In addition, stifling government regulation beginning in the early 20th century eventually choked them to the point of desperation. Unable to set their own freight rates, abandon unprofitable routes, or rid themselves of money-losing passenger trains many were on the brink of collapse by the 1970s names like the Penn Central, Rock Island, Milwaukee Road, Reading, Jersey Central, and others.įollowing deregulation in 1980 the industry made a comeback and today is witnessing a renaissance. In this section we will look at the history of our country's involvement with trains from its earliest beginnings in the 1820s through today. Railroads in America can be traced back to 1815 when Colonel John Stevens gained the first charter in North America to build the New Jersey Railroad Company, although it was not constructed until 1832. The NJRR later went on to become part of the Pennsylvania Railroad's far-reaching network. Colonel Stevens also tested the first type of steam locomotive in 1826, when he showcased his "Steam Waggon" (basically a steam-powered horse carriage) on a small circular track he had built at his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey. Later, in August of 1829 Horatio Allen, a chief engineer for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company (which went on to become the Delaware & Hudson Railway) tested an early English steam locomotive on a 16-mile stretch of company-owned track between Honesdale and Carbondale, Pennsylvania. The locomotive was named the Stourbridge Lion, a very simple two-axle machine with a vertical boiler. Facts and StatisticsĬlass 1 Railroad Definition (Annual Revenue) It, along with three other similar designs, was envisioned to handle coal from the D&H mines at Carbondale to Honesdale.Īlas, only the Lion was ever tested and ultimately proved too heavy for the track, spending most of its time stored away in a shed. Routledge Historical Atlas of the American Railroads, The. New York: Routledge, 1999.Ī year later, in August of 1830, the three year old Baltimore & Ohio carried out trials of the Tom Thumb, the work of Peter Cooper.
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