Strap Rail
13 days ago
- #railroad history
- #19th century
- #industrial technology
- Early US railroads differed from British ones due to different conditions: longer distances, lower population density, and less financing.
- Strap rail was a cheaper alternative to British iron rails, using iron plates on wooden timbers, reducing iron usage significantly.
- Strap rail was initially popular in the US, covering about 2/3 of the railway mileage by 1840, but had high maintenance costs and safety issues.
- Due to its deficiencies, strap rail was banned in New York by 1847 and largely replaced by solid iron rails by 1860.
- Strap rail found limited use in horse-drawn streetcars and private industrial railways before becoming obsolete.
- Even cheaper alternatives like pole roads were used in logging but also faded due to rapid decay.
- Technological development in railroads was shaped by local constraints like capital, material availability, and terrain.