This is a list of the earliest

railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, including various railroad-like precursors to the general modern form of a company or government agency operating locomotive-drawn

trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

on metal tracks.

Railroad-like entities (1700s–1810s)

*1720: A railroad was reportedly used in the construction of the French fortress at Louisburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. *1764: Between 1762 and 1764, at the close of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

, a

gravity railroad A gravity railroad (American English) or gravity railway (British English) is a railroad on a slope that allows cars carrying minerals or passengers to coast down the slope by the force of gravity alone. The speed of the cars is controlled by a bra ...

( mechanized tramway) ( Montresor's Tramway) was built by British military engineers up the steep riverside terrain near the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

waterfall's

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

at the

Niagara Portage Niagara may refer to: Geography Niagara Falls and nearby places In both the United States and Canada *Niagara Falls, the famous waterfalls in the Niagara River * Niagara River, part of the U.S.–Canada border * Niagara Escarpment, the cliff ...

(which the local

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

s called ''"Crawl on All Fours."'') in

Lewiston, New York Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York. The Town of Lewiston is on the western bord ...

.Text online of placement commemorating historic railroad.
accessdate=2017-03-01 Before the British conquest, under French control the portage had employed nearly 200 Seneca porters. However, once the British took control of the area, they installed a cable railway using

sled A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners ...

ges (heavy sleds without wheels) to hold the track between the rails. The sleds were capable of carrying 12 to 14 barrels at a time (a serious weight capacity even if only small shoulder-hoistable/mule-compatible

keg A keg is a small barrel. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. A keg is normally now constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is coated with plastic on th ...

-sized barrels, taken along with its longevity) indicating that it was a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

design with two tracks. With barrels as the primary Up load's configuration and they also provided a ready-made counterweight with addition of sufficient Niagara River water as the likely mass used to adjust the lifting force. Designed by

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

John Montresor Captain John Montresor (22 April 1736 – June 1799) was a British military engineer and cartographer in North America. Early life Born in Gibraltar 22 April 1736 to British military engineer James Gabriel Montresor and his first wife, Mary ...

, the new railway replaced manual labor performed by the Seneca and touched off what might be the first labor rebellion in North America when the Seneca became unemployed; in September 1763, the Senecas revolted and killed many British soldiers and workers in what is called the Devil's Hole Massacre. The tramway was in use until the early 1800s *1799–1805:

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

developers began to reduce the height of

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

before building streets and homes. Silas Whitney constructed a gravity railroad to move excavated material down the hill to fill marshy areas to create new land from the

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...

. Frederick C. Gamst, a professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, believed this to be the same railroad equipment as used by Bulfinch on his Beacon Hill railway, given the relations of both men to the land speculation syndicate.Gamst, Frederick C.; , Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum; ''"First, in 1795 on Boston's Beacon Hill, a wooden railway of about a two-foot gauge in the form of a double-track inclined plane took earth removed from the top of the hill to its base. This excavation prepared a level area for the new State House of 1798, designed by the architect and construction engineer Charles Bulfinch."'' *1809: A three-quarter-mile wooden tracked railway is built in

Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania Nether Providence Township is a first class township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Many residents refer to the township by the name of its largest community, Wallingford, because the Wallingford postal code is used for most o ...

Thomas Leiper Thomas Leiper (15 December 1745 – 6 July 1825) was a Scottish American businessman, banker and politician who owned a successful tobacco exportation business as well as several mills and stone quarries. He served as a lieutenant in the Philade ...

to deliver stone from his quarries to market. The track, with a gauge, had a grade of 1½ inches to the yard (1:24 or about 4%) over its total length of and proves satisfactory when tested with a loaded car. * 1810: The animal-powered

Leiper Railroad The Leiper Railroad was a 'family business–built' horse drawn railroad of , constructed in 1810 after the quarry owner, Thomas Leiper, failed to obtain a charter with legal rights-of-way to instead build his desired canal along Crum Creek. The qu ...

followed after the preceding successful experiment – designed and built by merchant

, the railway connects

Crum Creek Crum Creek (from the Dutch, meaning "crooked creek") is a creek in Delaware County and Chester County, Pennsylvania, flowing approximately , generally in a southward direction and draining into the Delaware River in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. It ...

