1. The New Industrial Revolution and Railroad Boom
US History: Spiconardi

2. Factors That Led To The Boom
New Technology
The Air Brake
Invented by George Westinghouse, the air brake allowed all railcars to stop at once
Prior to this, a train traveling 50 mph would have to start braking two miles before the station

3. Factors That Led To The Boom
Gauges  the distance between to parallel rails
Allowed American railroads to join together to create networks.
Prior to this, certain trains could not travel on certain tracks

4. Gauge sizes throughout the world

5. Roman Chariot and its influence on the development of gauges

6. Factors That Led To The Boom
Oil
The development of oil into gasoline gave engines a new source of power

7. Factors That Led To The Boom
Steel
The Bessemer Process allowed steel to be made stronger at a much lower cost (85% decrease in costs).

8. Factors That Led To The Boom
More Comfortable Travel
Pullman Sleeping Cars
Dining Cars
Increased ridership

9. The Railroad Boom Two more transcontinental railroads built New Jobs
Needed people to
Produce steel
Mine iron & coal for steel
Drill oil
Construct gauges
Construct new tracks

11. The Railroad Boom Companies and Practices Elimination of Competition
Consolidation  combine smaller railroad companies to create large railroad corporations
Believed this would lead to more efficient operations of the railroads
The Pennsylvania Railroad Co. was actually comprised of 73 smaller railroad companies

12. The Railroad Boom
Rebates  a special discount given to a railroad company’s best customers
If a shipper promised to exclusively use a railroad company, they would be granted the special low freight rate
This allowed a shipper to undercut their competitors
Smaller railroad companies and shipping companies would go out of business due to rebates
Modern day rebate for an HP LaserJet printer

13. The Railroad Boom
Pools  Railroad companies in the same market would agree to divide up business to avoid competition
This led to price fixing
Price fixing  Railroad companies would conspire to charge the same high shipping rates to customers

14. The Railroad Boom Cornelius Vanderbilt
Railroad tycoon known as the Commodore
Would buy massive amounts of stock in Railroad companies to take them over
Controlled all the railroad lines into Manhattan
New York Central and Hudson, Harlem, New Haven lines
Known as a ruthless business man
Wound up buying most of the rail lines between Buffalo and Chicago

15. Grand Central Depot