Railroads helped win the civil war for the North. Railroads were the North’s best weapon. Railroads helped move freight across the country during the civil war also including passengers, builders, engineers, troops, and cargo. The railroads worked together to move freight across vast distances, they found out the best uses of the locomotives, and uses for the tracks, which resulted as the overall best weapon for the North.

Before the Civil War, there were 200 different railroads across America. About two thirds of those 200 belonged to the North and one third of them belonged to the South. During the war there were about 35,000 miles of track, about 25,000 miles of that belonged to the North and about 10,000 miles of track to belonged to the South. The tracks in the North were mainly split between three states: Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Locomotives had numbers on the side of them to tell that it was the “number” made.

Locomotives had wheel configurations like 4-4-0 and 2-6-0. 4-4-0 is the ‘American standard’, it means four wheels in front, and four wheels that give power to the train. 2-6-0 means two leading wheels, and six wheels that give power to the train, this is a ‘New Jersey style’.4-6-0 was considered the passenger standard.2-8-2 called Mikado.4-6-2, called the Pacific locomotive.4-8-4 called the Northern Locomotive. There are even big 4-6-6-4 called the Challenger for good reason. There are also 2-8-8-4, the 4-6-4 , the massive 2-8-8-2,and the 0-4-0.keep in mind that these weigh tens of tons and were hard to get started and stop. The B & O railroad was a major railroad line.

Different track gauges meant that transfers had to be made between trains on different gauge tracks, which meant more trains had to be used. Gauge means the length from one side of the rail to the other rail. The standard gauge was 4 feet and 8.5 inches. Railroad cars could not change their wheel gauge, so they could not change to other gauge tracks. Some big trains could not go on bridges and tight turns, so they had to create different routes for them.

This was a problem that needed to be fixed. It was about $4.50 per pound to transport cotton from Buffalo to Boston, but half of the coaches, baggage, and mail cars were often out of commission due to repairs. This was a huge problem for all the railroads.

Surprisingly enough, there were 400 passenger cars and 650 locomotives, but some of the locomotives and passenger cars were also out of commission due to repairs and regular maintenance. People would rather ride in a train than walk to their destination. Engineers in the North made over one million in gross income from the railroads, that is about sixty-five cents per passenger. Engineers never used their first name for unknown reasons. Engineers also had to be well educated to drive these heavy, large machines. If they made one mistake it could cost them their lives. There are lots of controls and they had to know what was what.

Rogues and scoundrels could easily get into the locomotives and would put the engineers under gunpoint or disconnect the locomotive from the passenger cars, the kitchen, and the medical car. They would do anything to get away or not get caught. They would even try to unconnect the cars left of it to make the chasing train slow down and get it, move it, and catch up to the other train. Builders often covered the engine with wood in order to protect it from gunshots. They also built iron on the train to deflect gunshots. This worked most of the time. Builders would also put big iron and steel snowplows on the front to plow snow wherever necessary.

Builders and engineers were constantly finding broken track. Fixing the track took lots of money and time slowing passenger flow and freight flow. The North stockpiled parts for bridges and railroads in case of track destruction by the South and versa-visa. The South also tried this and succeeded most of the time.

The South would destroy the track by heating it up and bending or twisting it against a tree or some other things. They also placed mines under the rails and when one train goes over it, the mine will explode, destroying the train. The South would also try to hit the boiler with a bullet, because it could explode from it. The pressure would go through the hole very fast not only killing the locomotive, but also blowing it up. The South would bend track going to major railway hubs so it was hard to get supplies The North retaliated by trying to run in to other trains with their train. They also tried to put guns on the train for mobile guns with steel surrounding it. It worked for a short period of time.

Railroads were also much faster than the pony express and walking. The Battle of Bull Run, (the Railroad Center) the North walked there and the South took a train there. The South was victorious in this battle. There were lots of chases on the rails with trains across the North and South. Railroads started to unload ammo from rail cars and would load them with the wounded, and would transport them to hospitals and metical facilities. The South used wagons instead of the railroad, which proved to be a bad idea because the horses would get shot and would die leaving the wounded stranded.

New York City transported about 3,300,000 tons of freight. The price for one car to transport freight was originally fifty dollars, but it increased to seventy-three dollars for more profits. Again, it rose to one hundred dollars for more profits. People realized that they were getting so much profit that they fought hard to get it back to seventy-three dollars, which is still a lot in this time period. The founders that made the railroads were millionaires in our time, because they got so much profit.

This means higher prices for freight and people, which equals bigger monthly profit for founders and engineers. In addition, it would cost more to mail something using the rail system. People preferred to use the Pony Express for letters and other things that were not so important, but for things that were important, so they used the rails.

Ninety-five percent of people preferred to take the rails, because of the weather. You could stay sheltered from rain, snow, hail, sleet, and other weather conditions. When people rode with the Military, Army, and the Navy, they felt safer so people wanted to ride with them.

This was over a one hundred percent increase in train tickets (no increase in price). The military had an account for the transportation of troops. Passengers really liked the luxury of have sleeping cars and baggage cars and seats with footrests, and smoking cars also. They did not like a fifteen percent tax on their tickets though for these luxuries. Some of the cars were not so clean; passengers did not like dirty beds and bad ventilation for the smoking cars.

Another disadvantage was that it was difficult to get to the other side of the car without getting hurt because it was rocking on the track. An increase in passengers meant an increase in passenger equipment. Kitchens and Medical cars were added near the end of the war.

The military was sent to look for the enemy. If the enemy was seen, a train would get supplies and head to the site of battle. If not, it would advance further into unknown territory for more spies to look for the enemy. The North would build track going to other major railroad hubs to connect to the rest of the army. Railroads had motivated the Civil War for the North and were its best tactical weapon.