ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

PAGE
First Locomotive[2]
Locomotive of To-day[3]
A Sharp Curve—Manhattan Elevated Railway, 110th Street, New York[7]
A Steep Grade on a Mountain Railroad[8]
A Switchback[9]
Plan of Big Loop[10]
Profile of the Same[10]
Engineers in Camp[14]
Royal Gorge Hanging Bridge, Denver and Rio Grande, Colorado[16]
Veta Pass, Colorado[17]
Sections of Snow-sheds (3 cuts)[18]
Making an Embankment[21]
Steam Excavator[21]
Building a Culvert[22]
Building a Bridge Abutment[22]
Rock Drill[23]
A Construction and Boarding Train[24]
Bergen Tunnels, Hoboken, N. J.[25]
Beginning a Tunnel[26]
Old Burr Wooden Bridge[28]
Kinzua Viaduct; Erie Railway[30]
Kinzua Viaduct[31]
View of Thomas Pope's Proposed Cantilever (1810)[34]
Pope's Cantilever in Process of Erection[35]
General View of the Poughkeepsie Bridge[36]
Erection of a Cantilever[37]
Spiking the Track[38]
Track Laying[41]
Temporary Railway Crossing the St. Lawrence on the Ice[44]
View Down the Blue from Rocky Point, Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad; showing successive tiers of railway[49]
Denver and Rio Grande Railway Entering the Portals of the Grand River Cañon, Colorado[54]
The Kentucky River Cantilever, on the Cincinnati Southern Railway[55]
Truss over Ravine, and Tunnel, Oroya Railroad, Peru[56]
The Nochistongo Cut, Mexican Central Railway[57]
The Mount Washington Rack Railroad[58]
Trestle on Portland and Ogdensburg Railway, Crawford Notch, White Mountains[58]
A Series of Tunnels[59]
Tunnel at the Foot of Mount St. Stephen, on the Canadian Pacific[60]
Peña de Mora on the La Guayra and Carácas Railway, Venezuela[61]
Perspective View of St. Gothard Spiral Tunnels, in the Alps[62]
Plan of St. Gothard Spiral Tunnels[63]
Profile of the Same[63]
Portal of a Finished Tunnel; showing Cameron's Cone, Colorado[64]
Railway Pass at Rocky Point in the Rocky Mountains[67]
Bridge Pier Founded on Piles[68]
Pneumatic Caisson[70]
Transverse Section of Pneumatic Caisson[71]
Pier of Hawkesbury Bridge, Australia[75]
Foundation Crib of the Poughkeepsie Bridge[76]
Transverse Section of the Same[76]
Granite Arched Approach to Harlem River Bridge in Process of Construction[77]
The Old Portage Viaduct, Erie Railway, N. Y.[78]
The New Portage Viaduct[79]
The Britannia Tubular Bridge over the Menai Straits, North Wales[80]
Old Stone Towers of the Niagara Suspension Bridge[82]
The New Iron Towers of the Same[82]
Truss Bridge of the Northern Pacific Railway over the Missouri River at Bismarck, Dak.—Testing the Central Span[87]
Curved Viaduct, Georgetown, Col.; the Union Pacific Crossing its own Line[88]
The Niagara Cantilever Bridge in Progress[90]
The Niagara Cantilever Bridge Completed[91]
The Lachine Bridge, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, near Montreal, Canada[92]
The 510-feet Span Steel Arches of the New Harlem River Bridge, New York, during Construction[97]
London Underground Railway Station[98]
Conestoga Wagon and Team[101]
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 1830–35[101]
Boston & Worcester Railroad, 1835[102]
Horatio Allen[103]
Peter Cooper's Locomotive, 1830[104]
"South Carolina," 1831, and Plan of its Running Gear[105]
The "De Witt Clinton," 1831[105]
"Grasshopper" Locomotive[106]
The "Planet"[107]
John B. Jervis's Locomotive, 1831, and Plan of its Running Gear[108]
Campbell's Locomotive[109]
Locomotive for Suburban Traffic[110]
Locomotive for Street Railway[110]
Four-wheeled Switching Locomotive[113]
Driving Wheels, Frames, Spurs, etc., of American Locomotive[114]
Longitudinal Section of a Locomotive Boiler[115]
Transverse Section[115]
Rudimentary Injector[116]
Injector Used on Locomotives[117]
Sections of a Locomotive Cylinder[118]
Eccentric[118]
Eccentric and Strap[118]
Valve Gear[119]
Turning Locomotive Tires[121]
Six-wheeled Switching Locomotive[122]
Mogul Locomotive[123]
Ten-wheeled Passenger Locomotive[123]
Consolidation Locomotive (unfinished)[124]
Consolidation Locomotive[124]
Decapod Locomotive[125]
"Forney" Tank Locomotive[126]
"Hudson" Tank Locomotive[127]
Camden & Amboy Locomotive, 1848[129]
Cab End of a Locomotive and its Attachments[133]
Interior of Erecting Shop, showing Locomotive Lifted by Travelling Crane[137]
Forging a Locomotive Frame[138]
Mohawk & Hudson Car, 1831[139]
Early Car[139]
Early Car on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad[140]
Early American Car, 1834[140]
Old Car for Carrying Flour on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad[141]
