History of the American railroads

This article on the history of the American railroads will show the reasons for which the rail network of the the United States constitutes one the third of the world rail network.

The United States was created in 1776, because of birth of a Federal state resulting from the first 13 colonies located, mainly, on the east coast. The expansion of the United States occurred in particular at the 19th century: The history of the American railroads is indissociable epopee of the Far West and search of the Eldorado (in other words the Thirst for gold).

As of the birth of the United States, in 1776, there were already industrial centers of Sidérurgie and Métallurgie, whose historical centres are Chicago and Denver and thereafter Seattle. Already, at the 19th century, the United States is the fourth world power (after France, the United Kingdom and Germany).

Very first the Locomotive with rods, “the America” was carried out by George Stephenson in 1828 in the United States and in 1831 the engineer Rimber produced the first engine for the mixed service with adherence and Crémaillère. These two examples show that the railway companies in the United States had designed engines according to the relief.

The extension of the rail networks to the United States began densifier and to reach the Rocheuses, then the areas texanes and finally the Pacifique, also because of the creation of new States and their relations between them. The principal railways in the United States thus connect the Atlantique and the Pacifique. The photograph below watch that in 1869 the Central Pacific, started from San Francisco, and the Union Pacific, left the Missouri, make their junction in the Utah, establishing the first transcontinental connection.

The influence of Eiffel and Bartholdi in the United States during the 19th century, was considerable: Indeed, work of Eiffel and Bartholdi was used, in the construction industry, the improvement and the consolidation of the Viaduc S and the metallic bridges supporting the railways, in the United States, especially in the areas of the Canyon S and the Rocheuses. These works of art, in the United States, is more important than those which exist in Europe (because of the relief and the vaster configuration of spaces of the valleys, taking into account the longer distances), and thus is able to support the trains much longer than in Europe. The photograph below watch an example of these works of art which illustrate the influence of the achievements of Eiffel and Bartholdi. But, in 1860, the viaducts and metallic bridges supporting the railways were carried out in a relatively summary way, before being sophisticated and were consolidated, to allow this thickening, in safety, of the American rail network.

Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski created his company, C.S. Gzowski and Company which had some sections of way to build, as well as the construction of a bridge of railroad connecting the the Niagara Fort Érié and the town of Buffalo.

The internal bond, in English, gives other more general information of more economic nature but also with additional technical informations, on the evolution of the railway companies, relative to the history of the American railroads:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_the_United_States

The present study has a more technical orientation. The two articles are thus complementary and thus trace in a more complete way the history of the American railroads.

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