roads on which trains of freight and passenger cars, drawn by locomotives, travel on tracks formed by pairs of parallel metal rails (see LOCOMOTIVE,). The term railroad is often extended to include the rolling stock, or cars and locomotives, and the land, buildings, and equipment owned or operated in conjunction with the railroad lines. The terms railroad and railway are interchangeable in the U.S.

See also MONORAIL,; PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION,.

Rails.

The precursors of modern railroads were the wagonways, or tramroads (a tram was originally a coal wagon), built in England as early as the 16th century to facilitate the hauling of coal, ore, or stone from mines or quarries to ports or waterways. Although the first wagonways consisted merely of parallel lines of planks, they enabled draft animals to achieve greater speeds and pull much heavier loads than was possible over the bare surfaces of rutted and often muddy roads. Crossties were introduced in early tramroads to hold longitudinal timbers in place. The wooden tracks were soon improved by facing them with strips of iron, and iron wheels on the wagons came into use. In 1767 a British foundry produced the first cast-iron rails, which withstood heavy loads better than iron-faced timbers.

In 1811 a British coal-mine owner was granted a patent on a toothed rail to be traversed by toothed wheels. This rack-and-pinion principle is still applied in auxiliary third rails used in a few railroads, for example, on Pikes Peak and on some Swiss mountainsides, where cars must be pulled up extremely steep grades.

Modern rails were evolved from the edge rails used in northern England at the beginning of the 19th century. Wagons were held on this type of track by flanges extending downward from the inner edges of the wheels. (Many authorities define railroads and railways, in distinction from tramroads, as lines on which the rails are raised above the roadbed.) After the practicability of the locomotive was demonstrated in 1829, and as locomotives replaced horses, mules, and the occasional stationary engines used to pull cars up grades by means of cables, edge rails came into general use.

Rails of various shapes were devised. The prototype of those used today throughout the world, except in Great Britain, was the flat-footed T rail designed in 1830 by the American inventor Robert Livingston Stevens (1787–1856), who was the chief engineer and president of the newly established Camden and Amboy Railroad in New Jersey. In this type of design the T-shaped rail stands on a base broader than the head of the T, forming flanges at each side that permit the rail to be spiked directly to the ties. In the U.S. today the rail is mounted on metal plates, called tie plates, which are wider than the rail's base and prevent it from cutting into the ties.

The bridge rail, which in cross section formed an inverted U and which fitted over longitudinal timbers, was used on the Great Western Railway in England until 1892. Standard in Great Britain today is the bullheaded rail, evolved from an I-shaped rail introduced in 1835. In theory the I rail (called a double-headed rail) could be reversed when the upper side became worn, but in practice this economy could not be effected, because the lower part of the rail also became worn by contact with the heavy metal braces, called chairs, which are required to hold it in an upright position. The bullheaded rail has a wider, thicker head than the I rail but also must be mounted in chairs, in which it is braced by wooden wedges.

Wrought-iron and steel rails.

The first improvement on cast-iron rails were rails of wrought iron, introduced in 1820 in England, where the first steel rail was also manufactured. The manufacture of steel rails in the U.S. began in 1865, and they are now used throughout the world. Twentieth-century metallurgical advances have greatly improved the quality of rail steel. Transverse fissures often developed inside rails in use, causing much trouble, until it was discovered that the flaws from which these cracks spread were formed when rails hot from the rolling mill were cooling. Today all rails manufactured for use in the U.S. undergo a process of controlled cooling and inspection to prevent such defects. Usually they are also hardened at the ends by heat treatment.

Heavier trains requiring stronger track have resulted in much heavier rails. The iron rails used in early railroading weighed less than about 20 kg/m (about 40 lb/yd), and the steel rails used at the beginning of the 20th century in many cases were not heavier than about 30kg/m (about 60 lb/yd). In the 1930s rails weighing 50 kg/m (100 lb/yd) or more, or in some instances more than about 65 kg/m (about 130 lb/yd) were used. Rails manufactured today for main-line use may weigh as much as 75.5 to 77 kg/m (152 to 155 lb/yd).

