Rail Centenary

The eastern railways of this country are preparing a series of celebrations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of steam transportation. It was on Sept. 27, 1825, that George Stephenson-- patron saint of the railroad business ever since--first conducted at Darlington, England, his successful experiment. On that occasion his little "Locomotion I" painfully but steadily followed a man on horseback, pulling after it a train of cars, for 25 miles.

Americans had already built railway tracks in many parts of the country, but lacked satisfactory means of locomotion. They soon took up Stephenson's invention. In 1829 the Delaware & Hudson unsuccessfully tried out on its tracks a British steam locomotive, the "Stourbridge Lion." The next year, however, the Baltimore & Ohio proved that steam locomotion was practicable by the successful trip of the "Tom Thumb" at Baltimore. In 1831 the first U. S. steam locomotive, the "Best Friend of Charleston," was running on the first purely steam railway in America--the South Carolina Railroad -- from Charleston to HamBurgh.

From this start, improvements, expansion and new railway companies emerged rapidly. In 1831 the eight-wheeled truck was introduced. In 1836 the first sleeping car was developed. By 1838 Congress authorized the use of railways to carry mail. In 1851 the Hoosac Tunnel--the first of its kind --was commenced. By 1852 the Pennsylvania Railroad opened a through route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and by 1853 all rail connection between Chicago and eastern states was established. In 1857 the first refrigerator car was attempted and in 1859 the first Pullman sleeping car introduced.

The project of a transcontinental railroad was agitated as early as

1832 by Hartwell Carver before the U. S. Congress. Not until 1862, however, was a practical start made on the vast stretch west of the Mississippi River. In that year, the Union Pacific began construction westward from Omaha, and simultaneously the Central Pacific began laying track eastward from San Francisco. In 1869 the two roads met and were joined at Promontory Point, Utah--thus completing steam transcontinental service.

The year 1863 saw the introduction of the dining car and the block signal system, the first Bessemer rails imported from England and the organization of the first railroad brotherhood--that of Locomotive Engineers. In 1868 came the first Westinghouse airbrake, and in 1872 the first time-table convention and the first electric lights in coaches. In 1883 Standard Time was adopted. Not until 1895 was electrification of steam railroads begun--in the New Haven and B. & O. tunnels.

The development of stations in large cities is also comparatively recent. The Central Station in Chicago opened in 1893, the South Station in Boston in 1899, the La-Salle Station in Chicago in 1903, the Union Station in Washington in 1907, the Pennsylvania Station in New York City in 1910, the Grand Central Station in New York City in 1913, the Union Terminal in Kansas City in 1914, and the Union Station in Chicago in 1925.