The History Of Rail Design

The national railway is major component of the transport system within the UK. Despite the increase in the performance of motor vehicles and the improvement in road conditions, for many travelling by rail is an essential part of commuting to and from work. In addition, the recent concerns over carbon emissions from personal transportation, have led to the encouragement of using public transport. Rail design has of course changed dramatically over the years, and the transport that was once responsible for belching pollution into the skies may now be able to use some of the cleanest technology and become an environmentally sound mode of travel for literally millions of people.

Travel by rail began as far back as the 1500s. The rudimentary design utilized wooden rails to form a basic track along which a carriage was pulled by a horse. This sped up the transportation of ore from mining activities and was an alternative to the slow pace of the road systems at the time. These early incarnations of the railway system were known as Wagonways; it wasn't until the late 1700s that rail design began to move on and become close to what we now know as the railway.

Out of a need to reduce friction between the wheel and the rail surface, metal plates were fixed to the wooden tracks and the already flanged wheel became more pronounced. This allowed for a smoother movement and the reduced friction allowed horse drawn carriages to move at a faster rate than had previously been possible. This increase in efficiency led to greater productivity and rail became the preferred method to transport mined goods such as metal, coal and rubble.

By the beginning of the following century, steam powered engineering had improved enormously and a version of the steam powered engine that had been powering cotton mills was developed for transportation. The first steam powered locomotives of this kind were run on a narrow gauge rail, which had a width of just over 1meter. The standard gauge rail that we are familiar with comes in at just a few millimetres under the meter and a half mark.

It was the Stockton and Darlington railway that saw the advent of rail design being geared toward public use, the colliery owners realised that more money could be made from the line by operating a timetabled transport system. The rail design changed again at this time and the introduction of rolled wrought iron produced stronger and more durable tracks. The success of this system was short lived due to bankruptcy, but not before it inspired the Liverpool and Manchester railway.

This system saw another leap in engineering when a competition was launched to find the most suitable steam powered locomotive to work the line. The multi-tubular boiler was to be the secret of the winning locomotive's success, and Stephenson's Rocket went down in rail history. Steam engines remained in the limelight until the introduction of diesel powered locomotives in the 1930s.

Diesel power proved to be a more economical solution to steam as it required less manpower and maintenance and combined with in-built batteries provided economical electro-diesel powered transport. The move to using electric as a sole means of propulsion for trains has been restricted to short distance journeys with high traffic, such as the London underground. Although using electric to power a train via an overhead line or a third track is cheaper to per mile, the set up costs of the track outweigh the savings on long distances.

To make the move to the next generation of rail design, the efficiency of electric power needs to be matched by the reduction in cost of track construction. At this point it may be possible to use renewable energy to provide the electric power, or utilise some form of hydroelectric fuel to provide a clean and economical railway system.

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