FreightWaves Classics: Railroads helped the U.S. expand and increased interstate commerce
America s first common carriers are still relevant A Union Pacific train heads to its next destination. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)
Early beginnings
Railroads were first developed in Great Britain. The first railroads were horse-drawn wagons running on wooden and then iron tracks, or rails…
Wooden railroads were also built in the American colonies and were built exclusively to transport freight. Termed “wagonways,” the earliest were begun in the 1720s. In addition to the British and colonists using wagonways in North America, the French used a wagonway to haul construction materials to their fortress at Louisburg, Nova Scotia, in New France (now Canada) in 1720.