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Science and Technology Transform a BLM Library Denver Federal Center Bldg. 50, OC-521 P.O. Box 25047 n May 10, 1869, a golden spike driven into a Denver, CO 80225 wooden crosstie completed an iron road linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America. A century later, on July 20, 1969, Americans Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr., became the first humans to walk on the moon. From rails to space 1 travel, the application of new technologies has enabled us to explore places once considered unreachable. This article explores early railroad expansion in this country and the ways new railroad technologies contributed to the development of the United States, particularly the western states. The activities pre¬ sented will help students understand how a steam engine works and why stopping a train can be a lengthy proposition. Students will also learn why magnets will figure prominently in future trains, why train derailments can be caused by hot weather, and why, as legend holds, train robbers put their ears to the track to detect oncoming trains. (This practice is not recommended[!], but substitute activ¬ ities are included.) Linking these scientific concepts is the story of the “Iron Horse” and the people who devoted their lives to its success. rinted with permission from Science Children. Copyright ® 1995 by NSTA. ECEMBER Utah State Historical Society CADASTRAL SURVEY Unlike surveys of the East based on such natural features as mountain ridges or rivers, surveys of the unset¬ tled West marked boundaries neatly and systematically into townships composed of 36 1.6-km (one-mile)- square sections. This geometric sur¬ vey work is known as “cadastral” surveying. Federal surveyors began this task more than 200 years ago, and today the Bureau of Land Management’s cadastral surveyors Work trains such as these would carry equipment and supplies to the end of the tracks. continue to mark and resurvey public T America Embraces the Railroads used to attract even more settlers; in land boundaries throughout the fact, the railroads actively recruited United States. he development of railroad tech¬ immigrants from Europe. The railroads Since the federal government nology, which had begun in strongly influenced where people would granted every other section of land England, advanced rapidly in the settle, laying down track and then estab¬ along the right-of-way to the rail¬ United States. Whereas European rail¬ lishing towns along the route. roads, a checkerboard land-ownership roads connected existing cities separated pattern emerged and still exists today R by relatively short distances, American Railroads aid Land Resources in many areas of the Midwest and lines reaching to the West had to find West. This intermingling of publicly ailroad construction required huge their own way through vast tracts of and privately owned lands poses land. The railroads made settlement of initial investments of capital that unique challenges to land managers. were beyond the means of the these lands by Americans and European Because natural ecological systems infant industry. To provide the railroads immigrants possible on an unprecedent¬ do not follow this rigid grid, public with a source of cash and to promote ed scale. Agricultural and mining inter¬ land managers must work with neigh¬ western expansion and settlement, the ests, for example, suddenly had easy boring land owners and together con¬ access to an expanded range of markets U.S. government offered grants of fed¬ sider the impacts of land management eral lands. At first, these grants went that increased the value of their prod¬ decisions on the larger area. (For a only to the states in which the lines ucts. In addition, government subsidies detailed description of ecological were built, but later they went directly to the railroads provided lands that were considerations in public land manage¬ to the railroads. ment, see “Understanding Ecosystem The grants consisted of a given num¬ Union Pacific Museum Collection Management” in the ber of alternating one-mile-square sec¬ N ovember/December tions on each side of the right-of-way, 1994 issue of Science which resulted in the familiar checker¬ and Children.) board land-ownership pattern of the West. The General Land Office, prede¬ cessor of today’s Bureau of Land Management, oversaw the process. By the time Congress stopped issuing such grants in 1871, some 80 railroads had received title to more than 50 million hectares of federal land (about twice the size of Colorado), 90 percent of it west of the Mississippi. Money from This map of land grants to these grants allowed the railroads to the Union Pacific Railroad expand westward. shows the checkerboard The