AMH 2020H Lecture : AMH 2020 notes--Ch.17.docx
Document Summary
The railroads: america"s first big business: george westinghouse became a millionaire by inventing the air brake. By equipping every car in a train with brakes, operated from the locomotive by pneumatic hoses, westinghouse solved the problem of stopping long strings of railroad cars. He also invented the automatic coupling system: by 1865, the united states was already the world"s premier railway country, with about 35,000 miles of track. With few exceptions, however, individual lines were short, serving only the hinterlands of the cities in which they terminated: some railroaders encouraged inefficiency in order to discourage takeovers by companies interested in consolidation. They deliberately built odd gauges (the distance between the rails) so that only their own locomotives and rolling stock could run on their tracks: lack of coordination among railroads presented shippers and passengers with another headache. Each railway company scheduled its trains according to the official time in its headquarters city.