Joints.

Because each joint is a relatively weak spot in the track, design engineers have reduced the number of joints by lengthening the rails. The customary length when locomotives were introduced was 0.914 m (3 ft), but in the 1830s this was increased to 4.6 or 6.1 m (15 or 20 ft). Early in the 20th century the most common length for rails was 9.1 m (30 ft), and this figure soon became 10 m (33 ft) when 12.2-m (40-ft) freight cars came into general use. To some extent the length of rails has been limited by difficulties in transporting them. Rails 18.3 m (60 ft) long, used on one British road as early as 1894, have been installed on some American roads, others of which have 13.7-m (45-ft) rails.

Increasingly in U.S. railroads, rails are butt-welded together to form lengths as long as 0.4 km (0.25 mi). At first this was done cautiously for fear that expansion and contraction due to temperature changes would cause buckling in great lengths of continuous rail. Experience has shown, however, that longitudinal expansion and contraction are not excessive and need not lead to buckling. Techniques have been developed for making butt welds as strong as the rails themselves. Where welding is not used, rails are joined by bars bolted to the sides so as to cover the joint. Stevens is credited with inventing the first such joint. On earlier roads using metal rails, the individual sections were not fastened together in any way.

Recent advances in track construction include using longer and stronger joint bars and wider tie plates to spread the weight of trains more evenly on the ties. For some years tie plates with shoulders to brace the rail on either side have been used, and nearly all U.S. railroads have installed special braces called anticreepers, designed to prevent longitudinal displacement.

Beginning in 1925 and continuing at an accelerated rate after that, especially after World War II, the installation of centralized traffic control (CTC) increased track capacity on many railroads and lessened or even eliminated the need for additional pairs of rails. In this system the switches and signals over many kilometers of track are controlled by a single train dispatcher who sits before a panel or switchboard in a control room. On this panel the location of each train is shown automatically on an illuminated diagram below which are knobs that control each signal and levers that control each switch on the line. This method of traffic control has been installed on more than 70,800 route km (44,000 route mi) of track in the U.S. Many railroads began to remove extra main-line tracks after the installation of CTC.

Gauges.

The gauge of track is the distance between the inner edges of the rails at points 1.59 cm (.626 in) below the top of the heads. In the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, and much of continental Europe, the standard gauge is 143.51 cm (56.5 in). Why this measurement became the standard is a matter of speculation. Probably the tradition is inherited from early tramroads built to accommodate wagons with axles 1.524 m (5 ft) long; some of the early edge rails were 4.445 cm (1.75 in) wide at the top, and the installation of such rails on plateways of the traditional width would have resulted in the 143.51-cm gauge.

Throughout most of the 19th century many railroad companies each built track with a different gauge; some gauges were wider than 143.51 cm and some narrower. About 1870 many railroads began to adopt a narrower gauge, usually 0.914 m (3 ft). The arguments in favor of this gauge were that narrower fills and clearances were needed, lighter rails could be used, and a sharper curvature of the tracks was permissible. In 1871, 1476 km (917 mi) of narrow-gauge track was under construction in the U.S. After the so-called railroad panic of 1873, in which the price of railroad stocks fell sharply, railroad construction of all sorts slowed down. Some authorities maintain that the panic accelerated the use of narrow-gauge tracks in the construction that did take place because it was more economical. Freight shipped over long distances, however, had to be transferred from one freight car to another whenever it reached a junction where the rail gauge changed. The excessive cost of handling at junctions between different roads led to the adoption of the standard gauge by virtually all U.S. railroads by about 1886. In the years immediately following, mutual agreements to handle one another's rolling stock at fixed rates were worked out by numerous U.S. railroads.

