OCR Text |
Show American Railroads The year 1930 marked the 100th anniversary of the first regularly operated steam railroad- in r the United States, the Baltimore and Ohio, which in 1S30 was only 13 miles long. Other construction under un-der way brought the total for the country to 23 miles in that year. ' By 18-10 the mileage had increased increas-ed to 2,818 and extensions were made with increasing rapidity dur ing the succeeding years. When the railroad was 60 years old, in 1880, the Urdd States had 93,671 miles. , . Th ten years between 1880 and 1890 was the greatest period of railroad building. American roads built during that decade totalled 71,983 miles. The greatest railorad mileage was reached in 1916, when 264,261 miles were in operation. Since 1916, owing to the abandon ment of a number of unprofitable short lines, the mileage has been actually reduced, being, now about 249,300 miles. At present new construction is almost entirely limited lim-ited to adding a second, third or even fourth track to exisiting lines. One of the most striking develop ments in railroads has been the increase in-crease in the size of locomotives. From a weight of less than five tons 100 years ago, they have been built larger and larger until today many passenger locomotives weigh 150 tons or more, while those used in freight transportation range as high a9 220 tons or mon?. A few special type3 exceed 400 tons. With the growing competition of the automobile, truck and airplane, it Is impossible to predict what the next century of railroading may bring forth. It is safe to say, how-howevcr, how-howevcr, that for heavy freight transportation the railroad will hold first place for many years to come. |