How did railroads help the industry?

Not only did the railroads transport raw materials used in industrial production, such as coal and iron ore, the railroads were also one of the largest consumers of raw materials in their own right. The growth of railroads thus led to growth in other industries, such as timber and coal.



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Just as it opened the markets of the west coast and Asia to the east, it brought products of eastern industry to the growing populace beyond the Mississippi. The railroad ensured a production boom, as industry mined the vast resources of the middle and western continent for use in production.

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The developing railroads rapidly became huge businesses, imperative to the success of American enterprise. The material needs of the railroads helped create several other big industries, such as iron, steel, copper, glass, machine tools, and oil.

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They unified countries, created great fortunes, enabled the growth of new industries, and thoroughly revolutionized life in every place they ran. Yet the human tolls for some projects were ghastly, with deaths of native laborers running into the tens of thousands.

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The railroad opened the way for the settlement of the West, provided new economic opportunities, stimulated the development of town and communities, and generally tied the country together.

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Railroads became a major industry, stimulating other heavy industries such as iron and steel production. These advances in travel and transport helped drive settlement in the western regions of North America and were integral to the nation's industrialization.

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The development of railroads was one of the most important phenomena of the Industrial Revolution. With their formation, construction and operation, they brought profound social, economic and political change to a country only 50 years old.

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The increase in railroad mileage made it possible to transport goods and people over long distances quickly and efficiently. This led to the creation of a national market for goods, which in turn encouraged mass production and mass consumption.

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The growth of railways during the Industrial Revolution greatly stimulated the demand for iron, coal, timber, oil, and steel, and in the process, created new markets for these commodities within the British business community. Railways helped create new businesses and jobs in Great Britain.

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They also gave a great stimulus to industry by reducing the freight costs of heavy materials such as coal and minerals, as well as reducing costs of transporting finished goods around the country.

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The railroads provided the efficient, relatively cheap transportation that made both farming and milling profitable. They also carried the foodstuffs and other products that the men and women living on the single-crop bonanza farms needed to live.

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“The rail sector can provide substantial benefits for the energy sector as well as for the environment,” said Dr Fatih Birol. “By diversifying energy sources and providing more efficient mobility, rail can lower transport energy use and reduce carbon dioxide and local pollutant emissions.”

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The industrialized Union possessed an enormous advantage over the Confederacy — they had 20,000 miles of railroad track, more than double the Confederacy's 9,000 miles. Troops and supplies previously dependent on a man or horsepower could now move quickly by rail, making railroads attractive military targets.

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Railroads made it possible to move across long distances quickly and easily. They made the world shrink—not literally, of course! But they truly revolutionized people's habits and how they saw the world. For many people, it was their first experience with the big machines that characterized the Industrial Revolution.

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In effect, railroads induced increased manufacturing activity in places that were previously held back by expensive modes of transportation. Many of these new places—whether from the existence of untapped natural endowments, commodities, or labor supply—proved particularly efficient at production.

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The Development of the Railways In 1767 Richard Reynolds created a set of rails for moving coal at Coalbrookdale; these were initially wood but became iron rails. In 1801 the first Act of Parliament was passed for the creation of a 'railway', although at this point it was a horse pulled carts on rails.

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The railroads powered the industrial economy. They consumed the majority of iron and steel produced in the United States before 1890. As late as 1882, steel rails accounted for 90 percent of the steel production in the United States. They were the nation's largest consumer of lumber and a major consumer of coal.

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