The railroads of Central and South America exhibit a variety of gauges, but the most important South American lines, radiating from Buenos Aires, are built to a gauge of 1.6764 m (5.5 ft). In addition to its network of standard-gauge track lines and branches, continental Europe still has several narrow-gauge lines, mostly in mountainous areas. The gauge on the main-line roads of Spain and Portugal is 1.6764 m; on those of the former Soviet Union, 1.524 m (5 ft). In Ireland the gauge is mainly 1.624 m (5.33 ft). In Africa and Asia it varies considerably, being standard on the main lines in Egypt, but 1.067 m (3.5 ft) in South Africa and Japan, and 1.6764 m on the more important lines in India. Australian railroading is still hampered by differences in gauge between lines in the various states.

Ties and Ballast.

Crossties, the transverse members that support the rails and hold them in alignment, were originally untreated timbers. Although concrete ties are becoming more common, the majority of new ties are wood treated with creosote or some other preservative injected under pressure. The use of preservatives has increased the life of ties from 5 or 6 years to 25 or 30 years or more. Advances in track engineering have included increases in the size of ties and in the number used in a given length of track, and the establishment of rigid standards of quality.

The ties are bedded in a layer of ballast, formerly consisting of various materials such as earth or cinders, but today in all main-line tracks consisting of crushed stone or slag in chips of specified size. The angular irregular shape of the fragments ensures a porous mass for good drainage, but at the same time permits interlocking, so that weight is distributed evenly over the roadbed. The depth of ballast under the ties has been increased in recent years to accommodate increasingly heavy trains. On some lines this layer is now laid 60.9 cm (24 in) or even 76.2 cm (30 in) thick.

Roadbed and Route.

Inclines and curves in the track limit the speed of trains, and upgrades require high power. The road generally follows topographical contours, but in many places the contours are smoothed by excavations, or cuts, and embankments, or fills. Original construction costs are weighed against anticipated operating costs and revenues. Because U.S. railroads were built largely before the economy of the country was fully developed, the original costs were usually kept low. Extensive improvements have been necessary in recent years to strengthen roadbeds and eliminate or reduce sharp curves and heavy grades to permit higher speeds, heavier loads, and more frequent operation of trains.

Today, a 1 percent grade, or an incline rising 1 m in 100 m of horizontal distance, is considered steep; in recent track-improvement programs, gradients on heavy-duty lines have been limited to 0.5 percent. Since the advent of fast freight service and of streamlined passenger trains capable of speeds of 160 km/m (100 mph) or more, curves have received even more attention than grades. Curvature is described in terms of the angle formed by radii meeting the ends of an arc that subtends a chord 30.5 m (100 ft) long. The maximum curvature on a given section of line varies, but in recent curve-reduction projects it has generally been set at 1.5 degrees, and in some cases 0.5 degree has been made the maximum curvature.

To avoid the jolting of trains, simple curves, which are arcs of circles, are approached by so-called easement curves in which the radius gradually decreases in length. To counteract centrifugal force, which causes a train to lean outward on a curve, the rails are banked; that is, the outside rail is laid higher than the inside rail, the degree of relative elevation depending on the sharpness of the curve and the expected speed of trains.

The roadbed, which is also called the subgrade, must be carefully prepared before track is laid. To ensure stability, fills are built up in layers, each layer of earth, gravel, or other material being packed down thoroughly before the next is added. The sides of both cuts and fills must slope gently enough to prevent slides, the angle depending on the type of material; the sides may be relatively steep if a cut is made through stone. To minimize erosion that might lead to cave-ins, earth sides are often covered with sod or with a thick layer of cinders.

The greatest damage suffered by roadbeds is caused by water. In cuts and sometimes on fills the shoulders of the roadbed are bordered by drainage ditches. Additional ditches intercepting and draining those that parallel the track, or systems of subsurface drainage pipes under the track, are sometimes needed. In some cases the track is laid on concrete slabs supported by timber piles. One new method to keep ground moisture from softening roadbeds is to lay a heavy sheet of plastic material between the roadbed and soil.

Where the road crosses depressions deeper than 15 to 18 m (50 to 60 ft) trestles, bridges, or viaducts are commonly used instead of fills. Track-improvement programs have generally included the widening of roadbed shoulders and the strengthening of trestles and bridges.

