Railroad, mode of land

transportation in which flange-

wheeled vehicles move over two
parallel steel rails, or tracks, either
by self-propulsion or by the
propulsion of a locomotive.

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that

provides the motive power for a train. It has
no payload capacity of its own and its sole
purpose is to move the train along the
tracks.
The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard
Trevithick. In 1804 his unnamed locomotive hauled a train along the tramway
of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.

The first commercially successful

steam locomotive was Matthew
Murray's rack railway locomotive
The Salamanca built for the
narrow gauge Middleton Railway
in 1812. This was followed in
1813 by the Puffing Billy built by
Christopher Blackett and William
Hedley for the Wylam Colliery
Railway, the first successful
locomotive running by adhesion
only. The Salamanca, the first commercially successful locomotive
In 1814, Stephenson, inspired by
the early locomotives of
Trevithick and Hedley
persuaded the manager of the
Killingworth colliery where he
worked to allow him to build a
steam-powered machine.

In 1825 he built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway
which became the first public steam railway.
In the nineteenth century the first railway
locomotives were powered by steam,
usually generated by burning coal. The
first steam locomotive was built by
Richard Trevithick; it first ran on
February 21, 1804.

Starting in the 1940s, the diesel-powered

locomotive began to displace steam power on
North American railroads. Following the end
of World War II, diesel power began to
appear on railroads in many countries, By
the 1960s, few major railroads continued to
operate steam locomotive.
A gas turbine-electric locomotive, or
GTEL, is a locomotive that uses a gas
turbine to drive an electrical generator or
alternator. The electric current thus
produced is used to power traction
motors. This type of locomotive was first
experimented with in 1920 but reached its
peak in the 1950s to 1960s.
An electric locomotive is supplied externally
with electric power, either through an
overhead pickup or through a third rail.
While the capital cost of electrifying track is
high, electric trains and locomotives are
capable of higher performance and in some
cases lower operational costs than steam or
diesel power.
The newest technology in trains is
magnetic levitation (maglev). These
electrically powered trains have an open
motor which floats the train above the
rail without wheels. This greatly reduces
friction. Very few systems are in service
and the cost is very high. The
experimental Japanese magnetic
levitation train JR-Maglev MLX01 has
reached a speed of 581 kilometers per
hour (361 miles per hour).
Typical rail tracks consist of two
parallel rails, normally made of steel,
secured to crossbeams, termed sleepers
(UK and Australian usage) or ties
(North American usage). The sleepers
maintain a constant distance between
the two rails; a measure known as the
"gauge" of the track. To maintain the
alignment of the track, it is either laid
on a bed of ballast or secured to a solid
concrete foundation. The whole
structure is referred to as the
permanent way (UK and Australia) or
right-of-way (North America).
 steel rail always act as two parallel lines.
In general, steel rail is used to provide a
surface for train and guide the train
forward. Steel rail also transmit the
pressure from locomotive to railway
sleepers.

Railway sleeper, also known as railroad tie, cross tie, is laid

perpendicular to steel rail. Railway sleeper can be properly deformed to
trimmer pressure when the train passes through, after that, cover as much as
possible. By the raw materials, railway sleeper generally can be divided into
three types: wooden sleeper, steel sleeper and concrete sleeper.
The main function of railway sleeper as follow:

• Railway sleeper give firm and even support to rail.

• Railway sleeper should have certain flexibility and elasticity. Act as
elastic medium between rail and ballast.
• Railway sleeper absorb the vibrations from locomotive and transport the
load from rail to ballast.
• Railway sleeper align the rails and keep the right rail gauge.
Railway fish plate, also called rail
joint, splice bar or joint bar, is a metal bar
that is used to the connect end of two rails
by fish bolts. As the connection part between
two rails, railway fish plate is used in
combination with the steel rail. According to
the steel rail standard, railway fish plate has
three types:

• Railway fish plate for light rail: 8kg, 9kg,

12kg, 15kg, 18kg, 22kg, 24kg and 30kg
• Railway fish plate for heavy rail: 38kg,
43kg, 50kg and 60kg
• Railway fish plate for crane rail: QU70,
QU80, QU100 and QU120
Rail fastening system refers to a
group of railway fasteners that are used to
fasten steel rail to railway sleeper. Common
components of rail fastening system include
rail clip, railroad spike, rail bolt, rail tie
plate, rail pad, washer, plastic dowel, rail
insulator and rail shoulder, etc.

Railway switch is a special

component of railway track, which is
applied in the railway crossing.
Railway switch has another name-
turnout. Railway switch is simply a rail
component for converting track.
Railway Ballast is the foundation of railway track and provide just below
the sleepers. The loads from the wheels of trains ultimately come on the
ballast through rails and sleepers.

Some of the important functions of railway ballast are:

• To provide firm and level bed for the sleepers to rest on

• To allow for maintaining correct track level without disturbing the rail road
bed
• To drain off the water quickly and to keep the sleepers in dry conditions
• To discourage the growth of vegetation
• To protect the surface of formation and to form an elastic bed
• To hold the sleepers in position during the passage of trains
• To transmit and distribute the loads from the sleepers to the formation
• To provide lateral stability to the track as a whole
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/world-best-metro-systems/index.html

Thank you