tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. enough to bring c-span where history unfolds daily. c-span was created as a public service by america's cable-television companies that is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: each week, american artifacts take you to museums and his store places to learn -- historic places to learn about american history. we take you to the railroad exhibit at the henry ford museum at dearborn, michigan. matt shows us an 1831 steam locomotive at a 125 foot allegany engine that weighs nearly 400 tons. >> i am matt allen and i am curator of transportation and we are at the henry ford museum in

dearborn, michigan. we are sending in the midst of our railroad exhibit. the railroad was a major technology of the 19th century, it's not an exaggeration that the steam locomotives engine is equal to an airline pilot today. we have railroad locomotives that tell the story of transportation in the united states but to the early days of the elective locomotive in the 1920's. this is a replica of an 1831 locomotive uses any mohawk and hudson railway. it is historic now. this is an idea of locomotives and trains would have looked like in the late 1820's. it was located in new york state

and became part of a railroad that would be known as the new yorks central, one of the largest. railroads were very small and local, it might bring -- run 15 or 20 miles within local cities. some of them had grander ambitions. we got to that point but it took eventually, a few decades for these local systems to list and grow into each other to form a comprehensive national network. ,people are was kind of shocked to see this locomotive and especially the cars. they looked like stagecoaches on steel wheels, that's what they are. it took three years for us to develop the standard railroad coaches as we know today. whether railroads were introduced, it used the technology that they knew. it worked fairly well when it started. they tended to rock and roll over the road. railroad designers realize they

could come up with a more efficient system. perhaps within 10 years, they went with a rectangular box of iteration when we think about railroad or railroad coach. when the railroad introduced in the 1830's, it would've been if really expensive to travel on and would have been for the upper classes that would have traveled at this time. traveling was relatively expensive then. fares wentt on, the down. it was about three cents per mile. by the mid-19th century we had the idea of separate classes of travel. you had everything from first-class to pullman cars, all the luxuries appointment all the way down to what is called the immigrant class, a simple wooden coach with wooden benches and that is it. depending on your socioeconomic status you could travel, but it , would be more or less comfort

depending on how much you could pay. passenger and freight trains were using the same technology. the steam locomotive was introduced fairly early. some were horse powered. the horses would pull trains along the tracks. it was within a few years that they decided that the steam locomotive offered better advantage. railroads and the united states were defined by one type of locomotives or american type. and we will look at one of those in a moment. those were italy at home hauling passengers. they were the prominent symbol of the united states in the 19th century. the locomotive behind me is the quintessential locomotive, a 440. what those numbers refer to are the the wheel layout, the arrangement of the wheels, four wheels up front under the pilot and there are driving wheels,

four and then there are zero trailing wheels. no under the firebox. if we talk about something like 4, 4, 0. the allegheny, it is a 2, 6, 6, many more driving wheels on that on the most of us picture a 440. steam locomotive, this is by far the most popular type used in the second half of the 19th century in the united eights when we picture the golden spike and they were both 440. absolutely necessary that we have one in our collection. this locomotive was used on atlantic and gulf railroad, which was a short one in the american south. locomotives were very expensive and they try to get as much life out of them as they can but they age. they become underpowered for heavier service. this locomotive would have been smallerngly devoted to servers and may have started on the mainline and then pushed service and not on

the mainland anymore. when the locomotive came to the museum, it was purchased by henry ford and put back into service for the dedication ceremony. on that day, he brought one of his friends thomas edison out to greenfield village and herbert hoover. he renamed the locomotive the president and you see the plaque and you see the date 1921, which , october is when they had the ceremony formally dedicating greenfield village and the henry ford museum of american innovation. at that time, it was called the edison institute. i have always thought it was interesting as it opened on days the1, 1929, just stock market crash. one of the less good days of --bert hoover -- a pot

herbert hoover's administration. american railroads are distinguished between british railroads and steam locomotives. british railroads tended to be very well-built, they often had stone bridges, substantial construction larger locomotives. in the united states, we are go, somoving fast, go, we do not spend a lot of time making things permanent. they tended to be rough and bouncy, part of the reason the 440 worked well if you handled the track. of course, we did not bother putting up since on the right away. it was not unusual for livestock to wander onto the track. that gets to be a problem. generally in that situation the , cow comes out on the short and -- short end of the conflict, but his body could still be caught underneath the train so they could cause it to derail. the cow catcher is designed so

pushes the cow out of the way. 440, this would require to crew members to operate, the engineer and the firemen who in this case would actually be physically shoveling wood into the firebox. wood was the first widely used fuel on american railroads because it was abundant and and cheap. we moved to coal by the mid-19th century because it was more efficient and you could get more speed and power. the other thing that is required is water. we take for granted we have water everywhere in the east but not so much in the west. providing water got to be a challenge. railroads would have to build watertown for tanks at a certain amount of miles and often you

would go into a station to take on water. as we moved into the late 19 somearly 20th century, high-speed railroads built what waterall track pants of between the rails and there would be a scoop that would drop down and the train would scoop up additional water without stopping. that was interesting and must have been a sight to see. needless to say it did not work , as well in the winter and they .ould try to heat the water inevitably, it would freeze and some harsh conditions. that was the structure and that is why the diesel locomotive proved to be so popular. you did not have to have water stations so many miles. fuel of a good to go. when we about the passenger experience it would have been , different behind this locomotive. there is not really much protection even if you are inside in the event of inclement weather you will get wet and

cold. there's also the matter of embers and sparks being thrown up from the locomotive as well and many would be small but some could be fairly large and set clothing on fire. they would open umbrellas and things to protect them, that was fine until their umbrellas caught fire. at least you would have more protection from the spark and embers. if you opened up the window is the breeze was right you would catch some smoke and slip. you often had private compartment -- compartments and in the u.s. everybody was in the same car. inevitably you would have some conflicts with your seat mates.