Old Car for Carrying Firewood on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad[141]
Old Car on the Quincy Granite Railroad[141]
Janney Car Coupler, showing the Process of Coupling[142]
Mould and Flask in which Wheels are Cast[143]
Cast-iron Car Wheels[144]
Section of the Tread and Flange of a Car Wheel[145]
Allen Paper Car Wheel[145]
Modern Passenger-car and Frame[147]
Snow-plough at Work[154]
A Type of Snow-plough[155]
A Rotary Steam Snow-shovel in Operation[156]
Railway-crossing Gate[157]
Signal to Stop[162]
Signal to Move Ahead[162]
Signal to Move Back[163]
Signal that the Train has Parted[163]
Entrance Gates at a Large Station[167]
Central Switch and Signal Tower[168]
Interior of a Switch-tower, showing the Operation of Interlocking Switches[171]
Stephenson's Steam Driver-brake, patented 1833[192]
Driver-brake on Modern Locomotive[192]
English Screw-brake, on the Birmingham and Gloucester Road, about 1840[193]
English Foot-brake on the Truck of a Great Western Coach, about 1840[193]
Plan and Elevation of Air-brake Apparatus[196]
Dwarf Semaphores and Split Switch[202]
Semaphore Signal with Indicators[203]
Section of Saxby & Farmer Interlocking Machine[204]
Diagram of a Double-track Junction with Interlocked Switches and Signals[205]
Split Switches with Facing-point Locks and Detector-bars[206]
Derailing Switch[207]
Torpedo Placer[213]
Old Signal Tower on the Philadelphia & Reading, at Phœnixville[214]
Crossing Gates worked by Mechanical Connection from the Cabin[217]
Some Results of a Butting Collision—Baggage and Passenger Cars Telescoped[218]
Wreck at a Bridge[219]
New South Norwalk Drawbridge. Rails held by Safety Bolts[220]
Engines Wrecked during the Great Wabash Strike[222]
Link-and-pin Coupler[224]
Janney Automatic Coupler applied to a Freight Car[224]
Signals at Night[225]
Stockton & Darlington Engine and Car[229]
Mohawk & Hudson Train[231]
English Railway Carriage, Midland Road. First and Third Class and Luggage Compartments[232]
One of the Earliest Passenger Cars Built in this Country; used on the Western Railroad of Massachusetts (now the Boston & Albany)[233]
Bogie Truck[233]
Rail and Coach Travel in the White Mountains[234]
Old Time Table, 1843[235]
Old Boston & Worcester Railway Ticket (about 1837)[236]
Obverse and Reverse of a Ticket used in 1838, on the New York & Harlem Railroad[236]
The "Pioneer." First Complete Pullman Sleeping-car[240]
A Pullman Porter[241]
Pullman Parlor Car[243]
Wagner Parlor Car[244]
Dining-car (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad)[245]
End View of a Vestibuled Car[249]
Pullman Sleeper on a Vestibuled Train[250]
Immigrant Sleeping-car (Canadian Pacific Railway)[251]
View of Pullman, Ill.[252]
Railway Station at York, England, built on a Curve[257]
Outside the Grand Central Station, New York[258]
Boston Passenger Station, Providence Division, Old Colony Railroad[259]
A Page from the Car Accountant's Book[277]
Freight Pier, North River, New York[280]
Hay Storage Warehouses, New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, West Thirty-third Street, New York[282]
"Dummy" Train and Boy on Hudson Street, New York[287]
Red Line Freight-car Mark[288]
Star Union Freight-car Mark[288]
Coal Car, Central Railroad of New Jersey[289]
Refrigerator-car Mark[289]
Unloading a Train of Truck-wagons, Long Island Railroad[290]
Floating Cars, New York Harbor[295]
Postal Progress, 1776–1876[313]
The Pony Express—The Relay[314]
The Overland Mail Coach—A Star Route[315]
Mail Carrying in the Country[316]
Loading for the Fast Mail, at the General Post-Office, New York[324]
At the Last Moment[326]
Pouching the Mail in the Postal Car[329]
A Very Difficult Address—known as a "Sticker."[331]
Distributing the Mail by States and Routes[332]
Pouching Newspapers for California—in Car No. 5[335]
Catching the Pouch from the Crane[339]
George Stephenson[345]
J. Edgar Thomson[349]
Thomas A. Scott[350]
Cornelius Vanderbilt[352]
John W. Garrett[355]
Albert Fink[366]
Charles Francis Adams[367]
Thomas M. Cooley[369]
"Dancing on the Carpet"[386]
Trainman and Tramps[387]
Braking in Hard Weather[389]
Flagging in Winter[391]
Coupling[392]
The Pleasant Part of a Brakeman's Life[395]
At the Spring[397]
Just Time to Jump[403]
Timely Warning[407]
The Passenger Conductor[409]
Station Gardening[416]
In the Yard at Night[419]
A Track-walker on a Stormy Night[421]
A Crossing Flagman[423]
A Little Relaxation[424]

