Facts about Railroads You Probably Don’t Know

The train gave a major boost to the travel business

With the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest tour operator, an entire era ended in 2019. Back in 1841, preacher and businessman Thomas Cook actually created the first package tour – it was a railroad trip. The ticket price included meals. The initiative proved to be quite successful, the entrepreneur registered a company, which quickly expanded its activities in Britain, the U.S., and then around the world. Of course, first the travelers traveled by train, and then the airplanes were invented.

The horse was faster

In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, trains used horse traction. The American firm of Baltimore & Ohio was not satisfied with this because of the animal’s poor ability to traverse difficult terrain. In 1830. Peter Cooper invented the first Tom Thumb steam locomotive and offered it to company management as a replacement for manpower. To make sure that the investment in the invention was worthwhile, it was decided to hold a race between a car and a horse. The latter won the contest – the machine had mechanical problems. But all the same, the bosses of Baltimore and Ohio were so impressed that they decided to equip all their trains with steam engines. And they weren’t mistaken – after a short time, the railroad’s revenues increased considerably.

Death Train

La Bestia (the beast in Spanish) is how Central Americans call the freight trains that run from Mexico to the United States. With the full connivance of the authorities, thousands of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and other impoverished countries of the region cross the border daily in search not even of the notorious American dream, but simply acceptable living conditions. They ride on rooftops and narrow platforms between wagons all day long with no opportunity to sleep or rest, often derailing and dying. In addition, local bandits often attack the unfortunates and rob them of their last possessions.