Existing comment:
One of the first railroads in the country, built of wooden rails carrying horse-drawn cars, extended from Baltimore to Ellicott City. Regular passenger service began on May 24, 1830. The first successful American steam locomotive, Peter Cooper's Tom Thumb, famously raced a horse-drawn carriage running alongside the track near Ellicott's Mills on August 28. Tom Thumb was winning, at a top speed of 10-15 miles per hour, until a belt broke and the locomotive lost steam. This station, the nation's oldest, was built in 1831. Iron rails soon replaced the wooden ones, and the track became part of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. |