Tunnels are extremely expensive and are therefore avoided when the track can be routed around a hill or mountain. Unless they are cut through solid rock, tunnels must be lined with timber, brick, reinforced concrete, or corrosion-resistant metal. Sometimes tunnels are built on a slight grade to ensure drainage.

Electrification.

In 1895 electric traction, which previously had proved successful on street railways, was introduced on short sections of American railroads, which were then powered by steam-driven locomotives; this innovation was adopted first by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad and later in the same year by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. At first electric power was used principally in urban areas and especially in tunnels, to eliminate smoke and steam. The electrification of the tracks passing under Park Ave. to enter Grand Central Terminal in New York City was a sequel to a serious accident that had occurred when the tunnel became filled with smoke. This electrification project, completed in 1907, was undertaken in compliance with a state law requiring railroads to discontinue the use of combustion engines within New York City.

Later, the value of electric traction in mountainous regions was discovered. Electricity provides greater power on grades than can be achieved with steam, and the use of regenerative braking, in which the motor functions as a generator on downgrades, makes for greater safety and also for economy, because the power produced on downgrades is fed into the supply line. The outstanding example of electric traction in heavy-freight service in the U.S. is the Montana section of the Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul, and Pacific, with about 1063 m (about 660 mi) of line with more than 1450 km (900 mi) of track. The most extensive electrification in this country was done by the Pennsylvania Railroad on approximately 1080 km (670 mi) of route, with about 3623 km (2250 mi) of track, connecting New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., and extending westward to Harrisburg, Pa. An important consideration underlying the adoption of electric traction in this densely populated area was the need for increased carrying capacity. Because electric locomotives can accelerate more rapidly, faster schedules can be established and more trains can be run on the same track.

In installations made early in the 20th century in the suburbs of New York City, power is distributed by means of a third rail; this method has proved unsatisfactory, however, because it limits power to 600 V and because live rail is dangerous. Today, on more than 95 percent of electrified railroads in the world, current is collected from overhead wires. The circuit is completed through the running rails, which must be grounded.

Predictions that electrification would become widely adopted by U.S. railroads have not been realized. In the 1950s the Great Northern Railroad (now Burlington Northern) removed its electric wires that crossed the Cascade Mountains. Several other major railroads followed suit in the mid-1970s, and Consolidated Rail Corp., or Conrail (the successor to the Pennsylvania Railroad), put its electric freight-train locomotives into storage in 1981. Electric train operation became relegated to short utility-owned private railroads; intercity passenger trains between Washington, D.C., and New Haven, Conn., and between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa.; suburban passenger trains in the New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago areas; and subways.

Passenger Cars and Service.

The earliest passenger cars, about 4.6 m (about 15 ft) long and 2.1 m (7 ft) wide, were virtually stagecoaches with railroad wheels. Soon larger cars with six wheels instead of four were introduced. In this country, the Baltimore & Ohio was the first road to offer passenger service, in 1830, and only three years later this line introduced a car similar to the cars used for the next 100 years. It seated 60 passengers and was mounted on two four-wheeled swiveling trucks. Swiveling trucks permit the car to follow curves more readily and are now used in passenger car construction throughout the world. In the 20th century, six-wheeled trucks became necessary in the U.S. and Canada to bear the weight of all-steel cars.

Until 1904, passenger cars were made entirely of wood. In that year, cars with steel underframes were introduced on the suburban lines of the Illinois Central Railroad serving Chicago, and they soon came into general use. In the same year the pioneer subway in New York City set an example by introducing all-steel cars. Within a short time such cars appeared on the Long Island Railroad and on the suburban lines of the New York Central Railroad, and in 1906 the Pennsylvania Railroad put an all-steel car into long-distance service. Within 20 years such cars constituted about one-third of all passenger cars in the U.S. After 1930 few passenger cars were built of other materials until the new lightweight alloys were developed. Steel cars proved safer and more durable than wooden cars, but they increased operating costs by requiring locomotives to pull more weight in carrying the same number of passengers. The lightweight cars, of aluminum alloy or stainless steel, and doubledecker coaches, which have two tiers of seats, have considerably reduced this ratio.

