From organic to mechanical, the industrialization of time and of space, the history of transportation and the rise of railways during the Industrial Revolutions throughout Europe and America played an ever-important role in the way our perception of technology and our consciousness has changed and adapted to the learned behaviors of the mechanical and industrialized world. In Schivelbusch’s The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the Nineteenth Century one will find many key concepts on how technology has impacted the basic ideas of time and space, mechanical versus natural, progress and uniformity just to name a few. Prior to the mechanization of time, space, and transportation; the perception of the pre-industrial …show more content…
The railways opened up a broader range of where people were able to travel, they were able to embark on journeys much farther from home and faster than by other means known at that time. With the railroad sprouting and taking a route in England by 1836 time and space became to mean a different thing than it had in the 1700’s “With the increase in traveling speed came increases in the number of traveled routes, in traffic intensity and in the number of transportation …show more content…
The railway systems of the early industrial revolutions can be seen as one of the most progressive feats in history, it bridged many gaps, centralized transportation, created a technologically advanced society, brought about a new consciousness on how one should use and feel safe whilst using technology, introduced the perception that the mechanical aspect of life although daunting can outweigh the natural and organic. “ The railroad appeared as the technical guarantor of democracy, harmony between nations, peace and progress. According to them, the railroad brought people together both spatially and socially.”(Schivelbusch, pg 70) The railway system took on a more integrative meaning in the Americas, “the railroad served to open up, for the first time, vast regions of previously unsettled wilderness.” While also being seen from a different perspective than their European counterparts. Where the Europeans saw the railroad as a means to the end of the traditional culture they had fought long to preserve, the Americans had the out look that the railroad was aiding in their manifest destiny of “gaining a new
In Henry George’s article, What the Railroad Will Bring Us, it discusses the main social, political, and economic transformations that the trans-continental railroad would bring to the state of California. More importantly, he discusses not only the benefits, but also discusses the major drawbacks with the arrival of the railroad. Henry George stated the railroad would be the “greatest work of the age” (297). With a railroad stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, multiple benefits would be brought to the state of California. First, the railroad will not only create a new means of transportation across the United States, it additionally would also become “one of the greatest material prosperity” of its time (298). This means more people, more houses,
...s well as an export station. Railroads helped connect the West and make it less lonely than first impression would show.
Taylor, George Rogers, and Irene D. Neu. The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1956. Print.
Railroads were America’s first big business and contributed a great deal towards advancing industrialization. Beginning in the early 1870's, railroad construction in the United States expanded substantially. Before the year 1871, approximately fourty-five thousand miles of track had been laid. Up until the 1900's another one-hundred and seventy thousand miles were added to the nation's growing railroad system. This growth came about due to the erection of transcontinental railroads. Railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, materials, and access to markets. The railroad system made way for an economic prosperity. The railroad system helped to build the physical growth of cities and towns. It even became another means of communication. Most importantly, it helped to produce a second
The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.
As the need of human transportation and various forms of cargo began to rise in the United States of America, a group of railroads with terminal connections along the way began to form across the land mass of this country, ending with the result of one of the most influential innovations in American history, allowing trade to flow easily from location to location, and a fast form of transportation, named the Transcontinental Railroad.
The railroad played a major role in forging the history of many countries including the United States of America. The railroad began to bring people to places that before then where only accessed by weeks of dangerous travel over harsh and deadly terrain. The industrial revolution had ushered in a completely new era. The new era was one of mass production, supply and demand, and new requirements of industry. The growth of industry had created new demands for transit, trade, and more robust supply lines. The railroad boom across the U.S. had spread and proceeded to grow the economy quickly therefore, many people began using the rail roads just as quickly. The rail market continued to grow and by the 1860’s all major cities within the United States were connected by rail.
White claims that, though Wiebe and Chandler say otherwise, the railroads did not bring “order, rationality, and effective large-scale organization.”
The transcontinental railroad would eventually become a symbol of much-needed unity, repairing the sectionalism that had once divided the nation during the Civil War. The construction of the transcontinental railroad was also an extension of the transportation revolution. Once commodities such as gold were found in the western half of America, many individuals decided to move themselves and their families out west in search of opportunity. Not only did the railroad help to transport people, but it also it allowed for goods to be delivered from companies in the east. In the end, the American transcontinental railroad created a national market, enabling mass production, and stimulated industry, while greatly impacting American society through stimulated immigration and urbanization.
