What effect did the railways have on the cost of transporting goods?

Question

Please don't put a really complicated answer! And also... Why was it cheaper to transport goods by rail rather than road?

Answer 1

Let's say you need to transport 1,000,000 pounds of freight from New York to Chicago. If you transport by road you'll need 18 wheelers, each has a load capacity of 50,000 pounds (on average), so you'll need 20 trucks to haul the freight. You'll also need to hire 20 drivers and pay for the fuel to operate each truck for the trip. If you ship via train, one train can transport the entire shipment. You pay for the fuel to operate the one locomotive, and you have a couple of people to operate the train. The train can go non-stop to Chicago, but the trucks will require frequent rest stops due to government regulations - unless you hire 20 more drivers and they work as a team.

Train: 1 Train, 2 Workers
Pro: Less time, less fuel, fewer workers
Con: If train wrecks, all product lost

Truck: 20 Trucks, 20-40 Workers
Pro: If 1 truck wrecks, only 5% of product lost
Con: More time, more fuel, more workers

Both modes require dock workers, insurance, etc.

Very basic description - hope it helps.

Answer 2

The method of transporting goods was usually by canal. This was quite slow since the barges were usually horse drawn and moved at about four to five miles per hour.

When the first railway arrived [Stockton to Darlington] goods could be transported from point A to point B and expect to arrive easily the same day.

When the Stockton to Darlington railway opened with Stevenson's Rocket, the company had not expected to be carrying passengers and had planned to transport goods only. However, on opening day they carried huge numbers of passengers, the demand far outstripping supply of trains.

The company made massive profits from passenger haulage from day one.

Blimey! And to think, the company had actually built the line not knowing exactly what sort of vehicle they would use to transport good or anything else. The original plan was for horse drawn vehicles.

Talk about risk capital.

Answer 3

At the time the railways were built, most goods were transported on the canals. This was slow and expensive. Rail provided fast, cheap transport that eventually killed off the canal industry.

Answer 4

When they were first introduced, railways drastically reduced the price of overland shipping, because previously the only way had been by horse and buggy. Now it took less time to ship products, it was easier, and they could ship more.

Later though, robber barons like Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould put a stranglehold on RR prices because they had a monopoly, or trust as it was called back then, so they could jack up prices because the people had nowhere else to turn.

Answer 5

Definately railways were much faster so goods were cheaper