A National Transportation System Early railroads were short lines that served local communities. Many lines ran for no more than 50 miles. When passengers and freight reached the end of one line, they had to move to a train on a different line to continue their journey.
Even if the lines had been connected, the problem would not have been eliminated. Different lines used tracks of different gauges, or widths. As a result, the trains from one line could not run on the tracks of another line. In general, the tracks of northern lines used different gauges from those of southern lines.
In 1886, railroads in the South decided to adopt the northern gauge. On May 30, southern railroads stopped running so that work could begin. Using crowbars and sledgehammers, crews worked from dawn to dusk to move the rails a few inches farther apart. When they had finished, some 13,000 miles of track had been changed.
Once the track was standardized, American railroads formed a network, or system of connected lines. The creation of a rail network brought benefits to shippers. Often, rail companies arranged for freight cars on one line to use the tracks of another. For example, goods loaded in Chicago could stay on the same car all the way to New York, instead of being transferred from one car to another. As a result, the shipper had to pay only one fare for the whole distance.
New rails knit the sprawling nation together. By 1900, there were more miles of tracks in the United States than in Europe and Russia combined.
Westinghouse Brakes and Pullman Cars New inventions helped make railway travel safer and faster. On early trains, each railroad car had its own brakes and its own brake operator.
If different cars stopped at different times, serious accidents could result. In 1869, George Westinghouse began selling his new air brake. Westinghouse's air brake allowed a locomotive engineer to stop all the railroad cars at once. The air brake increased safety and allowed for longer, faster trains.
Long distance travel also became more comfortable. In 1864, George Pullman designed a railroad sleeping car. Pullman cars had convertible berths for sleeping as well as lavatories. Rail lines also added dining cars. Porters (who carried baggage), conductors, and waiters attended to the needs of passengers.The Railroads and Economic Growth The growth of the railroads in the 1800s was one way in which a market economy led to greater prosperity. As William Vanderbilt pointed out, the railroads “are built for men who invest their money.” That is, the railroads were built to make money for the people who invested in them. Yet the railroads benefited many other people: the workers who laid the tracks, the employees who ran the trains, the passengers who rode the rails, and the businesses that filled cars with cargo. People who lived in the towns that sprouted up along the rail lines also benefited. Ultimately, the railroads benefited the country as a whole.
The expansion of the railroads brought significant changes in ways of producing, distributing, and consuming goods. Businesses brought raw materials on railroads to factories. Finished goods from those factories could be shipped far and wide for a reasonable price. Consumers—especially those far from cities—could now have access to more goods than ever before. The same held true for farm goods: farmers had wider markets, and consumers had more food choices.
Consolidation Brings Efficiency As railroads grew, they looked for ways to operate more efficiently. Small lines were often costly to run, so many companies began to consolidate, or combine. Larger companies bought up smaller ones or forced them out of business. The Pennsylvania Railroad, for example, consolidated 73 companies into its system.
Tough-minded business people led the drive for consolidation. Cornelius Vanderbilt was among the most powerful of these leaders. The son of a poor farmer, Vanderbilt earned one fortune in steamship lines. He then began to buy up railroad lines in New York State.
Vanderbilt sometimes used ruthless tactics to force smaller owners to sell to him. In the early 1860s, he decided to buy the New York Central Railroad. The owners refused to sell. Vanderbilt then announced that New York Central passengers would not be allowed to transfer to his trains. With their passengers stranded and business dropping sharply, the New York Central owners gave in and sold their line to Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt then bought up most of the lines between Chicago and Buffalo. By the time of his death in 1877, his companies controlled 4,500 miles of track and linked New York City to the Great Lakes region.
Other consolidations were soon underway. Before long, the major railroads of the United States were organized into a number of systems directed by a handful of wealthy and powerful men.After making a fortune in the steamship business, Cornelius Vanderbilt turned his attention to railroads. He bought up most of the rail lines between Buffalo, New York, and Chicago, Illinois.
After reading this answer this question Analyze how railroad services became more efficient over time