Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-04-11
The Origin Of Railroads.

Elizabeth's reign, when Goals were con-
yeyed from the mines to the river near |
Newcastle on-Tyne, "by laying rails Of |
timber exactly straight and parallel;
and bulky carts were made, with four |
rollers fitting those rails, whereby the |
cart was made so easy that one horse |
could draw four or five hundred cal |
drons of coal" These roads were
called tramways, and not until the year
100 was the wooden tramway inn
proved by clothing il with long strips |
of iron, TO prevent excessive wear and |
tear. This was continued until the |
year 17i0. when cast-iron rails, fixed in |
parallel lines on cross wooden sleepers,
were substituted. In 1920 Birkenshaw
patented the fish-belly rail, and thus |
substituted wrought-iron for cast-iron
rails. This form of rail advanced in |
public estimation, and was employed in
the construction of the Liverpool &
Manchester Railway, which was opened |
in 1929. The first complete and practi-
cally working non-condensing or high |
pressure engine was constructed in 1875 |
by Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, who |
thus paved the way, by economy of
space and comparative simplicity, of
the mechanism required for the loco
motive engine.
In 1902 Richard Trevethick, an able |
but eccentric engineer, took out pat
ent for q steam-engine that would trav-
el by its own internal impulse. He had
invented this and exhibitedit to crowds
in London. In 1904 he adapted it to
the drawing of cars on railroad in
Merthyr-Tydvil, in South Wales. The
engine had only one cylinder, which
was eight inches in diameter. 1t did
its work, but drew only ten tons of bar
iron, OF the rate of five miles an hour.
The great fact that locomotives, rum
ming with smooth wheels on smooth
rails, could draw heavy loads up mod
crate incline was established in 1911.
In 1912 George Stephenson, a self
taught engineer, constructed for the
Killingworth colliery, in NOrthumber
land, a locomotive having two cylin
ders, seated on boiler mounted on
wheels, and Immediately above the
axles of those wheels, which bore cranks
connected with the piston-heads of the
cylinders, and were made to revolve in
unison by means of Vaucanson chains
working over barrels on their axis. At
sons principles we're not held in much
estimation, and considerable time
elapsed before they came into general
use.
The French engineer, M. Seguin, in
1926 successfully introduced locomo-
tives upon the railways from Rouen to
st. Etienne, and from st. Etienne to
Lyons. In these he first introduced
small tubes passing from the fire-box
to the chimney, an arrangement of the
greatest Importance for increasing the
evaporating power of the engine. He
also increased the draft of the fire by
means of ventilator, an effect which
Robert Stephenson better accomplished
in 1929 by the action of steam.
In 1929 the Liverpool & Manchester
Railway Company, being anxious to
run the carriages on their road at a
high rate of speed, offered a premium
of $4,000 for the best engine which
should fulfill certain conditions. The
premium was won by the "Rocket" en-
gine, built by Stephenson. The weight
of the Z" Rocket was four and half
tons, the tender three tons and four
cwt., the total being under eight tons;
it had four wheels not coupled. The
fire-box surface was twenty square feet.
With gross load of seventeen tons it
attained an average speed of seventeen
miles, and before the end of the year
twenty-nine and half miles an hour
In 1881 Stephenson's engines were able
to draw ninety tons on level at twen-
ty-five miles an hour.
The first locomotive engine intro
| Il in A
~.- IL n-i,---.v a nuuSon Canal CoHi-
pany's railroad in Luzerne County, Pa,
in 1928, to convey the company's coal
from their mines to Honesdale, a dis
tance of twenty-four miles. This loco
motive was called the Stourbridge
Lion" and was built by George Steph-
enson at his works in the north of
England, of the best workmanship and
material and most approved pattern of
that date, and was on view for time
in New York.
The following description of its trial
is taken from u. HOLSTERS History
of the Lackawanna Valley:
"The road passed oHt of Honesdale
by sharp northwesterly curve, with a
moderate grade, and was carried over
the Lackawanna by long hemlock
trestling, considered too frail by many
to support the great weight of the mys-
terious looking engine all ready for
the hazardous journey. AS the crowd
gathered from far ana near, expecting
that bridge, locomotive and all would
plunge into the stream the moment
the passage was attempted, no one
dared to run the locomotive across the
chasm but Major Horatio Allen, who
amid exultation and praise passed over
the bridge and portion of the road in
safety. The engine, however, was
abandoned, as the slender trestling
forming much of the body of the road,
sufficiently strong for ordinary cars,
was found too feeble for the weight
and wear.'n
Major Allen of the first trip of a
locomotive on this continent, says:
GAS placed my hand on the throt-
tie | was undecided whether l would
move slowly or with fair degree of
speed; but believing that the road
would be safe, and preferring, if we
did go down, to go down handsomely
and without any evidence of timidity,
l started with considerable velocity,
passed the curve over the creek safely,
and was soon out of hearing of the vast
assemblage. At the end of two or
three miles reversed the valve and
returned without accident, having thus
made the first railroad trip by loco
motive ever made on the western hem
isphere.
The first American steam locomotive,
called the "Best Friend" was planned
by 4. l.. Miller, then residing at
Charleston, and was built by Messrs.
Kemble, in West street, New York, for
the South Carolina Railroad in 1889.
1t was small four-wheeled engine,
with upright boiler, and water-fues
close to the bottom, with the flame
circulating around them. 1t worked
we'll for about two years, when it ex-
plOded, and was rebuilt with a fine
boiler. 1t ran on railroad (the first