railroads also had a defining land-ownership pattern influence over the development and use characteristic of the mid- of the nation’s natural resources. The western and western states. harvesting of timber and the extraction of 34 SCIENCE AND CHILDREN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 minerals, especially coal, was—and still 1862, and one of the greatest adven¬ is—heavily dependent on the railroads. tures in American history began. Ranchers and farmers needed the railroad Two railroad companies, the Union to transport their cattle and grain to mar¬ Pacific and the Central Pacific, were A MODERN CHALLENGE: kets. And the routes the early steam authorized to construct a railroad and SURVEYING THE engines took were selected based in part telegraph line that would span a conti¬ ALASKA RAILROAD on the availability of water, wood, coal, nent. The Union Pacific was to build and other resources that might be needed westward from the 100th meridian (near When Alaska became a U.S. along the way. Early railroad tracks Omaha, Nebraska) across the Great Territory in 1912, there was a need themselves were laid on wooden ties that Plains, and the Central Pacific was to to connect parts of the expansive were hand hewn by the millions from build eastward from Sacramento area. In contrast to the private logs cut from forests in the vicinity. through the Sierra Nevada. development of the railroads in the In addition to the land grants, the lower 48 states, the federal govern¬ government promised funds to each of The Transcontinental Railroad ment took charge of developing the the railroads depending on how much Alaska Railroad, which connects y the mid-1840s, America had track was laid, touching off a fierce Seward, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and become a two-ocean nation. As a competition between the two. Soon the Whittier. In 1985, Congress trans¬ result of the 1848 Treaty of silent lands that had been the province ferred control of this railroad to the Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico and of nomadic Native Americans, fur State of Alaska. To complete the the earlier settlement of the Oregon traders, and explorers gave way to the transfer, a comprehensive land sur¬ question with Great Britain, the United bustle of surveyors, graders, trestle vey was undertaken by the Bureau States now had control over California, builders, tunnel blasters, and spikers. of Land Management’s cadastral Oregon, and much of the interior of the Thousands of workers, including Civil surveyors. Now nearing completion, continent. Recognizing the need to War veterans and immigrants, were the survey has covered 880 kilome¬ connect the vast area, in 1853 the enlisted to do the back-breaking work ters. Surveyors worked with railroad Congress charged Jefferson Davis, of laying track across the treeless personnel to assure their safety and then Secretary of War, to conduct fea¬ deserts and through towering granite to coordinate their work with the sibility surveys for a transcontinental mountains. As the tracks from the trains’ schedules. Because of weath¬ railroad. After years of debate on the Central Pacific and Union Pacific er conditions, surveyors could work best route, President Lincoln signed approached each other, the two rail¬ on-site only five months of the year. the Pacific Railroad Act on July 1, roads could not agree on a meeting It took survey crews almost seven years to complete the field work. m Without the use of such technology u e us as Doppler satellite receivers and M ad inertial guidance systems, the job o r ail would have taken even longer. R e at St a ni r o Ed Bovy f ali C This historic train relic can be found near Nome, Alaska. Railroads provided a criti¬ cal transportation and communication link between Alaskans and the outside world. Chinese workers on the Central Pacific Railroad in California. The Chinese, at first considered too small to do the backbreaking labor of laying track, made a great contribution toward completing the transcontinental railroad. Many workers were killed in blasting accidents or died from exposure during the harsh winters in the Sierra Nevada. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 SCIENCE AND CHILDREN 35 Douglas County Museum Photograph FOCUS ON SAFETY: ALWAYS EXPECT A TRAIN Almost every injury caused by trains could have been prevented, accord¬ ing to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Most victims (in the past 10 years, 800 children killed, 2,500 seriously injured) ignore warning signs or signals or play illegally on trains or tracks. The FRA offers the following safety tips: Q Never walk or play on railroad This view of railroad logging in Oregon illustrates the melding of steam and railroad technologies in tracks. Q Do not play on or in railroad providing development of forest products in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. cars. QStay out of railroad yards. They are dangerous places, 0 Stay off rail¬ point; as a result, they surveyed and motive at the turn of the century, they road bridges and out of railroad tunnels. graded a parallel roadbed 320 kilo¬ turned to electrical power. Electric 0 Always look both ways and listen meters long. Finally, on May 10, locomotives were clean (important before crossing railroad tracks at railroad 1869, a telegraph key clattered out a because of new air pollution ordi¬ crossings. 0 Never cross tracks when message from Promontory, Utah, nances) and powerful. These trains warning lights are blinking or safety where the two tracks met, indicating could convert electrical energy from gates are down. Q Never try' to race or the line’s completion. an outside power source directly into play chicken with a train. 0When rid¬ During the next two decades, rail¬ mechanical energy, resulting in ing your bike, obey all signs and signals roads experienced their greatest smooth torque, almost instantaneous, at highway-railroad intersections. 0 Play growth, adding 176,000 kilometers to unlimited power (important for climb¬ the system and eventually construct¬ ing hills), and eliminating the need to it safe: Always expect a train. ing seven transcontinental rail routes. carry fuel on board. In order to emphasize just how dan¬ By the eve of the First World War, In Montana and Washington, cheap gerous trains can be, have your class railroads had reached their peak in hydroelectric power made it possible consider the braking distances of America, with over 400,000 kilome¬ for railroads such as the Chicago, different types of trains. ters of track. Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific ■ A 150-car freight train traveling Railroad—also known as the at 48 km/h (30 mph) takes 1.05 km FTrom Steam to MagLev Milwaukee Road—to electrify close (two-thirds of a mile) to stop. to 950 kilometers of track by 1916. ■ A 150-car freight train traveling oday, new technology has result¬ Eventually, however, the high start-up at 80 km/h (50 mph) takes 2.4 km ed in faster, more efficient trains construction and maintenance costs (1.5 miles) to stop. that consume less energy than made early long distance electric ■ An eight-car passenger train travel¬ ever before. For almost 150 years, trains impractical. ing at 96 km/h (60 mph) takes 1.05 locomotives burned wood, coal, or oil In 1892, German engineer Rudolph km (two-thirds of a mile) to stop. to create steam. The steam was then Diesel patented a new type of engine ■ An eight-car passenger train trav¬ injected into cylinders to create pres¬ that could be used to power a locomo¬ eling at 126 km/h (79 mph) takes 1.8 sure to drive the pistons; the spent tive. Instead of relying on coal or km (1 and 1/8 miles) to stop. steam was exhausted upwards through wood to produce steam, the diesel the stack and also created a draft to engine relies on petroleum-based fuel bring oxygen into the firebox. Steam- ignited under compression. The powered locomotives required massive vaporized fuel is injected into com¬ amounts of water and fuel-either coal pressed, high-temperature air and or wood—consuming four times as ignited in a combustion chamber to much water as fuel. drive pistons in the cylinders. Energy As the railroads began searching is then transmitted to generators that for an alternative to the steam loco¬ make electricity to power the electric 36 SCIENCE AND CHILDREN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 motors that turn the wheels. Compared to steam locomo¬ tives, diesel-electric trains consume less fuel, produce DID YOU KNOW... ? less pollution, require less maintenance, and can stay in ■ The average freight train hauls service longer each day. UO 1,515 metric tons of freight in Several diesel locomotives about 70 cars. linked together can be operat¬ ■ The United States maintains the ed by a single engineer, unlike greatest amount of railroad track, the steam engine, which approximately 315,200 kilome¬ requires at least two men to a ters. Russia has 126,400 kilome¬ unit. The first successful ters of track, the second greatest diesel-electric locomotive was number. There are about introduced in 1925 by the 1,216,000 kilometers of track Central Railroad of New worldwide. Jersey. Today, nearly all trains operating in the United States ■ On June 6, 1833, Andrew are powered by diesel engines. Jackson became the first One of the most exciting President of the United States to recent innovations in railroad A steam engine on the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad ride a train. (It was on the technology is magnetic