Ridley Creek Ridley Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in Chester and Delaware counties, Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Keystone Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2004. The entire drainage basin is in the suburban Philadelphia area, but ...

, in

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylvan ...

. It was used until 1829, when it was temporarily replaced by the

Leiper Canal Early in the 19th century, the Leiper Canal built in 1828–29 during the middle of the American canal age ran about along Crum Creek in Delaware County to its mouth in eastern Pennsylvania's Delaware Valley carrying its owner‘s quarrie ...

, then is reopened to replace the canal in 1852. This became the Crum Creek Branch of the

Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad The Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad was a railroad line built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Maryland-Delaware state line, where it connected with the B&O's Philadelphia Branch to reach Baltimor ...

(part of 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 1887. This is the first railroad meant to be permanent, and the first to evolve into trackage of a

common carrier A common carrier in common law countries (corresponding to a public carrier in some civil law systems,Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000 "Civil-law public carrier" from "carriage of goods" usually called simply a ''carrier'') is a person or compan ...

after an intervening closure.See the 1826

Granite Railway The Granite Railway was one of the first railroads in the United States, built to carry granite from Quincy, Massachusetts, to a dock on the Neponset River in Milton. From there boats carried the heavy stone to Charlestown for construction of ...

(pictured) for comparison. *1811: George Magers designed and built a wooden gravity railroad between a gunpowder mill and its powder storage bunker at Falling's Creek, Virginia. *1815: New Jersey granted a charter on February 6, 1815, for a company to "erect a rail-road from the river Delaware near Trenton, to the river Raritan, at or near New Brunswick"—that is, to connect the water ports so boats could ferry riders the last distance connecting Philadelphia & Trenton to (19th-century)

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

via

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

, as proposed by

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and railway builder John Stevens (1749–1838). This New Jersey Railroad Company was the first passenger carrier railroad chartered in the United States, but failed to attract investors and was never built. Its rights would be passed to the

Camden and Amboy Railroad The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...

(below), chartered in 1830 and also having Stevens as president. *1816: A railroad was reportedly used at Kiskiminetas Creek,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. *1818: An iron-smelting furnace at Bear Creek,

Armstrong County, Pennsylvania Armstrong County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,558. The county seat is Kittanning. The county was organized on March 12, 1800, from parts of Allegheny, Westmoreland and Lycomin ...

, reportedly had a wooden railroad in operation.

Early railroad companies (1820s–1830s)

; Granite, coal and cotton railroads *1826: The

in Massachusetts was incorporated by

Thomas Handasyd Perkins Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, also known as T. H. Perkins (December 15, 1764 – January 11, 1854), was an American merchant, slave trader, smuggler and philanthropist from a wealthy Boston Brahmin family. Starting with bequests from his grand ...

and

Gridley Bryant Gridley Bryant (1789 – June 13, 1867) was an American construction engineer who ended up building the first commercial railroad in the United States and inventing most of the basic technologies involved in it. His son, Gridley James Fox Bryan ...

. Construction began on April 1, and operations began on October 7. It later became a branch of the

Old Colony and Newport Railway The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

, which was later absorbed into the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

. This is often called the first commercial railroad in the U.S., as it was the first to evolve into a

without an intervening closure. See the 1810

for comparison. *1826: On April 9, the

Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

was incorporated as the first railroad chartered in New York State (marker pictured), and the first railroad in the United States designed to be powered by a locomotive engine as opposed to horse-drawn or gravity railroads. It opened on August 9, 1831 using

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely res ...