A U.S. or Canadian passenger car of typical design has a longitudinal central aisle with a row of transverse seats on either side. Each seat usually accommodates two passengers, and in many cars seat backs may be tilted to allow passengers to sleep in a semireclining position. European cars are divided into transverse compartments. These compartments can be entered only from the outside in most of the cars used in local service in many countries. Other trains have a narrow corridor along one side and thus permit passengers to reach lavatories and dining cars during the trip. U.S. sleeping cars and parlor cars, with porter service and individual reserved seats, correspond roughly to European first-class accommodations, and ordinary day coaches correspond to second-class cars.

Sleeping cars.

The first sleeping car in the world, a crude affair with tiers of berths along one wall, was introduced in the U.S. in 1836. In 1859 the American inventor George Mortimer Pullman converted two Alton Railroad coaches into sleeping cars, and in 1864 he patented the first sleeping car of the type that remained standard in the U.S. for nearly three-quarters of a century. Modern sleeping cars contain a number of individual rooms called roomettes, bedrooms, or compartments. Rooms have toilet facilities, mirrors and electric lights, liberal space for luggage and personal belongings, and individual heating and air-conditioning controls.

Amtrak.

Passenger service was greatly improved during the 1930s, when lightweight, streamlined cars, air conditioning, and faster schedules were introduced. Following World War II, however, the passenger train began a long decline in popularity. By the late 1960s, after the railroads lost almost all mail and express business, the end of the passenger service appeared near. Congress responded by creating the National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak) in 1971 to assume responsibility for intercity passenger trains throughout the U.S. By most standards, Amtrak succeeded in reviving passenger train service. The number of passengers carried annually rose from 16.6 million in 1972 to 20.2 million in 1986. By 1982, Amtrak had replaced almost all of the aging passenger cars and locomotives it had inherited from several railroads with new or completely rebuilt equipment. Besides owning the rolling stock, Amtrak employs most onboard personnel and pays railroads for the use of their tracks and facilities. Deficits amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars per year are met by congressional appropriations. In 1976 Amtrak purchased trackage between Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C., from Penn Central (now a part of Consolidated Rail Corp.) and began to upgrade the property for speeds of at least 190 km/hr (about 120 mph). By the late 1980s Amtrak operated about 250 trains per day over more than 38,600 route km (24,000 route mi) across the U.S. A typical overnight Amtrak train includes a baggage car, several coaches, one or more sleeping cars, a dining car, and a lounge car, or a car that combines both dining and lounge facilities. In the western U.S., most Amtrak cars contain two levels of coach seats or sleeping space.

Commuter train service around such cities as Boston, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco also underwent a renaissance in the 1970s. Old cars were replaced, ridership increased, and most railroads were relieved of responsibility for operating deficits by public agencies.

Foreign passenger service.

Leadership in the development of modern passenger trains has shifted away from the U.S. In 1965, Japanese National Railways inaugurated high-speed rail service on its electrified Tokaido line, serving industrial centers on the east coast of the main Japanese island of Honshu. By 1968 sixty 13-car trains made 160 trips each day over various distances on the 515-km (320-mi) route between Tokyo and Osaka, at speeds of 217 km/hr (135 mph), and later extensions lengthened the route to 1136 km (706 mi), from Tokyo to Hakata.

In Europe, both France and Great Britain developed their own high-speed services. In 1981, French National Railways began running the Train à Grande Vitesse, or TGV, between Paris and Lyon and between Paris and Geneva, at speeds of about 260 km/hr (about 160 mph) or greater on routes that were built expressly for this service. British Rail, rather than build new routes for fast trains, developed the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) to operate over existing tracks. The APT uses special tilting mechanisms that permit trains to negotiate curves at speeds of up to 210 km/hr (about 130 mph)—far faster than conventional passenger trains are permitted to travel. After numerous delays because of problems with the train's stabilization system, service between London and Scotland began in 1984, by which time British Rail was already looking for a more satisfactory replacement.

Freight Cars and Service.