levita¬ in Colorado. Today, this area is part of the Gold Belt Loop, a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.) tion, or Maglev, which relies back country byway on public land that allows visitors to on the principles of magnetism drive on parts of the old railbeds. ■ The first locomotive built for sale in America was the Best Friend —attraction and repulsion. of Charleston, constructed in This new technology, still ues to grow. Just as railroad technolo¬ 1830. It cost $4,000. under development, will result in gy helped shape the development of trains that are faster, more efficient, the United States one hundred years ■ Standard Time was created in more comfortable, and more environ¬ ago, the development of new trans¬ 1883 to keep train schedules. mentally sound. No longer will trains portation technologies will influence Previously, clock readings varied rumble heavily along steel rails; the way we wrestle with environmen¬ as much as 30 minutes between rather, they will float along on a mag¬ tal challenges in the future. Studying cities in the same state. netic cushion without any direct con¬ the evolution of railroad technology ■ Sixty percent of the coal that pro¬ tact with the ground. not only gives students a feel for how duces the majority of the nation’s From the cumbersome coal- and a vast landscape was settled and electricity is shipped by rail. wood-powered steam engines to the developed, but also illustrates the Two-thirds of all new car ship¬ emerging technologies of Maglev, important relationship between tech¬ ments are made by rail. railroads have become faster and more nology, society, and our environment. energy efficient. But at the same time, ■ Fuel efficiency of trains has the world’s demand for energy contin¬ increased by more than half since 1980. ■ Nearly every 90 minutes, some¬ one in the United States is hit by a train. ■ A four-unit diesel locomotive weighing 675 metric tons is supported on 78 meters of track composed of 10.4 metric tons of steel rail held in place by 270 kilograms of spikes resting on 2.8 metric tons of steel tie plates, resting on 15 metric tons of treated wood crossties, resting on 117 metric tons of crushed rock ballast. A locomotive (“Gold Run”) and roundhouse outside Terrace, Utah. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 SCIENCE AND CHILDREN 37 FOR THE CLASSROOM T T BUILD A STEAM ENGINE MASS AFFECTS FRICTION he following is a simple exercise that demon¬ oday, trains pull more massive loads than ever strates how steam can be harnessed to create before. Although improved design has reduced mechanical energy. (For a more detailed look at friction over the years, additional mass contin¬ how a steam engine operates, refer to the back of the ues to increase both the friction on the tracks and accompanying foldout.) the amount of energy required to pull the train. To A steam engine converts heat energy into help students understand how mass affects friction, mechanical energy. When water is heated, it obtain four textbooks, a one-meter piece of string, becomes water vapor, and its volume increases and a spring scale. Follow this procedure: about 1,600 times. The increased volume of water ■ Use the spring scale to measure the mass of vapor produces a force that is used to operate a one book. Record the figure. mechanical structure. Such engines once ran most ■ Tie the string to make a large loop. Place the trains, ships, factories, and some cars. loop of string inside the front cover of the In about A.D. 60, a man named Hero used wood to book. Hook the spring scale to the other end of boil water, and he proceeded to use steam from the the loop. boiling water to power an engine. Students can create ■ Drag the book across a level surface by their own version of Hero’s engine by using a small, pulling on the spring scale at a steady speed. metal spice can with a press-on metal lid, a nail, a Record the force of friction as shown on the hammer, water, string, a hot plate, and a ring stand. spring scale. First, near the top of the can, use the hammer and nail ■ Use the spring scale to measure the mass of to carefully punch two holes on opposite sides of the the second book. Add the second book’s mass can. Pour about 10 mL of water into the can. Next, to the first book’s mass and record. place the string under the lid and attach the lid to the ■ Next, place the second book on top of the first can so that equal lengths of string come out of each book and with the spring scale, drag both side. Hang the can from a ring stand, making sure that books across a level surface, again recording it hangs without twisting. Place the hot plate under the force of friction. the can. Make sure not to touch the can. Ask students ■ Repeat the process, adding the third and fourth