Maps and Di agrams of the World's Commerce 



Relative Values^ and Compar;sons.-6. The World's Rail 



Rapid transport is an essential factor of commercial activity 

 and the enormous mdustrial development of modern times is largely 

 due to the introduction of railways. Wooden rails were first used in 

 England about 1630, to decrease the friction of the coal wagons on 

 the roads leading from the coal pits. A hundred years later iron rails 

 were substituted for wood, and early in the i8th century " edge rails " 

 were introduced in the Welsh quarries. Steam was first employed for 

 haulage purposes m 1825, when the Stockton and Darlington railway 

 was opened, but the foundation of the present vast development Jf 

 railways was laid in 1830 by the opening of the line between Liverpool 

 and Manchester. In 1855 the railway mileage in the United Kingdom 

 amounted to 8,280 miles, and at the present time it has increased to 

 about 23,000 miles. The first railway constructed on the European 

 continent ran betwe(-n Antwerp and Malines : to-day a traveller 

 can board a train at Calais and be carried by rail across two con- 

 tinents to Port Arthur, a distance of 7,500 mili^s. The first United 

 States railway was opened in 1827 at Quincy in Massachusetts. In 



i860 the United States railway mileage had increased to 30,626 miles 



anditisnowaboutonehalfthatoftherestoftheworld. The American 

 rates for the conveyance of goods are much cheaper than elscwiiere 

 and this forms one of the reasons for the rapid industrial expansion of 

 the United States. In India railways were first laid down in 1853 

 and their total length is now about 28,000 miles. The use of four 

 different gauges in India is a great hindrance to through traffic, more 

 ;hLin one-half the mileage being on the 5 ft. 6 in. gauge, wlii'le tlip 

 remainder is built either on the metre, the 2 ft. 6 in., or the 2 foot 

 gauge. From the railway map given above, it whl be seen that 

 not only does a network of railways cover the civilized parts of the 

 world, but that the locomotive is penetrating into the remoter and 

 more inaccessible regions of the earih, and with its ally, the steam 

 ship, IS opening up these regions to international commerce. In 

 many cities and suburban districts electricity is displacing steam 

 as a motive power for passenger trains, and its use in this connexion 

 is likely to be largely extended in the near future. 



IJMITED 

 STATES. 



RAILWAY MILEAGE OF THE PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. 



( Countries with more than 10.000 Vriles of rallwaysi) 



RUSSIA 

 GERMANY. 



NDIA 



COMPARATIVE LENGTHS OF TRANS-CONTINENTAL RAILWAYS. 



Showing the portions not jet constructed. 



'"P" !<«>0 3000 *000 iOOO OOOOUILES 



S^PstarsBurt 



^tttt 



'^apeTown. „ , ,, , 



tirin I I ILI I L L ] ] . . . ^/"^""''i . Khartoum Cairn. 



'ancouver. 'aiirn 2;S5m. 534 iOO 5i0 



^anr.^^ltg^^"^^^ ^^ rrir^^.^mMa. 



,, ,*^"^^^^^tnm]iiii ""cri^n ■ I 



Port Arthur 





1331361 mrles 



Railways running through 

 British T^ritory coloured r&d. 



PASSENGER &TRAFFfC RECEIPTS. 



UNtTED STATES ^400,000, 000. 



UNITED K1NGDOM£||Z,OOO.OCO. 

 GERMANY £110,000,000. 



RU5SIA £66,000.000. 

 FRANCE ^62,000,000. 



AUSTRIA £aO,000,000, 



J 



INDIA 326,700.000, 

 ITALY £14,000,000, 



2fr 



~EUfd\ 



GERMAN ■ ''^^f\\ I? ^ 6 



I \S.W. AF^i BechuflnHlarg^;^^ cc j ^ 



jr^^QfT 



CapftTowiV 



VPE COLONY 



/ 



FSizat^tff 



20 



fcTJt fro^T^ iD Zr'r^^f? vff'rh 44 



CAPE TO CAfRO 

 RAILWAY. 



Open^,^ Troje^UiL I 



3T 