Freight can be handled more economically in the U.S. and Canada than in most other countries because a high proportion of freight is moved in large units for long distances and can therefore be carried in long cars, which have a large capacity. The greater the capacity, the greater the ratio of the payload to the deadweight of the car; for example, a 14.6-m (48-ft) coal car weighing 27 metric tons can carry 77 tons of coal, but a 15.24-m (50-ft) car of similar construction, with a weight of 34 tons (23 percent more), can carry 109 tons of coal (41 percent more).

The aforementioned 77-ton and 109-ton coal cars are among the largest freight cars in general use. A 36- or 45-ton boxcar offers a striking contrast to the freight cars of 75 years ago, when the usual capacity was 9 or 14 tons. In Great Britain, where most freight is moved in small consignments on short hauls, most freight cars carry less than 14 tons. Most continental European freight cars are mounted on fixed wheels rather than on swiveling trucks and would be considered small or at best medium sized in the U.S. Large cars similar in most respects to American cars are used to a considerable extent, however, in the former Soviet Union, and also in India, Australia, Africa, and South America.

Besides boxcars, flatcars, and the open hopper or dump cars used for coal and ore, a variety of specially designed freight cars is made for particular purposes. Large semitrailers are carried piggyback on flatcars 24.4 m (80 ft) long. Refrigerated cars and, in freezing weather, heated cars, are needed for meat and other perishables. Special cars are provided for live poultry and livestock. Gases such as ammonia; liquids such as gasoline, oil, alcohol, acids, and paints; and also semiliquid or even solid products, including pickles, are often shipped in tank cars. The caboose, the small car that forms the tail end of a freight train, provides shelter and conveniences for the train crew. To permit the conductor to survey the entire train at intervals, the caboose usually has a glassed-in cupola projecting from the roof, but some recently built cabooses have bay windows instead.

Freight service is generally of two types. One type carries bulk commodities, such as coal, grain, or ore, and generally runs from origin to destination without switching, but on no set schedule. The other type of freight service operates on a regular schedule on a set route and carries all types of commodities. More and more railroads now operate trains containing only piggyback (trailer-on-flatcar) equipment on schedules almost as fast as passenger trains. By 1980 railroads were handling more than 3 million semitrailers or containers per year, and in commodity shipping, the number of piggyback loadings was exceeded only by coal.

Beginning in the 1960s railroads began allowing higher freight-train speeds—up to 112 km/hr (70 mph) on some heavily used routes, although 80 km/hr (50 mph) is more common. By the early 1980s, however, the industry had discovered that transit time could be shortened more easily by reducing the time that cars spent in yards than by raising speed limits en route, and most efforts to improve service took this new direction.

Advances in Rolling-Stock Design.

Among the most important inventions of the 19th century were the air brake and the automatic coupler. Today most American rolling stock is equipped with air brakes (see BRAKE,), which operate automatically if a coupling between cars breaks or if a leak develops in the compressed-air system. In the 1870s the American inventor Eli Hamilton Janney (1831–1912) patented a design for couplers with pivoted knuckles that would interlock automatically when two cars were pushed together and that could be disengaged by means of a lever extending to the side of the car. In 1887 all car builders adopted as a standard a modified form of the Janney coupler. Because public resentment was aroused by the number of men crushed between cars when operating the old link-and-pin couplers by hand, a federal law was passed in 1897 requiring the installation of automatic couplers on all rolling stock. Enforcement was delayed by later legislation, but eventually this law became effective.

Early in the history of railroading, buffers on the ends of cars were introduced to minimize shocks when cars were bumped together. More modern designs make use of friction between two surfaces; on American passenger cars the head of the buffer at each end of the car is a horizontal plate that slides over or under a corresponding plate on the next car to form a connecting platform. In improved types of draft gears connecting couplers with car sills or underframes, sliding-friction devices have superseded springs.

An important 20th-century advance in rolling-stock design was the introduction of roller bearings, which replaced sleeve bearings on car axles (see BEARING,); almost all new rolling stock is now equipped with roller bearings.

Terminals and Yards.

