In article 4AU9c.144359$LX.16582456
@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net, says...
"Ernie Leimkuhler" wrote in message
...
In article , ED ROGERS
wrote:

How were rails made in the 1800's?Were they cast or did they have
rolling mills back then using steam or hydropower?



Rolling mills have been around a loooooong time.

The wheels for the trains started off as cast, but later were
drop-forged.

Rolling mills have been around since the mid-1700s, in England. I think the
first ones in the US were built late in the century. Some of the early ones
in England were steam-powered.


There was at least one water powered rolling mill at the
Saugus Ironworks about 100 years earlier, though the
ironworks was operational for only a very short time. It
was restored as a National Historic Site in the 1950's.

http://www.nps.gov/sair/index.htm

I remember seeing it run along with the big trip hammers
and bellows for the furnace when I was a kid. Unfortunately
no fire or hot metal.

Ned Simmons