MAPS.

Mileage compared with Area[429]
Railways, 1830, 1840, 1850, and 1860[430]
Railways, 1870[431]
Railways, 1880[432]
Railways, 1889[433]
Five Railway Systems[434], [435]

CHARTS.

Principal Railway Countries[425]
Mileage to Area in New Jersey[426]
Total Mileage and Increase, 1830–1888[429]
Mileage by States, 1870[431]
Mileage by States, 1880[432]
Mileage by States, 1888[433]
Largest Receipts, 1888[435]
Largest Net Results, 1888[435]
Freight Rates of Thirteen Trunk Lines, 1870–1888[436]
Wheat Rates, by Water and by Rail, 1870–1888[438]
The Freight Haul, 1882–1888[439]
East-bound and West-bound Freight, 1877–1888[439]
Freight Profits, 1870–1888[440]
Passenger Rates, 1870–1888[441]
Passenger Travel, 1882–1888[442]
Passenger Profits, 1870–1888[442]
Average Dividends, 1876–1888[443]
Net Earnings and Mileage Built, 1876–1888[444]
Increase of Population, Mileage, and Freight Traffic, 1870–1888[446]

[INTRODUCTION.]

By THOMAS M. COOLEY.

The railroads of the United States, now aggregating a hundred and fifty thousand miles and having several hundred different managements, are frequently spoken of comprehensively as the railroad system of the country, as though they constituted a unity in fact, and might be regarded and dealt with as an entirety, by their patrons and by the public authorities, whenever the conveniences they are expected to supply, or the conduct of managers and agents, come in question. So far, however, is this from being the case, that it would be impossible to name any other industrial interest where the diversities are so obvious and the want of unity so conspicuous and so important. The diversities date from the very origin of the roads; they have not come into existence under the same laws nor subject to the same control. It was accepted as an undoubted truth in constitutional law from the first that the authority for the construction of railroads within a State must come from the State itself, which alone could empower the promoters to appropriate lands by adversary proceedings for the purpose. The grant of corporate power must also come from the State, or, at least, have State recognition and sanction; and where the proposed road was to cross a State boundary, the necessary corporate authority must be given by every State through or into which the road was to run. It was conceded that the delegated powers of the General Government did not comprehend the granting of charters for the construction of these roads within the States, and even in the Territories charters were granted by the local legislatures. The case of the transcontinental roads was clearly exceptional; they were to be constructed in large part over the public domain, and subsidies were to be granted by Congress for the purpose. They were also, in part at least, to be constructed for governmental reasons as national agencies; and invoking State authority for the purpose seemed to be as inconsistent as it would be inadequate. But, though these were exceptional cases, the magnitude and importance of the Pacific roads are so immense that the agency of the General Government in making provision for this method of transportation must always have prominence in railroad history and railroad statistics.

Not only have the roads been diverse in origin, but the corporations which have constructed them have differed very greatly in respect to their powers and rights, and also to the obligations imposed by law upon them. The early grants of power were charter-contracts, freely given, with very liberal provisions; the public being more anxious that they be accepted and acted upon than distrustful of their abuse afterward. Many of them were not subject to alteration or repeal, except with the consent of the corporators; and some of them contained provisions intended to exclude or limit competition, so that, within a limited territory, something in the nature of a monopoly in transportation would be created. The later grants give evidence of popular apprehension of corporate abuses; the legislature reserves a control over them, and the right to multiply railroads indefinitely is made as free as possible, under the supposition that in this multiplication is to be found the best protection against any one of them abusing its powers. In very many cases the motive to the building of a new road has been antagonism to one already in existence, and municipalities have voted subsidies to the one in the hope that, when constructed, it would draw business away from the other. The anomaly has thus been witnessed of distrust of corporate power being the motive for increasing it; and the multiplication of roads has gone on, without any general supervision or any previous determination by competent public authority that they were needed, until the increase has quite outrun in some sections any proper demand for their facilities.