Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-10-23
EarIy HIst0ry Of RaiIroads.

At the Fifth Annual Convention
/ Of the American Society of Civil En-
giEeeTs, Mr.. J. d. Steel, of COatsville,
Pa, read paper on Early History
l of Railroads, and the Origin OF the
Guage u The paper was full or in
terest, and elected the undivided at
tentiOn ftAe members. The author
narrated the gradual progress of the
from the first wooden track to the
perfect steel rail If the present day
Steam was employed first in England,
in 1914, in which year it was proved
that the adhesion of the wheels to
the rail was sufficient to move a load
ed train without the use of cOgs or
stationary engines. In 1916 Stephen
son applied the motion directly from
the piston to the wheels, and a few
years later a train of IS wagons load
ed with freight and passengers was
drawn at the rate of twelve miles per
hour. In 1927, the first road wa
built in the United States-the Quin-
cy road, with guage of three feet.
About the same time the Mauch
Chunk road was constructed, which
was a gravity railroad, extending a
distance of nine miles. In 1923 the
Baltimore and Ohio road was com
menced with a guage of four and
half feet, and with outside flanges for
the wheels. In 1899 the Rocket,
tubular engine, was built in England
for the London and Manchester rail
road, and about the same time it was
settled in England that there was
less friction in having the flanges on
ha lanfa5Hn ..f tho MY heals a
many experiments were tried with
gauges of varying width, until at
last, as q compromise, the present
guage Of four feet eight and a hall
inches was adopted. In 1880 the
first American engine was built by
Peter Cooper, end ran from Balti-
more to EllieOtt's Mills, carrying
twenty-three passengers, at rate Of
five 10 eighteen miles an hour.
At the present time there were l25,-
600 miles of railroad in the world, and
locomotives enough to form contin
uous line from New York to Chicago
The conclusion of the reading was
greeted with warm applause.
In the discussion which followed,
Mr.. McAipine said Mr.. HoratiO Al
len, the President of the Association,
was the engineer. on the Charleston
and Hamburg railroad, and was the
first man in America that took hold
Of q lever TO run a locomotive. This
locomotive was the Lion. Mr.. Nc
Alpine had seen it put together when
he was a boy. and had helped to
some extent in the operation. Any
one who would go to KensingtOn Mu-
scum i'm London, could see thefe the
first Euglish engine, the Rocket. 1t
wGs a curious thing, part wood and
part iron. He would also see there
one Of the first engines made by Watt.
The walking beam and connecting
rods were of wood. Portions Of this
engine were in the Bank of England
and in the KesingtOn Museum.
Mr.. NJ. n. FOrney said that in
1892 Mr.. Allen had two engines built
for the South Carolina railroad which
had all the essential features of the
Fair ie engine. An engraving of
this engine had been published in .
paper il this country and in Ea9in-
eeTing IN England, since which time
Mr.. Fairlie had taken out new pat
ents for his engine. The case was
mentioned as of interest because ii !
appeared to be the revival of an aban-
dOned invention