. Building and repairing railways . requirement, so far as the action of steamand economy of operation were concerned, beforeStephenson manufactured his first machine. The locomotive followed naturally the inven-tion of a suitable roadbed, as the wagon and car-riage followed a suitable highway. The railwaytrack, as referred to elsewhere, was first utilizedin connection with the handling of coal. Thebulk of the latter, and the necessity for cheapen-ing its price, made some simple appliance fortransporting it a matter of the greatest possibleimportance to the people of Great Britain. Horseswere
. Building and repairing railways . requirement, so far as the action of steamand economy of operation were concerned, beforeStephenson manufactured his first machine. The locomotive followed naturally the inven-tion of a suitable roadbed, as the wagon and car-riage followed a suitable highway. The railwaytrack, as referred to elsewhere, was first utilizedin connection with the handling of coal. Thebulk of the latter, and the necessity for cheapen-ing its price, made some simple appliance fortransporting it a matter of the greatest possibleimportance to the people of Great Britain. Horseswere at first used, then steam. The cost oftransportation over these tramways, or primitiverailroads, is said to have been about ten per cent,of that over the common turnpike. The character of the track on which Trevith-icks first locomotive ran is illustrated by Fig. character of the rails used for the first trackon which locomotives were operated is shown byFig. E. These rails were of light weight; in 1825 RAILWAY EVOLUTION. 27. Tram Rail with stone supports, upon which Trevithicks first locomotive ran. Fig. D. the average weight of rails per yard was about28 pounds; in 1830 (about the time the locomo-tive was introduced) the weight was increased to35 pounds per yard. As the weight of locomo- 28 BUILDING AND REPAIRING RAILWAYS. Birkenshaws Wrought-Iron Rail, A. D. 1820.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectrailroa, bookyear1901
