George Westinghouse Jr. was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry,receiving his first patent at the age of 19. Westinghouse saw the potential of using alternating current for electric power distribution in the early 1880s and put all his resources into developing and marketing it. This put Westinghouse's business in direct competition with Thomas Edison,who marketed direct current for electric power distribution. In 1911 Westinghouse received the American Institute of Electrical Engineers's (AIEE) Edison Medal "For meritorious achievement in connection with the development of the alternating current system." He founded the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1886.
A railway air brake is a railway brake power braking system with compressed air as the operating medium. Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on April 13,1869. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell Westinghouse's invention. In various forms,it has been nearly universally adopted.
Rail transport terms are a form of technical terminology applied to railways. Although many terms are uniform across different nations and companies,they are by no means universal,with differences often originating from parallel development of rail transport systems in different parts of the world,and in the national origins of the engineers and managers who built the inaugural rail infrastructure. An example is the term railroad,used in North America,and railway,generally used in English-speaking countries outside North America and by the International Union of Railways. In English-speaking countries outside the United Kingdom,a mixture of US and UK terms may exist.
The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago,Minneapolis,Omaha,and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad. Through mergers and new construction,the railroad,named Chicago Great Western after 1892,quickly became a multi-state carrier. One of the last Class I railroads to be built,it competed against several other more well-established railroads in the same territory,and developed a corporate culture of innovation and efficiency to survive.
The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of track at the turn of the 20th century,and over 12,000 miles (19,000 km) of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s. Until 1972,when the employees purchased the company,it was named the Chicago and North Western Railway.
The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company,known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt",is a former Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis,Missouri,and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas,Tennessee,Louisiana,and Texas from 1891 to 1980,when the system added the Rock Island's Golden State Route and operations in Kansas,Oklahoma,and New Mexico. The Cotton Belt operated as a Southern Pacific subsidiary from 1932 until 1992,when its operation was assumed by Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
Marshall Monroe Kirkman was an American authority on railways,who wrote extensively on the subject of railways.
The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad moved passengers and goods between Richmond and Petersburg from 1838 to 1898. It survived the American Civil War and eventually merged into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1900.
Robert Harris was a civil engineer and railroad executive who became president of the Chicago,Burlington and Quincy Railroad and Northern Pacific Railway.
Railroads in Omaha,Nebraska,have been integral to the growth and development of the city,the state of Nebraska,the Western United States and the entire United States. The convergence of many railroad forces upon the city was by happenstance and synergy,as none of the Omaha leaders had a comprehensive strategy for bringing railroads to the city.
The Detroit,Lansing and Northern Railroad (DL&N) is a defunct railroad which was formed on December 27,1876 as a reorganization of the foreclosed Detroit,Lansing and Lake Michigan Rail Road. The segment of its main line from Detroit to Lansing became an important component of the Pere Marquette Railroad,organized in 1900,and is still in use by CSX.
Herbert Thacker Herr was an American engineer and inventor.
The Atlantic and Danville Railway was a Class I railroad which operated in Virginia and North Carolina. The company was founded in 1882 and opened its mainline between Portsmouth,Virginia and Danville,Virginia in 1890. The Southern Railway leased the company from 1899–1949. The Norfolk and Western Railway purchased the company in 1962 and reorganized it as the Norfolk,Franklin and Danville Railway.
The Westinghouse Interworks Railway was a short line railroad that operated in the lower Turtle Creek valley east of Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. A subsidiary of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation,the railway used former Turtle Creek Valley Railroad tracks that Westinghouse rebuilt and extended from Trafford through Wilmerding to East Pittsburgh along the right bank of the creek. The railroad transported freight between the Westinghouse plants and also tested and demonstrated electric rail cars.
Lorenzo Stephen Coffin was an American farmer,politician,and campaigner.
