oakland, CA from Chicago, Illinois; however the train name will soon be

resurrected by Amtrak on a train travelling almost the same route as the original

1970s: Conrail, a freight railroad, founded from the remains of the bankrupt Penn Central

and a number of other bankrupt railroads in the Northeastern US.

1970s and 1980s: Amtrak introduces double-deck Superliner rolling stock. Auto-Train

Corporation begins running as independent line (1971), but fails in 1981; In 1983,

Amtrak revives service and runs slightly renamed Auto Train as one of its more-heavily-

promoted lines.

1980 Railroads deregulated; ICC abolished.

September 15, 1981: The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the

world when it runs under its own power outside Washington, DC.

1981: Union Pacific 3985 is restored to operating condition, making it the largest

operable steam locomotive in the world.

January 1, 1986: The Milwaukee Road is merged into the Soo Line Railroad in the largest

railroad bankruptcy proceedings to date in America

1990s: Amtrak funding comes under heavier scrutiny by Congress, while Amtrak creates

new trains such as the Talgo and the Acela Express.

September 11, 2001: Terrorists destroy World Trade Center and destroy part of the

PATH system in the process. Full PATH service resumed November 23, 2003. 7

Conclusion

Unfortunately the steam locomotive is gone on to be housed in tourist sites all

over the United States. Many of the locomotives are being displayed at the Railroad

Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.

Bibliography

www.Steam locomotive.com 4-25-10

World book inc.2002 Chicago

Passing trains By Greg McDonnell

Railroads in the days of steam

Published by 1960 American Heritage publishing co

Author Albert L. McCready

www.uprr/about up/excurs/up3985.shtml

7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_railway_history

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