''. *1827: The Summit Hill and Mauch Chunk Railroad, often just called The Switchback or the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railroad, Pennsylvania's first railroad and first

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...

carrier initially a gravity railroad with

animal power A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for tr ...

ed return of cars, is built between Summit Hill''Railroads and Canals of the United States of America'' by Henry V. Poor (New York: John H. Schultz & Co, 1860), pages 415,53

/ref> and Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), Pennsylvania when rails are laid on top of the existing mule-haul road graded to be nearly uniform in grade from its establishment in 1819-20. Designed by founder

Josiah White Josiah White (1781–1850) was a Pennsylvania industrialist and key figure in the American Industrial Revolution. Career White began early factory-centered mill production in 1808 in water powered ironworks near Philadelphia, along with his part ...

to drop evenly over its length and superintended in both evolutions by founder

Erskine Hazard Erskine Hazard (1790-1865), a younger son of the first U.S. Postmaster Ebenezer Hazard, became the partner of Josiah White about 1810 when around 19 years old. White and Hazard together established spearheaded efforts that enabled the Industrial ...

of the

Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and i ...

, the railway—as the world's first roller coaster, also became a famous tourist attraction—as were leisure cruises on the company's

Lehigh Canal The Lehigh Canal, or the Lehigh Navigation Canal, is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of twenty years, beginning in 1818. The low ...

. The road carried cargo as a common carrier back up to Summit Hill almost from the start, but by 1829 the new railed road was carrying passengers flocking out from Philadelphia to enjoy its attractions. It was built to haul

anthracite coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the high ...

from the mines to the

on the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward pat ...

and was the first railroad of this type. *1829: On August 8, the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's gravity railroad in northeast

opened using ''

Stourbridge Lion The ''Stourbridge Lion'' was a railroad steam locomotive. It was the first foreign built locomotive to be operated in the United States, and one of the first locomotives to operate outside Britain. It takes its name from the lion's face painted ...

'', the first

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

to run on rails in the United States.''Railroads and Canals of the United States of America'' by Henry V. Poor (New York: John H. Schultz & Co, 1860), page 41

/ref> It was also a coal railroad. The canal company, chartered in 1823, called itself "America's oldest continually operated transportation company". *1829: The

South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company The South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company was a railroad in South Carolina that operated independently from 1830 to 1844. One of the first railroads in North America to be chartered and constructed, it provided the first steam-powered, schedul ...

was chartered December 19, 1827 and was also known as the Charleston & Hamburg Road. An experimental track was installed in February, 1829 to haul bales of cotton in downtown

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. On April 1, 1830 a double-tracked -long railroad was in full operation. By 1833, this railroad had been completed to

Hamburg, South Carolina Hamburg, South Carolina is a ghost town in Aiken County, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was once a thriving upriver market located across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia in the Edgefield District. It was founded by Henry Shultz ...

for a total length of . At that time, it was the longest railroad in the world. This was the first railroad to use

s regularly. It later became part of the Southern Railway, now part of

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...

. *1829: The Mill Creek & Mine Hill Navigation & Railroad Company was chartered on February 7, 1828. The main line from

Palo Alto, Pennsylvania Palo Alto is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. Bacon Street is the main street of town. This borough stretches along the south bank of the Schuylkill River, and maintains its own fire department and police department, b ...

to Wolf Creek was completed in 1829 with branches added in 1829 and 1830 for a total of . It was another coal hauling railroad. *1830: The Schuylkill Valley Railroad & Navigation Company was chartered on April 14, 1828. It ran from

Port Carbon, Pennsylvania Port Carbon is a borough of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States, located two miles (3 km) northeast of Pottsville. It is in a coal-mining area. In the past, ironworks had been a feature of the borough. In 1900, 2,168 people live ...

Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...

and was completed in 1830. It was built to carry coal from mines to Port Carbon. *1830: The Union Canal Company Railroad was a railroad constructed by the

Union Canal (Pennsylvania) The Union Canal was a towpath canal that existed in southeastern Pennsylvania in the United States during the 19th century. First proposed in 1690 to connect Philadelphia with the Susquehanna River, it ran approximately 82 mi from Middletown ...

