What was the major difficulty of the railroad system at the time of the Civil War?

What was the major difficulty of the railroad system at the time of the Civil War? Locomotives and tracks began to wear out. By 1863 a quarter of the South's locomotives needed repairs and the speed of train travel in the South had dropped to only 10 miles an hour (from 25 miles an hour in 1861). Fuel was a problem as well. Southern locomotives were fueled by wood--a great deal of it.

What was the problem between railroads and time?

Trains were crossing time zones much quicker, making it difficult to keep a standard schedule. When it came to telling time, it was clear the railroads, and those that utilized the railroads, were in desperate need of some order.

What did the railroad workers do in 1877 that caused problems for many people?

On July 16, 1877, workers at the B&O station at Martinsburg, West Virginia, responded to the announcement of 10 percent wage cuts by uncoupling the locomotives in the station, confining them in the roundhouse, and declaring that no trains would leave Martinsburg unless the cut was rescinded.

What was the most difficult challenge of building the Transcontinental Railroad?

The Central Pacific met its greatest challenge at the outset—the towering Sierra Nevada, which presented enormous engineering obstacles and strangling winter snows. Deep fills, rock cuts, high trestles, snaking grades, and 15 tunnels through 6,213 feet of solid granite blooded the CP crews.

What were early railroad problems?

Conflicts broke out between major railroads, and larger lines took over small roads. Between the time of the Civil War and 1900 the Pennsylvania Railroad took over more than 600 formerly independent short lines. Rate discrimination (distorted costs for service) was a major issue.

What were the disadvantages of the railroads in the 1800s?

Even though railroads made life a little bit easier, it was hazardous to the environment, and the people, such as the destruction of natural resources, more pollution in the air also affected people causing even more diseases and made it much harder to breather with these conditions.

Were railroads built before or after the Civil War?

Aided by federal land grants, there was a great deal of railroad construction after the Civil War, especially in the West.

Were railroads invented during the Civil War?

Prior to the Civil War in this country, railroads were a new and relatively untried invention. However, during the rebellion, railroads came of age. They became both strategic resources, as well as a military targets, precisely because they were strategic resources.

How did the end of the Civil War help railroad construction?

How did the end of the Civil War help railroad construction? It ended the labor shortage, as war veterans went to work on the railroad.

What was life like for workers on the railroad?

Railroad workers put in long hours; a 1907 law restricted train crews to 16 hours work out of every 24. Well into the twentieth century, work was unsteady and unsafe. One railroad worker in every 357 nationally died on the job in 1889.

What problems did railroad workers face?

What were 3 difficulties in building the railroad?

Each company faced unprecedented construction problems—mountains, severe weather, and the hostility of Native Americans. On May 10, 1869, in a ceremony at Promontory, Utah, the last rails were laid and the last spike driven.

How were railroads corrupt?

Railroads Were at the Forefront of Political Corruption “Railroads need monopoly franchises and subsidies, and to get them, they are more than willing to bribe public officials,” White says. The Central Pacific Railroad, for example, spent $500,000 annually in thinly disguised bribes between 1875 and 1885.

What was the biggest obstacle to the railroad?

Builders of the transcontinental railroad faced geographical obstacles across the entire line. But none were quite as formidable as the snowy granite mountain range rising east of Sacramento.