Traveling Tuesday: The History of Train Travel

Traveling Tuesday: 

The History of Train Travel

I love trains! While growing up I visited the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore on countless occasions with my paternal grandfather, and he was a wealth of knowledge. Over the years, I’ve taken numerous trips on scenic railroads with varying levels of luxury – from hard wooden seats and tiny windows to padded reclining seats with glass, domed roofs. I never tire of the clickety-clack as we zoom along the tracks.

Did you know that railways go back as early as the mid-1500s? I was stunned by that fact. Known as wagonways or tramway, they featured wooden rails and were horse-drawn. Steam engines were introduced in England during the mid-1750s and a few years later, plates of cast iron were affixed to the top of the wooden rails. Cast iron is brittle, so it was replaced by wrought iron, then steel. By the nineteen century further improvements were made to the steel and became the standard. (According to author/historian Murat Ozyuksel, the expansion of the railroad industry is one of the main reasons for the success of the steel industry.)

Railroads came to the US in the 1820s and played a large role in the Industrial Revolution. Wealthy

men such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, James J. Hill, Jay Gould, Edward Harriman, and Leland Stanford were among the first to see the possibilities and invest in this new mode of transportation making them even wealthier.

Unfortunately, the American Civil War halted progression of the transcontinental railway, and it would not be completed until 1869. The Panic of 1873 and the subsequent depression stalled growth for several years, but the industry rebounded, and tracks soon crisscrossed the nation carrying goods, immigrants, and travels by the hundreds of thousands.

Initially, there were three classes of travel:

• First class offered upholstered seats, carpet, and curtains, with lots of space between seats. The décor used velvet, brass, and glass to convey luxury. Further luxury was available by purchasing seating in a Pullman sleeper or palace car. Some of the exceptionally rich, purchased a Pullman car and had it attached to the back of whatever train on which they were traveling.
• Second class also had upholstered seats, but they were not as nice, and the cars held more passengers.
• Third class, also known as emigrant class, had wooden benches and passengers were expected to bring their own food.

World War II saw a boom in railroad traffic with troop and hospital transports as well as good and war matériel. Afterwards many railroads were driven out of business with the advent of airlines, the increase in cars, and interstate highways. A rise in the trucking industry also impacted the railroads. Nowadays, passengers may choose first class or economy. According to Wikipedia, the US has approximately 160,000 miles of track and has the largest rail transport network in the world.

Have you ridden on a train?

___________________

The American WWII Home Front in 29 Objects

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Pre-launch page (Be sure to click notify me on launch): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lindashentonmatchett/the-world-war-ii-home-front-in-29-objects-illustrated-book

Photo Credits:

Locomotive on Bridge: Pixabay

Cornelius Vanderbilt: Courtesy Vanderbilt University

Hospital Car: Courtesy Gold Coast Railroad Museum