Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-01-08
THE IRON WAY.

Origin OF the railroad Believed To Date
Back to 1910 at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
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 road like primi-
tive tramway. One writer would have
US believe that similar device was
known in China many years ago.
While it is admitted that printing, gum
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 a tramway nearer than a
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-onTyne, and large cart, with
four rollers, drawn by horses, was used
to transport coal from the mine to the
river. A hange placed at the side of the
beam kept the carts from rolling off the
rail. So successful was the experiment
that other coal districts in England
and Scotland followed the example. 1t
was great labor saving scheme, for a
horse that could with difficulty draw only
LOO without the aid of this smooth road
could now with ease draw 4, 200 weight.
This was the earliest tramway, the pre-
cursor of the steam railway. The first
improvement made on this tramway
was the laying of iron plates on the
duced the friction and made less wear
and tear. In 1853 rails made wholly of
iron were used, and in 1889 when Will
liam Yessop built the first public rail-
way in England, at Loughborough, he
introduced the edge rail of cast iron
and changed the flange from the rail to
the wheel. Finally. in 1903, the rails
were made of malleable iron.
Up to 1903 the tramway had used
horses for motors, and in some in
stances stationary engines; but mems
minds had been constantly exercised to
invent some method of drawing cars by
means of 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 perfecting 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 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 first patent ever issued for a 10
connective. All the steam carriages and
appliances, however, amounted to al
most nothing so far as the public was
concerned, and it was not until 1904
that any really practical locomotive
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 successful engine was in
vented by George Stephens, in 1914. 1t
ran six miles an 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.