The history of the first locomotives in America. From original ...

-• EARLY
EAILEOADS. 23
obstruction by stones or dirt, wHcli would impede tlie
progress and endanger tlie safety of the carriages.
A great step in advance was made in 1789, by William
Jessop, in tlie construction of a railway in Lough-
borougb, in Leicestershire, with the first cast-iron edge
rail, with flanges cast upon the wheels, instead of upon
the rail, as had been done a short time before.
In 1800, Mr. Benjamin Outram, of Little Eaton,' in
Derbyshire, introduced stone props, instead of timber,
for supporting the ends or joinings of the rails. Taking
the name from the projector, this kind of road was
distinguished as the Outram road, and since that time,
for brevity, all roads of this kind are called Tramroads
; as this plan wias afterward applied to wooden
roads, where long stringers were used, with the iron
moulding as before described, and in our time the flat
iron bar nailed upon the stringers, these roads are all
familiarly known as Tram-roads.
Edge rails, as made by Jessop, were laid down in
1801, at the slate-quarry of Lord Penrhyn. The tire
of the wheel was hollowed out to fit the projecting
curve of the edged rail, but as the fit became soon too
tight by wear, it was afterwards changed to a flat sur-
face and rim of the wheel, and a flange aroimd each
edge of it. So great was this last improvement, that it
was found that ten horses would do the work that had
employed four hundred to do upon common roads.
Edge rails were soon after introduced at the col-
lieries in England. They were made thin at the base
and spread in thickness at the top. These rails, introduced
in 1808, continued in use until 1820, when the
machinery was invented for rolling iron into suitable
shapes for rails. This was a great improvement, for, as
cast-ifQu rails could only be made three or four feet
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