According to the Encyclopedia Britannica railways had their origin in tramways which were used more than two hundred years ago in the mining districts of England to carry their output of coal to the sea.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway, about thirty-eight miles in length, was operating a locomotive driven by Stephenson, with a signalman on horseback, in advance, in 1825. The passenger coach in this instance was named the "Experiment," and carried six persons inside and from fifteen to twenty persons outside. But it was the year 1829, which became famous in the annals of railways, not only for the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line, but for the invention and construction of the first high speed locomotive of the standard modern type. Robert Stephenson's engine, "The Rocket," was made under competition for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and it gained the prize of five hundred pounds for lightness, power and speed, awarded by the directors.
First Railroads and Locomotives in the United States.
The newspapers of that period were filled with the wonderful "performance" of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the people of the United States, as well as those of Great Britain, became interested in the question of railroad transportation. As early as 1828 charters were obtained in several Eastern States and railroad companies organized.
The first locomotive engine used in this country was operated on the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's railroad between the mines at Carbondale and the town of Honesdale, Pennsylvania. This locomotive was built at Stourbridge, England, and made its trial trip in August, 1829.
Kentucky's First Railroad.
Kentucky, which was one of the leading States in the Union in those days in all progressive movements, was wide awake to the great advantages to be gained by railroad transportation. And Lexington, which seems to have been the "self-starter" of Kentucky, was aroused to the highest pitch of excitement. The various "performances" of the English railroads were published at length in the Kentucky Gazette, and the Observer and Reporter. Lexington was the very heart of the great Blue Grass region of Kentucky. The amazing richness of the soil had lured the first settlers from the safety of their transmontane homes to the hardships of Indian fighting and primitive living. Here they had built an ideal city adorned with beautiful Colonial homes; established the first great seat of learning west of the Alleghanies; built the first insane asylum; started the first newspaper; established the first public library, and surrounded by culture, wealth and refinement, with every want seemingly supplied and every wish apparently gratified, their business men declared there was yet one thing lacking—they needed an outlet to some great water course. The town branch was beautiful to look upon and a never-failing delight to those first inhabitants but useless for navigation. Their bountiful crops demanded transportation to the markets of the world. And now, like a miracle to solve their difficulties came this railroad proposition. They read the local papers with interest, discussed the question at public meetings, sent a man to England to obtain all available information concerning it, and with a push and energy which would startle the town today, they set to work to obtain a charter from the Kentucky Legislature, then in its session of 1829-30, asking for a railroad from Lexington, Kentucky, to some point on the Ohio River.
The Reporter for February 3rd, 1830, just one week after the Charter was obtained, had the following article: "As considerable interest has been excited in this community on the subject of Railroads by the Act of the Legislature authorizing the formation of a Company to make one from this town to the Ohio River, we have copied into this paper several articles going to show their immense utility and importance.
However great the advantages of Railroads may be to any country we are convinced that there is none where this beneficial influence could be more intensely experienced than in this section of Kentucky."