Trains Are Awesome

So why is this most effective transportation technology not used more in the United States?

Odin Halvorson

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Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

The first locomotive powered by steam was invented in 1804 and forever changed the way human beings would relate to distance. Distant cities would become reachable in days or even hours, and the rail was affordable enough to allow even the poorer classes to travel extensively and find better prospects for work or better locations to settle (a before perilous and extremely difficult task). Before the steam train, the fastest mode of overland transportation was the mail coach, pulled by a team of fresh horses, which could reach the breathtaking pace of 7 miles per hour. When steam locomotion entered the scene, its speeds initially terrified people, and many wondered if there would be health problems brought on by a speed so unnatural to human life. And yet, as the technology developed, the railway became the best interconnection tool for humanity, a way for us to bridge the gaps between city life and rural, poor and wealthy, near and far.

Following this train of thought

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Odin Halvorson

A futurist/socialist/fantasist writer, editor, and scholar. MFA/MLIS. Free access to my articles at OdinHalvorson.substack.com | More over at OdinHalvorson.com.