USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -By the 1850s he had turned his attention to railroads, buying up so much stock in the New York and Harlem Railroad that by 1863 he owned the line. He later acquired the Hudson River Railroad and the New York Central Railroad and consolidated them in 1869.

Detailed explanation-2: -He was thirty-five years old when the first locomotive was put into use in America. When he died, railroads had become the greatest force in modern industry, and Vanderbilt was the richest man in Europe or America, and the largest owner of railroads in the world.

Detailed explanation-3: -Rivalry with Jay Gould Around this time Vanderbilt tried to gain control of the Erie Railroad, which brought him into direct conflict with Jay Gould, who was then in control of the Erie. Gould won the battle for control of the railroad by “watering down” its stock, which Vanderbilt bought in large amounts.

Detailed explanation-4: -The railroad was not an invention of Cornelius Vanderbilt, but he made major strides in the industry. The first railroad was opened in New York in 1831. By the 1860s there were competing lines owned by private business up the Hudson Valley and along the Erie Canal.