The rail systems put into place in Chicago have always been a major factor in freight transportation. The city provides a centralized hub for the railways throughout the country. After a long run the system is bound to find flaws as old technologies are passed by new ones. The existing railroad structures have in time taken a toll over the years of service. “The railroad system of Chicago has been around for a long time now. After many years it has gone past time time of despair. With the new project it is hoping to bring the popularity back to where it once was” (Chicago Transit Renovation to Improve Service). This update needed will guide Chicagos railroad system into the future. The city also has to take a look on how it is going to keep up with the constant increase of railcars on their tracks. With the new technologies of the future Chicago can only make their infrastructure better. The aim is to stay on time with the railcars to diminish the amount of overcrowding presented in the old rail systems in Chicago.
At the beginning of the industrial revolution in England during the mid-nineteenth century, the railroad was the most innovative mode of transportation known. The British Rail system was a forerunner in railroad technology, uses, and underground engineering. Though the rail system was extremely slow at first and prohibitively expensive to build and run, the British were not to be dissuaded in their pursuit of non-animal driven transportation. The most advanced mode of transportation prior to the introduction of the rail system was the horse drawn omnibus on a track, called a tram. This paper will examine the rail system from a cultural perspective, presenting the impact the railway had on everyday lives in Victorian London and its surrounding communities.
In The Railway Journey, Wolfgang Schivelbusch masterfully delivers a succinct and insightful analysis in the way that railroads have radically altered perceptions of time and space. By underlining the dynamics showcasing the technological and social changes that came with it, Schivelbusch showcases the railroad as the dominant, mode of transportation that created new sprawls of urban space and a new way of experiencing the environment. Today it is seen as commonplace and a natural step in evolution but the railroad took its place in history by adapting to a pre-existing social order and evolving in a complex socio-economic biosphere along with its passengers.
Phileas Fogg’s journey is made possible by the growing industrialization of the time. One example of industrialization is the extensive use of trains in the novel. During the nineteenth century, rail lines were expanding all over the world. For example, when Phileas Fogg reaches India, the change from old forms of transportation to new industrialized forms is described, “Formerly one was obliged to travel in India by the old cumbrous methods of going on foot or on horseback, in palanquins or unwieldy coaches; now, fast steamboats ply on the Indus and the Ganges, and a great railway, with branch lines joining the rail line at many points on this route, traverses the peninsula from Bombay to Calcutta in three days” (32). This demonstrates how the methods of transportation have become more advanced and industrialized throughout the century. Again, the industrialization of railways is shown when the party reaches America. “The journey from New York to San Francisco consumed, formerly, under the most favourable conditions, at least six months. It is now accomplished I seven days” (110). T...
...beginning of the growth of a nation. The first two decades of railroading were a period of experimentation and rapid industrial development. They soon became a must for the rapidly developing world. They were used for employment, the carrying of freight, and transportation in all parts of America. Americans became dependent on railroads and they were improving them whenever they could. It can be said that Americans would never know a world without railroads again. The invention of the railroad drastically changed the way the United States came to be. The railroad, like any other great invention, evolved from something small to a technological advancement. Railroads started out going about 5 miles an hour, and now go an average of 80 to 100 miles an hour. The evolution of trains wasn’t just then; they are still in the process of getting better and better every day.
Either we will let the “railroad” ride upon us, or we will not fall in the trap that society has. People think that society depends on humanity to survive. People use the insular mindset to think that if they didn’t use technology then it would not exist. The truth is that humanity wouldn’t be able to survive without it due to this world being based around it. This world is too dependent on technology, and it takes someone brave to detach from it and live life with the bare minimum. In Thoreau’s mind, the train symbolized everything wrong with humanity. They were greediness, ignorance, and destructiveness. The railroad was a path to nowhere and was also destructive. Thoreau meant for the railroad tracks and the train to be two different things. Each of them symbolized human qualities. Some good qualities that the railroad had was it brought people to new places, and have new thoughts. The materials that people benefited from the railroad were farmer’s goods, foods, books, and culture. He thought that bringing books into the train is good because people read them, but they should be writing their own books and focusing on their own thoughts instead of reading someone else’s work. Thoreau thinks these things are not needed because they distracted men from the pursuit of thought. Thoreau did not intend to be a hermit, however he valued solitude and wrote about the life in a cabin surrounded with