四级冲刺练习阅读（161）

　　The History of Railroads

　　The first railroads, which were only a few miles long, grew until they eventually spanned the continent. Whether they were large or small their pattern was very much the same. The great iron horses followed routes worn earlier by four-legged horses and even earlier by parties of Indians. These pathways were mostly determined by geography, because man has always sought the easiest route to travel. He has found his way across plains and along meandering streams. When confronted by mountains, he has preferred to discover a pass rather than to ascend the peaks or to bore this way through them. In that sense we can say that the routes of our railroads were determined to a large extent before man ever existed.

　　The cars of the first crude trains, used before the War of 1812, were drawn by horse. These early railroads served only local needs. Sometimes they were used in connection with canals; on other occasions they performed various transportation chores for local mines or factories. They did little or nothing to meet the needs of people who wished to travel. The first successful use of steam to move trains was achieved in England in 1829. A locomotive invented by George Stephenson made history when it hauled a train at the rate of 15 miles per hour. Trains were first moved by steam over American railroads inl830. By that date the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had completed construction of its tracks from Baltimore to Ellicotts Mills, a distance tof about 13 miles. The famous locomotive Tom Thumb made the trip in one hour. Other experiments proved successful about the same time. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad built tracks between Albany and Schenectady using another famous locomotive, named the De Witt Clinton , which had been built in New York State. It completed a successful trip in 1831 and at times achieved a speed of 30 miles per hour. Another notable achievement was accomplished by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad in 1832. This railroad used still another famous locomotive named Old Ironsides , which had been built in the foundry of M. W. Baldwin at Philadelphia. It not only reached but maintained a speed of 28 mile per hour. By 1840 there were 2,818 mile of railroad tracks in the United States.

　　Most of the tracks on these early railroads were made of wood covered with strips of iron, known in some areas as Black-Snake Rails . Sometimes they would become loosened where they were joined together, and the ends would suddenly shoot up through the wooden floors of the cars. In their snake-like way they would dart or glide in some unexpected direction. It was possible for some unlucky passenger to be impaled with one of these strips. These rails were a constant menace to the safety and the lives of the people on board. Trains carried sledge-hammers to pound the rails back in shape and sometimes the iron snakes had to be sawed off.

　　The early locomotives used wood as fuel and had greedy appetites. Sometimes it seemed impossible to keep an adequate supply of dry wood on hand. Showers of sparks from the chimneys fell on the passenger, the wooden cars and bridges, and the surrounding woods, wetting frequent fires. Clouds of smoke also added to the annoyance of passengers, and sometimes boilers would burst.

　　The early passenger coaches were uncomfortable because of their inadequate springs, hard seats, poor lights, and even poorer heating. Crude coupler, consisting of links with various types of iron bars and pins, were used to attach one coach to another. Brakes also were very unsatisfactory. This could result in an unpleasant experience for the passengers because of the assorted jerks and bounces as each car bumped into the one ahead. There were no signal lights, either of green or of red, to guide the train crews on their way. Various kinds of peculiar accidents could happen. On one occasion a railroad extended its roadbed over the bay of a lake by using a wooden bridge erected on wooden piling. In the spring when the ice went out of the lake some of the moving ice pushed the bridge down, causing the railroad to suspend operations temporarily. At one time or another, most communities were anxious to be served by the iron horse. Farmers and villagers frequently pooled their savings to invest in railroads that might come their way. Sometimes the schemes of the railroad builders were successful, causing infant communities to grow into cities, creating factory towns, and bringing prosperity to the citizens. More often the schemes failed, and the communities concerned frequently stood still or declined.