Company and was chartered on March 3, 1826. The company was in the canal business, but due to the topography, it could not extend its canal to the coal fields north of

Pine Grove, Pennsylvania Pine Grove, Pennsylvania may refer to more than one place: * Pine Grove, Cambria County, Pennsylvania * Pine Grove, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania * Pine Grove, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania * Pine Grove, Perry County, Pennsylvania *Pine Grove, S ...

. It's solution was to build this short coal-hauling railroad, which was completed in 1830. *1830: The

Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad and Coal Company The Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad and Coal Company (LSRR) was a railway company in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in the 19th century. The main line ran from Port Clinton to Tamaqua, for a total of . History The railroad received a cha ...

was chartered on February 28, 1826. The LSRR operated between

Tamaqua, Pennsylvania Tamaqua (pronounced tuh-MAH-qwah, del, tëmakwe) is a borough in eastern Schuylkill County in the Coal Region of Pennsylvania, United States. It had a population of 6,934 as of the 2020 U.S. census. Tamaqua was established from territory from ...

and Port Clinton beginning in 1831 using horse-drawn cars. Two steam locomotives were acquired by the railroad in 1833, but the wooden tracks did not support the engines. Iron "T" rails replaced the wooden ones in 1845, and the locomotives were then returned to regular service. It completed a junction with the Catawissa Railroad at Tamanend (also called Little Schuylkill Junction) in 1854. In 1857 the LSRR built a roundhouse in Tamaqua, housing 21 locomotives and a turntable. In 1863 the company was leased by the Reading Railroad for 93 years. It formally merged with the Reading in 1952. *1830: The Tuscumbia Railway was chartered on January 16, 1830 and proceeded to build a railroad from downtown

Tuscumbia, Alabama Tuscumbia is a city in and the county seat of Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,423. The city is part of The Shoals metropolitan area. Tuscumbia was the hometown of Helen Keller, who lived at Iv ...

to the docks on the Tennessee River west of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. This was the first railroad chartered/constructed west of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. In 1832, this railroad was renamed the

Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad Incorporated on January 13, 1832, the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad was a railroad in Alabama, the United States. The Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad ran from Decatur in Morgan County through the northern half of Lawrence ...

, and was extended to connect the two

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

cities of Tuscumbia and Decatur. *1831: The Mount Carbon Railroad was completed in 1831 running from

Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania Mount Carbon is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States, two miles south of Pottsville. It was formed from North Manheim Township in 1864. The population was 88 in the 2020 census. The borough is the smallest municipality i ...

through Pottsville where it split into two branches, one going to what is now

Seltzer Carbonated water (also known as soda water, sparkling water, fizzy water, club soda, water with gas, in many places as mineral water, or especially in the United States as seltzer or seltzer water) is water containing dissolved carbon dioxide gas, ...

and the other to the current

Wadesville Wadesville is an unincorporated community in northern Center Township, Posey County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It lies along State Road 66 northeast of the city of Mt. Vernon, the county seat of Posey County. Its elevation is 479 fe ...

. This was a coal-hauling railroad, in length. *1831: The

Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad The Mine Hill & Schuylkill Haven Railroad (MH&SH) was operating by April 1831 in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, from above Mine Hill Gap (north of Minersville) to Schuylkill Haven on the Schuylkill Canal. This railroad was developed by the Ne ...

completed the first part of its railroad from

Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania Schuylkill Haven is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough's population was 5,253 as of the 2020 census. Schuylkill Haven is situated along the Schuylkill River, for which it is named. Schuylkill Haven is a focal ...

to Minersville with a branch line up the West Branch of the Schuylkill River, a distance of . *1831: The Room Run Railroad was completed along the path of an unsuccessful gravity road, running a distance from Nesquehoning to the

loading docks at

Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania Jim Thorpe is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is historically known as the burial site of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe is loc ...

