The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-01-16
The IRON WAY.
Origin of the Railroad Believed to Dat
Back to 1870 at Newcastie-on-TS. lie.

Origin of the Railroad Believed to Das
Back to 1870 ut Newcastie-on-TS lie.
The origin of the railroad is by some
writers believed to be unknown. There
is in the British Museum an Egyptian
hieroglyphic which represents slaves
drawing stones over a road like primi.
tive tramway. One writer would have
us believe that a similar device was
known in China many years ago.
While it is admitted that printing, gun.
powder, and many other things were
familiar to the Chinese before they
were known to Western civilization, yet
it is highly improbable that anything
approaching 8 tramway nearer than 8
palanquin was known to them. The
earliest authentic mention of a railway
occurs in the life of Lord Keeper,
Roger Forth. early in the seventeenth
century. About 1870 double parallel
line of wooden beams was laid at New.
castle-on-Tyne, and large cart, with
four rollers. drawn by horses, was used
to transport coal from the mine TO the
river. A flange placed at the side OF the
beam kept the carts from rolling off the
rail. SO successful was theexperin ent
that other coal districts in England
and Scotland followed the example L,
was great labor saving scheme, for p
horse thatcould with difficulty draw only
], 100 without the aid Of this smooth road
could now with ease draw 1. 200 weight.
This was the earliest tramwav. the pre-
cursor of the steam railway. The ;irSt
Improvement made on this t-amYay
was the laying of iron plates on the
wooden beams; this contrivance re-
duced the friction and made less wear
AID tear. In 116S rails made wholly of
iron We're used. and in 1879 when Will
liam IeSSop built the first public rail
way in England, at Loughborough. he
introduced the edge rail of cast ron
and changed the fiange from the rail 10
the wheel. Finally. in 1903. the rails
were made of mallcable iron.
Up to 1908 the tramway had used
horses for motors, and in some in
Stances stationary engines: bat m,n's
minds had been constantly exercised to
invent some method of drawing car. by
means of other than cable or animal
power. Watt seems to have been the
first TO conceive the idea of propeliing
wheeled carriages by steam, but he Was
So engaged in perfccting the stationary
engine that he did not attempt TO carry
out his idea. William Murdoch. in
l1S2, first constructed a model locoinO-
tive. Though little more than 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 Trevet!iick and And, ew
Vivian, two Cornwall engineers. took
out the first patent ever issued for To-
connective. All the steam carriages and
appliances. however, amounted to al
most nothing so far as the public was
concerned. and il was not until l-U4
that any really practical locomotive
was used. Treveth OK in this wear bsl 1t
which drew a load of ten IONS of iroa
ore five miles an hour. From this date,
1904 TO 1911. very little. if anything.
was done 10 advance railroads. Tia.
and ingenuity were employed to invent
some means 10 keep cars from slipping
when going up an inclined plane. The
first really successful engine was m
vented by George Stephens. in 1914. 1t
ran six miles au hour, drawing thirty
tons. Until 1929 there was little prog
ress made Then Robert Stephenson
built the Rocket, which attained max
imum speed Of twenty and one-half
miles, with an average of fifteen
Brooklyn Eagle.