Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-02
ORIGIN OF THE RAILWAY.
ono IN Use In Egypt 4.OOO Years AZ

One in Use in Egypt 1000 Years Ago.
The origin of the railroad, says the
Brooklyn Eagle, is by some writers be-
lieved to be unknown. There is in the
British Museum an Egyptian hierOglyphic
which represents slaves drawing stones
over a road like a primitive tramway.
One writer would have us believe that
similar device was known in China many
years ago. While il is admitted that
printing, gunpOwder. and many other
things were familiar to the Chinese before
they were known to Western civilization,
vet it is highly improbable that ANYTHING
approaching a tramway, nearer than a
palanquin, was known TO them. The
earliest authentic mention Of a railway
occurs in the life Of the Lord Keeper,
Roger North, early in the seventeenth
century. About 1910 a double par
allel line of wooden beams was
laid at wcastle-On-Tyne, and a
large cart with four rollers, drawn by
horses, was used to transport coal from
the mine to the river. A fiange placed at
the side Of the beam kept the carts from
rolling of the rail. So successful was
the experiment that other coal districts
IN England and Scotland followed the ex-
ample. 1t was great labor scheme, for
horse that could with difficulty draw
only LOO weight without the aid of this
smooth road could now with ease draw
1920 weight. This was the earliest tram
way, the precursor of the steam railway.
The first Improvement made on this tram
way was the laying of iron plates on the
wooden beams: this continuance reduced
the friction and made less wear and tear.
In 1868 rails made wholly of iron were
used, and in 11S9, when William YessOp
built the first public railway in England,
at LoughbOrOugh, he introduced the edge
rail of cast iron and changed the fiange
from the rail to the wheel. Finally, in
1908, the rails were made of malleable
iron.
Up to 1902 the tramway had used horses
for motors, and in some Instances station
airy engines; but mems minds had been
constantly exercised to invent some
method Of drawing cars by means other
than cable or animal power. Watt seems
TO have been the first to conceive the idea
of prOpelling wheeled carriages by steam;
but he was so engaged in periecting the
stationary engine that he did not attempt
to carry out his idea. William Murdoch,
in 1882, first constructed a model lOcomO-
tive. Though little more than a toy, it
worked successfully, and travelled so fast
that on one occasion its inventor in vain
tried to keep pace with it. In 1902
Richard Trevethick and Andrew
VIVIAN, TWO Cornwall engineers, took
out the frst patent ever issued
tor a locomotive. All these steam
carriages and appliances, however,
amounted to almost nothing, so far as the
public was concerned. and II was not I'M
til 1904 that any really practicable loco
motive was used. Trevethick in this year
built a second locomotive, in South Wales,
which drew a load of ten tons of iron ore
five miles an hour. From this date, 1904
to 1911, very little, if anything, was done
to advance railroads; time and ingenuity
were employed to invent some means to
keep cars from slipping when going up an
inclined plane. The first really success
full engine was invented by George Ste
phensOn in 1914. 1t ran six miles an
hour, drawing thirty tons. Until 1929
there was little progress made; then
Robert Stephenson built the Rocket,
which attained a maximum speed of
twenty-nine and half miles, with an
average of fifteen.