.''Development of Early Transportation Systems in the United States'' by J.L. Ringwalt (Philadelphia: Railway World Office, 1888), (RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION FROM 1830 TO 184

/ref> *1831: The

Chesterfield Railroad The Chesterfield Railroad was located in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It was a long mule-and-gravity powered line that connected the Midlothian coal mines with wharves that were located at the head of navigation on the James River just below th ...

(sometimes called the Manchester Railroad) began operations by September 1831 in

Chesterfield County, Virginia Chesterfield County is located just south of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the sout ...

. *1839: Albion Railway serving coal mines around

Stellarton Stellarton is a town located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of New Glasgow. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albion Min ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, first railway in Canada to use iron rails and run year-round; home of

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

, the oldest surviving locomotive in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Early common carriers (1820s–1830s)

While private railroads are legally free to choose their jobs and customers,

s must charge fair rates to all comers. Any effort to arrange early common-carrier railroads in chronological order must choose among various possible criterion dates, including applying for a state charter, receiving a charter, forming a company to build a railroad, beginning construction, opening operations, and so forth. CarrolltonTrain1835

Selected railroads chartered since 1832: *1835: The

New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad The New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad (originally Rail Road) was one of six short-line rail systems built to connect the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, with surrounding neighborhoods, in this case, four-and-a-half miles to the resort village of ...

began operation after 4 years of work; rail route still in operation as the

St. Charles Streetcar Line The St. Charles Streetcar Line is a historic streetcar line in New Orleans, Louisiana. Running since 1835, it is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. It is operated by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA). ...

in New Orleans. *1836: The

Lake Wimico and St. Joseph Canal and Railroad Company The Lake Wimico and St. Joseph Canal and Railroad was the first steam railroad in Florida and one of the first in the U.S., opening in 1836. With the collapse of the town of St. Joseph, the railroad was abandoned by 1842. The Lake Wimico and St. ...

was the first

steam railroad Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleratio ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, opening on September 5. *1836: The

Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad The Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad (C&SL) was a historic railway in Lower Canada, the first Canadian public railway and one of the first railways built in British North America. Origin The C&SL was financed by Montreal entrepreneur and br ...

opened in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. *1838: The

Northern Cross Railroad The Northern Cross Railroad was the first railroad to operate in Illinois, originating in Meredosia and eventually extending both east and west to the state borders. It eventually linked the state capital Springfield east to Decatur and Danvill ...

opens in

Central Illinois Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central third of the state, divided from north to south. Also known as the ''Heart of Illinois'', it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agri ...

; to this day, part of the NCR still operates under the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

Tunnels and bridges

*1829:

Carrollton Viaduct The Carrollton Viaduct, located over the Gwynns Falls stream near Carroll Park in southwest Baltimore, Maryland, is the first stone masonry bridge for railroad use in the United States, built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, founded 1827, an ...

built of stone for Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, over

Gwynns Falls Gwynns Falls is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011. stream located in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County and Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland. It ...

River in Baltimore, Maryland *1831 Farnsworth Avenue Stone Arch Carriage Bridge over the Camden & Amboy RR. Bordentown NJ: First bridge completed over Stevens' newly-designed rolled iron inverted T-rails made in Wales. Today trains still pass under the arch on new rails of similar design. Roadway is still used above the stone arch. Designed by Wilson. Keystone date 1831. Made of Stockton Sandstone *1833 (June): The

Staple Bend Tunnel The Staple Bend Tunnel, about east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in a town called Mineral Point, was constructed between 1831 and 1834 for the Allegheny Portage Railroad. Construction began on April 12, 1831. This tunnel, at in length, was the ...

, the first railroad tunnel in the U.S., completed in June 1833 as part of the

Allegheny Portage Railroad The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States; it operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny ...

which opened in March 1834. Trains stopped running through the Staple Bend Tunnel in 1857, and it is now part of the

Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States; it operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny ...

