USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The race on August 28, 1830, between Peter Cooper’s diminutive Tom Thumb locomotive and the horse-drawn Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad car demonstrated the superiority of steam power.

Detailed explanation-2: -The ‘Tom Thumb, ’ constructed by Peter Cooper in 1829, was the first locomotive to be built in America. “The real victory was with Mr. Cooper, ” Latrobe told his audience in 1868. Hitching its future to steam power, the B&O in January 1831 advertised a $4, 000 prize for the development of a more robust engine.

Detailed explanation-3: -On August 28, 1830, Peter Cooper’s locomotive carried the B&O directors in a passenger car to Ellicott’s Mills. To the amazement of the passengers, the locomotive traveled at an impressive speed of 10-14 miles per hour. The locomotive was later given the name “Tom Thumb” because of its small size and weight.

Detailed explanation-4: -By 1830 Stephenson’s new locomotive, the Rocket, which could achieve a speed of 36 miles per hour, was operating on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in Lancashire with other ‘iron horses’ built in the factory he had now opened in Newcastle. The railway age had begun and George Stephenson was its guiding spirit.

Detailed explanation-5: -Description. In 1830 the first American-built steam locomotive was designed, the Tom Thumb, by Peter Cooper to show the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that steam engines should be used to power the new railways as opposed to horse-drawn cars.