to describe what happens after the water begins to books. boil and produce steam. How would they describe the What happens to the force needed to pull the motion of the can? (The can begins to rotate.) books as the number of books increases? How does an object’s mass affect the force of friction? From a graph of the data, can you predict the force needed to pull more than four books? Can you draw an analogy between books and trains, and the num¬ ber of locomotives needed to pull more railroad cars? I SOUND CONDUCTORS n old movies and cartoons, train robbers sometimes place their ear on a railroad track to check for an oncoming train. Students can learn why this method works by explor¬ ing how sound travels at different speeds in different media. Use a metal coat hanger, a one-meter-long piece of string, 38 SCIENCE AND CHILDREN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 FOR THE CLASSROOM and a one-meter-long piece of thin-guage copper class about how Doppler satellite receivers have wire. First, tie the middle of the string around the been used to determine geographic positions in hook of the hanger. Wrap one end of the string remote areas. around your left index finger and the other end of the string around your right index finger. Then, gen¬ P HEAT AFFECTS THE TRACKS tly tap the hanger against a table. Listen for the sound it makes. Next, with the string still wrapped eriodically, one will read in newspapers about around your fingers, put your fingers in your ears train derailments resulting from the thermal and tap the hanger again. What do you notice about expansion of metal tracks. Ask students if they the sound? Repeat the steps, this time using the wire. have ever run hot water over a jar’s metal lid Which is the better conductor, the string or the wire? because it was too tightly closed to open. Why does (The wire is better.) Why? (Sound travels faster this help? (Because the metal expands under the through the wire than through the string.) For a sim¬ heat of the water, just as train tracks can expand pler demonstration, lay an ear on a wooden table as in high temperatures.) someone taps it. Then rest your head on your arm Expansion must be taken into consideration when and listen for the tapping. You can also put a pillow designing railroads, highways and bridges. Have stu¬ between your ear and the table. dents research the measures that engineers employ to As an extension, research whether certain materi¬ prevent concrete roads from cracking or buckling, als conduct sound better than others. (The speed of and trains from derailing. (For example, concrete sound is dependent on temperature and the medium highways and bridges are built with expansion joints through which the sound travels. In solids, atoms are to allow for the expansion and contraction of the usually closer together, which is why solids transmit construction materials.) sound faster than air does.) a S ENERGY CONSERVATION THE DOPPLER EFFECT tudying trains is a good way to study different t one time or another, most people have types of engines and the evolution of energy observed a train’s horn getting higher in pitch efficiency through the years. The earliest loco¬ as it approaches and then lower as it moves motives, powered by wood and coal, were highly away. This phenomenon is referred to as the inefficient because much energy was converted Doppler effect. To people on the train, the horn into thermal energy that escaped into the atmos¬ would seem to have the same pitch at all times. How phere. An engine is energy efficient when it mini¬ can two people listening to the same horn hear dif¬ mizes the loss of useful energy. Have students ferent notes? (The motion of the train as it moves learn about the energy sources and workings of toward you causes the waves to be emitted closer different types of train locomotives and answer the together.) To demonstrate this phenomenon, have following questions: students stand in the center of a hallway. Starting ■ How would friction affect the energy effi¬ at the end of the hallway, walk toward the students ciency of a train? (Friction transforms useful while blowing a whistle or ringing a bell. Continue energy into thermal energy.) walking past the students to the other end of the ■ How expensive are the energy sources for hall. Discuss the change in pitch. (The sound of different trains? Which is the most expensive? the bell or whistle becomes higher as the source of The least? (Electric trains tend to be more the sound comes closer to the student.) expensive than diesel trains. Maglev trains will Have students research the practical applications be cheap to power, but they are expensive to of the Doppler effect. (Most radar depends on the develop and set up.) Doppler effect to locate and