A terminal is an area where individual cars, perhaps arriving from various points, are sorted according to their destinations and assembled in trains. Freight and passenger terminals necessarily include not only stations with offices and various other facilities, but also yards with more or less elaborate systems of tracks and switches. Usually repair shops are provided, and passenger terminals usually include shops, yards, and sheds where cars are cleaned and supplies are put aboard sleeping cars and diners. An incoming locomotive, after its train is uncoupled in a receiving yard and drawn away by a switch engine, proceeds to the engine terminal for inspection, repairs, and servicing or storage. In a freight terminal, the train, minus its locomotive and caboose, is pushed into a classification yard where the cars are separated and sorted. On the usual level tracks the cars must be moved by switch engines, but a large and busy terminal may have a hump yard in which the cars are moved by gravity. Newly assembled strings of cars proceed to other yards where they can be loaded or unloaded, repaired, stored, or prepared for departure.

Labor.

About 80 to 85 percent of all railway workers are represented by labor organizations. Some of these unions include only railway workers; others include workers both from the railways and from other industries. Members of these unions negotiate with the railroads through chosen representatives. In the course of many years of negotiation, an extensive and complicated system of rules and regulations governing wage schedules and working conditions has been developed. See RAILROAD LABOR ORGANIZATIONS,.

U.S. Railroads.

Before the railroad era the U.S. had a few tramroads; for example, a line was operated in Boston in 1795 to haul brick. The first line that could properly be called a railroad, that is, one with raised track traversed by flanged wheels, was the Granite Line built in Massachusetts in 1826 to bring granite for the Bunker Hill Monument from the quarry to a wharf on the Neponset River. The cars on this short line were moved by gravity and by a team of horses, except on a short incline where power was supplied by a stationary engine with a continuous chain.

Some years previously, in 1815, the first railroad charter in the U.S. had been granted by the state of New Jersey to the inventor John Stevens, father of Robert L. Stevens (the inventor of the T rail) and sometimes called the father of American railroads. John Stevens was the original organizer of the Pennsylvania Railroad but could not finance his project. Actual construction of the rail network in the U.S. was not begun until 1828, when work was started on the first section of the Baltimore & Ohio. This 20.9-km (13-mi) line was opened to traffic in 1830, when construction of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, parent line of the New York Central, was begun. In that year the country had a total of 37 km (23 mi) of railroad in operation. Five years later the national total was 1767.1 km (1098 mi), and by 1848 it had become 9649.6 km (5996 mi), with virtually all of it in states along the Atlantic seaboard. Rails then began to reach into the Middle West, and soon the new towns of the Mississippi River valley were connected with the eastern seaports. News of the California gold strike greatly stimulated railroad building, which was favored at that time by general prosperity. Whereas previous construction had proceeded at an average rate of 508.6 km (316 mi) per year, through the 1850s the annual average was 3218.7 km (2000 mi). Federal aid, in this period extended indirectly through state governments, was important in fostering the boom. The aid was usually in the form of grants of alternate sections of public lands bordering railroad routes; in return, substantial reductions in rates were granted to the government.

The spread of rail networks.

Public demand for transcontinental rail connections was originally inspired by a proposal made in favor of them in 1836 by the American statesmen John Plumbe (1809–57) and Robert John Walker (1801–69). The public demand was increased by the gold rush of 1849 and by fear that the Northwest would be annexed to Canada. The need for transcontinental lines was felt so urgently by many influential people that construction of the Union Pacific Railroad was begun during the American Civil War, when railroad building in the East and the Middle West came to a standstill. In 1862 extensive federal land grants had been made directly to the Union Pacific and several other railroad companies. The rails of the Union Pacific, reaching westward from Omaha, Nebr., and those of the Central Pacific Railroad, reaching eastward from Sacramento, Calif., were joined at Promontory, Utah, in 1869, completing the coast-to-coast connection.

