Steel rail
Raíl de acero
- Date
- 1857 · confidence medium
- Place
- Derby, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Robert Forester Mushet
- People
- 👤 Robert Forester Mushet1811–1891
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
The first steel rail, laid at Derby station in 1857, which lasted sixteen years compared with the few months achieved by wrought-iron rails. It made heavier, faster trains possible.
Mushet made the steel at Ebbw Vale (Wales) and the rail was laid at Derby; his contribution of spiegeleisen also saved the Bessemer process.
What it led to
- Transcontinental railways (Union Pacific, 1869)
- A mass market for Bessemer steel
- Greater axle loads and train speeds
Built on
- Bessemer process1856
- Bessemer process
- Wrought-iron T-rail
Made possible
- Electric tram (streetcar)1881–1888
- Heavy locomotives
- Steel railway bridges