determine the speed of ■ Is the energy source renewable? (Wood, for objects. The police use Doppler radar to identify example, is a renewable resource; coal is not.) speeding motorists.) As an extension, invite a local ■ Does the energy source create pollution or weatherman to discuss how Doppler radar is used to involve safety risks? If so, how can these forecast weather, or have a land surveyor talk to the effects be minimized? NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 SCIENCE AND CHILDREN 39 FOR THE CLASSROOM E the Interior Library. ENERGY TRANSFORMATION The authors also would like to thank the follow¬ nergy can be transformed from one form to ing people for their assistance with this article: Bill another. Forms of energy include electric, radi¬ Printz, Lionel Buy and Sell, Kensington, Maryland; ant, chemical, mechanical, and nuclear energy. Bob Van Gelder, South River Modelworks, Conway, Have students create a simple energy flow diagram Massachusetts; Anne Calhoun and Alejandra for different locomotives (steam, diesel, electric, and Miranda-Naon, B&O Railroad Museum; Ron Maglev). For example, a steam engine bums coal or Hamilton, MilWest; John Harding, John Fitzpatrick, wood to transform chemical energy into thermal and John Kern, Federal Railroad Administration; energy. The thermal energy heats water to create Carol Steckbeck and Mahlon Wilson, AAR; Barbara steam. The steam creates mechanical energy to Dietsch, Cabin John Middle School, Potomac, move the train. Maryland; William Withuhn, Smithsonian As an extension, have students create simple Institution; Walter Gray and Wayne Breece, toys that use conversion of energy to create motion. California Railroad Museum; Dale Martin; Robert They may use wheels, rubber bands, propellers, Warren; and Pat Kelly and Steven Taubenkibel, and dowels. Have students explain the transforma¬ Amtrak Public Affairs. tions of energy that occur. This would include the And for the foldout activity, thanks to Steve energy they use to push or pull the toys, as well as Newman. energy released from the unwinding of rubber References bands and so on. Aldridge, B.G., Aiuto, R., Ballinger, J., Barefoot, About the Authors A., Crow, L., Feather, Jr., R., Kaskel, A., Kramer, Carl Bama, historian, and Richard Brook, archaeolo¬ C., Ortleb, E., Snyder, S., and Zitzewitz, P. gist, are actively involved with the Bureau of Land (1993). Science interactions. Columbus, OH: Macmillan/McGraw Hill. Management’s cultural resources programs. Elizabeth Rieben is an education specialist with the Giroux, M. (1995). Thirtieth annual steam BLM’s Office of Environmental Education. passenger service directory. New York: Mark Smith Books, Empire State Railway Museum. Cover Photograph Guy, R.G., Miller, R.J., Roscoe, M.J., Snell, A., and Replica of the first steam engines Jupiter and No. Thomas, S.L. (1991). Discover science: 119 on the transcontinental railroad. Photograph Teacher’s annotated edition. Glenview, IL: courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society. Scott Foresman. Jensen, O. (1975). Railroads in America. Acknowledgments New York: American Heritage. Special thanks to the Federal Railroad Administration, Moore, V.S., and Kaszas, W.J. (1995). All aboard! the Association of American Railroads, and to the fol¬ For a lesson on magnetic levitated trains. lowing employees of the Department of the Interior: Science and Children, 32(5), 15-18, 47. Brian Anderson, Rick Atheam, Stan Bales, Jeremy Wheeler, K. (1973). The railroaders. Brodie, Linda Brooks, Shelly Fischman, Glenn New York: Time-Life Books. Foreman, Frank Hardt, Mary Hartel, Renee Johnson, Withuhn, W. (1993). Rails across America: A history Steve Kopach, Ray Leicht, Jim Muhn, Britta Nelson, of railroads in North America. New York: Tim Nowak, Craig Rieben, Darrell Sanders, Shelley Mark Smith Books. Smith, Dan Sokoloski, Mary Tisdale, Dave Traudt, Wood, S. (1992). Trains and railroads. Dan Webb, and Don Chase of the U.S. Department of New York: Dorling Kindersley. r e t *>«««?« ishweSO U.S. Department 31 of Transportation Federal Railroad ASSOCIATION Administration OF AMERICAN RAILROADS 40 SCIENCE Ai D CHILDREN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 J rf-f- % B % k 1 — lf> 1 1 lln II r.Ilollio II Hollo llnl 1 1 * z^C, 4JD\ dr. 'i 1 \ ^ 'A Hitt -?^ii*OAD ^ALUNDoi Dewey, 1 - *mcnilekeurumM |SX / - :s A M^^qqqq Mi {'**£'f\J' ;***/•’ liflii Gallopiitf an Gtj^nr^y m h c s Fi y ell h S y b df’mm h c ar e s e d r e at ci o s s a d n a k or OVER TIME AND ACROSS A CONTINENT w Art Bureau of Land Management 1946 FIFTY YEARS 1996 U.S. Department of the Interior °P&rat > Yv i u?4\ \ \ £/ <v Sc Rff ESI fss 5fIi50AD y r —-_. W☆4[p MAKERS JjnnR m EjY) >T)pj ^ v- DEWEY' iM I 19 MILKUM ACMEETUM AIIjDRNEYS L QodooI U|llll!l!l!l