The inflation of money following the Civil War hampered railroad development for a year or two, but a spurt of extraordinarily rapid growth followed, chiefly in the Middle West and West. Expansion was virtually halted when the financial panic of 1873 caused the price of railroad stocks to drop to a small fraction of their original value. In the 1880s construction boomed again, and mileage was added at an average rate of more than 11,265.4 km (7000 mi) a year. Expansion at varying rates continued through 1910. Since then the trackage added to the American rail network has been negligible; railroad construction has been limited largely to double-tracking, addition of sidings, improvement of inadequate tracks, and related projects. After World War I the total remained generally static; track added by new branch lines was balanced by the track of branch lines abandoned because operation had become unprofitable; in some years the effect was a decrease in the national total. All in all, U.S. railroad route mileage declined from a peak of 409,177 km (254,251 mi) in 1916 to about 248,000 km (about 154,000 mi) in 1986.

While the network of rails was spreading, great financial networks were also developing. Groups of independent railroad companies were consolidated to form railroad systems. The New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, for example, was formed by the consolidation of about 200 originally independent lines. At first consolidation was effected usually by outright mergers of corporations, but in later periods leases and stock purchases were the most common methods. Manipulating stocks became a common method of struggle between powerful rivals.

Although some consolidation occurred in the early days of railroading, it was in the last half of the 19th century, after the Civil War, that the combinations that now dominate American railroading began to appear. In this period, for example, the railroad magnates Cornelius Vanderbilt and his son, William Henry Vanderbilt, formed the New York Central. In the first few years of the 20th century, some railway systems that were already large and complex were joined by stock purchases into enormously powerful railroad empires. The Baltimore & Ohio came temporarily under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which previously had established control of a great network of roads in the East and Middle West. The transcontinental routes to the Northwest were brought into the orbit of J. P. Morgan and Co., and those to the Southwest and to San Francisco came under the control of the American railroad magnate Edward Henry Harriman.

By the 1870s public sentiment had been aroused against the railroads because of the power and influence of the growing consolidations and because of certain questionable practices. Railroad commissions with regulatory powers came into being in most of the states, and in 1887 Congress created the INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION (q.v.). In 1904 the U.S. Supreme Court applied the SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT, (q.v.) to railroads, and in 1906 Congress directed the Interstate Commerce Commission to divorce railroad companies from manufacturing and mining companies. Further consolidation was hampered until the Transportation Act of 1920 was passed, granting permission for mergers under certain conditions.

In the depression years following 1929, railroad earnings fell sharply, and in 1937 companies controlling about one-third of the railroad track in the nation were bankrupt. Extensive reorganization of railroad finances were effected in the following decade, with the result that only about 7 percent of the total track remained in the hands of trustees or receivers.

Although U.S. railroads were under federal management and control during World War I and were subject to a number of emergency regulations during World War II, they remained under private ownership. After the nationalization of British railroads in 1947, the U.S. railroads and the Canadian Pacific were the only large networks still privately owned.

Mid-20th-century mergers.

Numerous large mergers have occurred since the 1960s. In 1968, the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads combined to form Penn Central, to which was later added the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroads. Penn Central declared bankruptcy in 1970. In 1976, it and other failed railroads in the Northeast—including the Erie Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley, and Reading—were merged by an act of Congress to form the Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail). In 1970, the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Burlington merged into Burlington Northern (BN); later, BN absorbed the St. Louis–San Francisco (Frisco) Railroad. The Chesapeake & Ohio, Baltimore & Ohio, and Western Maryland railroads became affiliated into the Chessie System. In 1981 Chessie merged with the Family Lines—a combination of the Seaboard Coast Line, Louisville & Nashville, and Clinchfield—to form CSX Corp.; however, all but Western Maryland operate independently. Industry experts predicted that by the late 1980s the railroad industry would be dominated by half a dozen large rail systems, and that only several medium-size railroads would retain their independence.

In 1986, operating revenue for U.S. railroads amounted to $26.2 billion, more than twice that of 1970, and net income was $1.3 billion. About 1.76 billion metric tons of freight and more than 2.4 billion passengers (Amtrak and commuter) were transported. More than 330,000 persons were employed in the industry.        R.C.O., RICHARD C. OVERTON, M.A., Ph.D.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 335. Railroads.