.ExplorePAHistory.co
Historical Marker
Allegheny Portage Railroad *1833 (December): Wadesville Tunnel, built by

Danville and Pottsville Railroad This is a list of the earliest Rail transport, railroads in North America, including various railroad-like precursors to the general modern form of a company or government agency operating locomotive-drawn trains on metal tracks. Railroad-like ...

at Wadesville, Pennsylvania.ExplorePAHistory.co
Historical Marker
Service began on wooden rails. *1835:

Thomas Viaduct The Thomas Viaduct spans the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley between Relay, Maryland and Elkridge, Maryland, USA. It was commissioned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O); built between July 4, 1833, and July 4, 1835; and named for Philip ...

built of stone for Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, over

Patapsco River The Patapsco River mainstem is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal port ...

in Relay, Maryland *1835:

Canton Viaduct Canton Viaduct is a blind arcade cavity wall railroad viaduct in Canton, Massachusetts, built in 1834–35 for the Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P). At its completion, it was the longest () and tallest () railroad viaduct in the world; toda ...

built of stone for

Boston & Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the first rail lines in the United States - with a ...

, , over Canton River in Canton, Massachusetts *1837: The

Yorkville Tunnel The Park Avenue main line, which consists of the Park Avenue Tunnel and the Park Avenue Viaduct, is a railroad line in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running entirely along Park Avenue. The line carries four tracks of the Metro-North ...

opened on October 26, for the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

. It was absorbed in the 1870s by the longer and wider

Park Avenue Tunnel A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

, and is used by all

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

commuter trains. The old tunnel carries the two center tracks, and two new tunnels carry outer tracks. *1837: The

Taft Tunnel Taft Tunnel is a railroad tunnel in the northeast United States, located in the southwest part of Lisbon, Connecticut. Completed in 1837, it was the first common carrier railroad tunnel built in the United States, though it was not used until 18 ...

opened in 1837 for

Norwich and Worcester Railroad The Norwich and Worcester Railroad (N&W) was a railroad in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Its north-south mainline ran between its namesake cities of Worcester, Massachusetts, and Norwich, Connecticut, (later extended to Gr ...

Lisbon, Connecticut Lisbon is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, by road northeast of Norwich. The population was 4,195 at the 2020 census. The town center is also known as the village of Newent. The town school is Lisbon Central School. Its on ...

, north of

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) (also called "The Rose of New England") is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to Long ...

. This is the oldest tunnel still in use in its original form in the U.S. *1837: The

Howard Tunnel The Howard Tunnel is located near Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania. In operation since 1838, it is the second oldest active rail tunnel in the U.S. Originally constructed by the York and Maryland Line Rail Road, it formed a critical link in the north ...

York County, Pennsylvania York County ( Pennsylvania Dutch: Yarrick Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 456,438. Its county seat is York. The county was created on August 19, 1749, from part of Lancaster ...

. Considered the second-oldest tunnel still in use in its original form in the U.S. *1842: The

Potomac Creek Bridge The Potomac Creek Bridge (''Potomac Creek Viaduct or Potomac Run Bridge'') was first built in 1842 by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad across the Potomac Creek in Stafford County, Virginia, United States. During the American Civi ...

, long, was built across the

Potomac Creek Potomac Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 tidal tributary of the Potomac River in King George and Stafford counties, Virginia. Potomac Creek's so ...

Stafford County, Virginia Stafford County is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is a suburb outside of Washington D.C. It is approximately south of D.C. It is part of the Northern Virginia region, and the D.C area. It is one of the fastest growing, and highest ...

. *1848:

Starrucca Viaduct Starrucca Viaduct is a stone arch bridge that spans Starrucca Creek near Lanesboro, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Completed in 1848 at a cost of $320,000 (equal to $ today), it was at the time the world's largest stone railway viaduct and w ...

built of stone for the Erie Railroad over Starrucca Creek in Lanesboro, Pennsylvania *1850: The

Henryton Tunnel The Henryton Tunnel, located near Henryton in southern Carroll County, Maryland, is the third-oldest tunnel in the world that remains in active railroad use.Steve Okonski'B&O RR Photo Tours from Woodstock to Henryton/ref> Constructed by the Balti ...

on the

. *1850: The

Chetoogeta Mountain Tunnel The Chetoogeta Mountain Tunnel () refers to two different railroad tunnels passing through Chetoogeta Mountain in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, United States. The first tunnel, known as the Western and Atlantic Railroad Tunnel at Tunnel Hill, was comp ...

on the

Western and Atlantic Railroad The Western & Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia (W&A) is a railroad owned by the State of Georgia and currently leased by CSX, which CSX operates in the Southeastern United States from Atlanta, Georgia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was fo ...

