{

Transportation revolutionized the distribution of products, the mass movement of people, and the spreading of ideas/cultures by creating a more effective means of travel.

Essentially the steam engine uses heat from coal fires to heat the air causing movement. This air is then funneled into pistons attached to the wheel or other device to create motion. The air is then released into the atmosphere. A variation of this type of engine was used in early trains and steam boats that heated water into steam which was then compressed to move the piston causing the wheel to move Diagram of a basic steam power engine Basic diagram of a Steam Train

One of the main first and most important ways of transportation in America was the steam train. The steam train allowed for large amounts of people of products to traverse long distances quickly and effectively. People before the introduction of the train people had to travel on wagon or by foot. This was slow and though the lure of the land out west was great the travel was dangerous. Post the introduction of the train everything became easier. Goods could be moved cross-country faster and people could travel to the west. With the Industrial Revolution and the steam engine came the new technology of the steam train. The Transcontinental Railroad connected the East and West ends of America The steam train allowed for a faster more effective means of travel. The steam train went approximately 30 mph.

Because of the nature of the Steam Engine and that it allowed for a faster means of transporting large amounts of cargo over large distances the world become, in a sense, closer and more connected before. The first map here shows the traffic and import and exports of major cities. The second shows steamboat routes and the imports and exports. Notice the increase between the two years in exports and imports and port traffic.

Some trains still use the same tracks as they did during the Industrial Revolution. And the technology is essentially the same Though steam powered technologies are all but obsolete. But there are still visible effects of the steam powered technologies.

The railroads of the Industrial Revolution in America are similar to the way the human body transports nutrients to its different parts. This is because the way the blood travels through the body carrying nutrients and supplies, trains carried cargo and people to different parts of America. Map of major railways line in America