One of the early experiments in

railroad cars A railroad car, railcar ( American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is ...

, the yachtlike Aeolus, named in honor of

Aeolus In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which A ...

from mythology, was designed to sail before the wind. Evan Thomas designed the vehicle, which was tried on the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

in 1830. On one occasion the Aeolus failed to stop when it reached the end of the finished track, and ran into an embankment. Nevertheless, the invention worked on windy days, and impressed the Russian Ambassador,

Pavel Kridener Pavel (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pavel ...

. The Aeolus was never put into regular service.

References

* Railcars of the United States {{US-train-stub