1. Railroads as Big Business
Railroads Were the First Big Businesses Because they were Spread out Geographically and were Complex to Manage and Run

2. Agenda for Topic 3: Railroads as Big Business
Railroads and American Politics
Agenda for Topic 3: Railroads as Big Business
The Origin of Rail Roads
2. The Early Steam Railroads
3. The Railroads Eclipse the Canals
4. The Railroad Decade: – 1860
5. The Trunk Lines as Big Business

3. 1803: First Steam Locomotive to run on rails

4. James Watt ( )

5. Early Steam Engines

6. The Sun-and-Planet-Gear produces a continuous
revolving motion to an axle or shaft

7. The double action steam engine

8. The first true railroad -- the Stockton and Darlington Railroad -- was opened
in England on 27 September 1825

10. Quincy Granite Quarry Railway: 1826

13. Mauch Chunk Railway

17. In the United States the first regularly scheduled public steam train
was run in Charleston, South Carolina on 25 December 1830.

18. August 1830, the Tom Thumb made a 13 mile run from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills
pulling a single car carrying the Directors of the B&O.

19. On 9 August 1831 the DeWitt Clinton pulled a train between
Albany and Schenectady, New York

20. 1831: John Bull, Camden & Amboy RR.

21. 1833: John Bull, Camden & Amboy RR

22. 1839: Philadelphia & Columbia 41
1839: Philadelphia & Columbia lb Iron T Rail Camden & Amboy 42 lb Iron T Rail

23. 1839: Baltimore & Ohio 51 lb Iron T Rail

32. Railroads Cross the Mississippi River at Rock Island

34. Between 1850 and ,500 miles (36,000 km) of railroad line were built increasing the total mileage from 7,500 in 1850 to 30,000 in 1860 (in kilometers 12,000 and 52,000 respectively). Of the total built in this decade, 10,000 miles (16,000 km) were built in the Midwest.

35. In 1849 Chicago only had one short line
In 1849 Chicago only had one short line. By 1854 Chicago was the leading rail center in the U.S. with 11 Railroad lines serving Chicago.
In 1856 a railroad bridge is built across the Mississippi river at Rock Island between Iowa and Illinois allowing the shipment of Midwestern grains directly to Chicago via rail.

36. 4. In the Erie Railroad, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the B&O reached Dunkirk, New York, Pittsburgh, and Wheeling, VA respectively and telegraphic control first used. In 1856 The Pennsylvania acquired working control of a 468-mile route from Pittsburgh to Chicago, the recently completed Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago RR.

37. 5. Before 1850 the great majority of the agricultural products of the Mississippi valley went south through New Orleans. By 1860 the railroads had largely taken over this traffic from the Mississippi river and the western canals. By 1860 Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin replace Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio as the leading wheat growing states.

38. 6. As the railroads grow larger, they capture an increasing percentage of the freight business and their productivity grows by leaps and bounds. In the 1830s freight rates were about $.075 per ton mile and passenger rates were about $.05 per mile. By 1859 these rates had fallen to $.0258 and $.0244 respectively. During this period the 8-wheel freight car is introduced, rail weights increase from 13.5 pounds per foot to 59.5 pounds per foot (still iron rails – steel rails began to be used extensively in the 1870s), locomotives got larger, and overall, the capital/output ratio goes form 10:1 to 5:1.

39. 7. By 1860 on the eve of the Civil War rail passengers could travel from St. Louis to Boston in 48 hours or from New York to Charleston, South Carolina, in 62 hours.

40. The Railroad Network in 1860

42. The Trunk Line Railroads

43. The Standard Railway of the World