Tunnel Hill, Georgia Tunnel Hill is a town in northwest Whitfield County and southern Catoosa County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 963 at the 2020 census. The town is named for the Chetoogeta Mou ...

. 1,477 feet long and the first major railroad tunnel in the south. *1856: The

Blue Ridge Tunnel The Blue Ridge Tunnel (also known as the Crozet Tunnel) is a historic railroad tunnel built during the construction of the Blue Ridge Railroad in the 1850s. The tunnel was the westernmost and longest of four tunnels engineered by Claudius Crozet ...

, , considered a world marvel of engineering when opened. *1872: The

Hauto Tunnel The Hauto Tunnel, dug in 1871–72, was a single-track railway tunnel crossing under the barrier ridge of Nesquehoning Mountain between Lansford, Pennsylvania, in the Panther Creek Valley and the Central Railroad of New Jersey trackage near the d ...

enabled a saving of over , most () with steep grades, of the former Nesquehoning & Mahanoy Railroad for the several millions of tons/annum of anthracite shipped by the

from its Lansford and Coaldale

breaker Breaker may refer to: Objects * A breaking wave on water, or a "breaker", a shallow over which waves break * Circuit breaker, an electrical overload switch * Breaker (hydraulic), a percussion hammer attached to an excavator People * Breaker Mor ...

s in the

Panther Creek Valley In Eastern Pennsylvania, the valley of the Panther Creek tributary of the Little Schuylkill River, a very small and relatively short mountain creek, was historically important due to its stranglehold on energy production, a key region central to ...

.Lansford-Hauto tunnel called an engineering marvel
accessdate=2017-0301 The tunnel allowed retirement and conversion of the famous Switchback Railroad (the

Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad The Mauch Chunk and Summit Railroad was a coal-hauling railroad in the mountains of Pennsylvania that operated between 1828 and 1932. It was the first operational railway, in the United States, of any substantial length to carry paying passenger ...

) into a tourism-only railroad owned by the Mauch Chunk, Summit Hill Switch-Back Railway Company

West of the Mississippi River

*1841: The Red River Railroad between

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

and Cheneyville in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

was operational by 1841.Red River Railroad
/ref> *1852: The first section of the

Pacific Railroad The Pacific Railroad (not to be confused with Union Pacific Railroad) was a railroad based in Missouri. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. The Pacific was chartered by Missouri in 184 ...

, later part of the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

, opened near

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Notes

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

First Railway (Tramway) Built in America, Lewiston, NY, 1764
* ttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrintro.html Library of Congress - History of Railroads and Mapsbr>Railroad History Database
National Railway Historical Society (NRHS): Historical Almanac of American Railroads - US, Canada, Mexico *''The Case of the Vanishing Locomotive,'' Robert Thayer, American Heritage, October 1998, Volume 49, Issue 6

Specific railroads

in Philadelphia. (

)
The First Railroad in America 1826-1926: A History of the Origin and Development of the Granite Railway at Quincy, Massachusetts
(

Granite Railroad The Granite Railway was one of the first railroads in the United States, built to carry granite from Quincy, Massachusetts, to a dock on the Neponset River in Milton. From there boats carried the heavy stone to Charlestown for construction of ...

) Rail transportation in North America Rail transport in Canada History of rail transportation in the United States Railroads, oldest Oldest things

Railroad-like entities (1700s–1810s)

Early railroad companies (1820s–1830s)

Early common carriers (1820s–1830s)

Tunnels and bridges

West of the Mississippi River

Notes

See also

References

External links

Specific railroads