you may want it cold and somebody may want the door open, you may have someone in their reading loudly, or perhaps talking loudly, the weight we fly on airplanes today there is always somebody in there annoying. it could not have been done without locomotives like this. if you had to think about a symbol of the u.s. in the 19 century, one would be the buffalo and when would be the 440 -- 440. behind me is our 1942 chesapeake and ohio locomotive, the high water mark for steam technology. they don't come much bigger or powerful been this. behind me is our 1942 chesapeake

and ohio locomotive, the high water mark for steam technology. they don't come much bigger or powerful been this. tos locomotive weighs close 730 thousand pounds. like 7500.something tremendously powerful. there is a practical limit to the size you can build a locomotive. any longer than this and it becomes too long to negotiate the curves on the track. -- ass about as big of it big a steam locomotive ever got. along designed to hold pull trains in west virginia. surprising it would hold on as long as it did. themselves inen

passenger service. but they made their money investing in coal technology. this is the most photographed object we have in the entire museum. go a day goes by we don't past here. it just grabs people. this into thet museum? wheels we have a track in the museum, so this was pulled here. not without first removing a few pieces from the locomotive. even then it barely squeezed in.

this is the one object where i can say fairly confidently i don't think it is going anywhere. a locomotive would have required at least two people. traditionally the firemen a summary who was shoving the cold is ugly. a human beingay could keep up with the demand run -- running up the capacity. device. like a screw checking the fire and checking gauges. to people -- e bill just in time for world war ii, which is something of a golden age in terms of the service they provide, not just material to the coast but also

transporting troops. even of these were primarily designed for freights, some hold to trains. for all the technical sophistication of these locomotives they were entirely out of date within 15 years, at which point the diesel locomotives proved itself not only more efficient but more flexible. steam locomotives, if you needed to add more power you could add additional locomotives but you could add additional crewmembers. it could all be connected electronically. it's really shortly after the civil war standardizing on four feet eight inches.

which was fine so long as railroads were local operations. to create a national network it can't be done. the move to standard gauge was a major changer. adoption of standard time. prior to the people said local time, noon it would be entirely what it was in chicago. they can operate their schedules more efficiently. it helped us move forward, certainly. we not only have a static locomotives, but out in the village we have an operating railroad. and we have a fleet of three steam locomotives on rides out of the village.

sound, it isy the the smell and feel. asked,stion we often get how come we never run the allegheny out, one is it is a historic artifact. it would be tremendously if spencer to make sure could be operated safely. three is it would be a bit oversized. and it physically would not fit. it could not clear some of the buildings. i'm afraid is not going to happen here. there are major repairs that have to be done every so often. there weak spots in the locomotive. you have to inspect the boiler

tubes. mineral deposits can weaken the metal.-- weaken the as long as steam was the only game in town. and especially after world war ii, railroads see they can go for thousands of miles. they realize they are tremendous economic advantages. the locomotive behind me is perhaps not as handsome or pretty as some of the steam locomotives in our collection. 1926 the solar electric mellow -- diesel electric locomotive.

that tenant -- that none attack -- not entirely inaccurate way to describe them. the diesel engine does not power the wheels. the diesel engine powers and elect generator. the eachone with wheelset. the electric motors move the locomotive up and down the track. own station with it. they required much less maintenance and steam locomotives. you didn't have to clean at out of the firebox and didn't have to have the infrastructure. there was no need for water tanks, no need for around houses.

tank.st top off the fuel these electrics made their inroads on american roads very slowly. been -- may have been held by powerplant used to .old cars around the small yard it was by the 1930's that the so electric start to move into passenger service. very popular with passengers and after world war ii they made inroads. this is what they look like in their generation. they are much easier on the track.

the big side rods going back-and-forth and very cool to watch. takes a terrible beating on the railroad track. that was looked on very favorably as well. at the front of the locomotive right now. equally well. steam locomotives can work well in reverse and in terms of the power. up to run fullt speed in the for -- in the reverse direction. at this locomotive you can see it doesn't have the extension we think of in steam locomotives. 1900s. from favor by the

it had gotten around to the rural areas. fence out didn't west. and counters with livestock became increasingly rare. worrying aboutrt encounters with automobiles. though start to appear more often on railroads. there was some concern about confusion with the locomotives. when they are saying move that engine forward everybody knows intuitively what direction you are speaking about. in this case the locomotive looks the same on each side. that can be very dangerous backed up. if you look at the side of the locomotive you will see there is an s. an important distinction when operating in this.

not so much on the part of passengers as it was on the part of the railroads themselves. famously conservative, american railroads. electric locomotive was able to prove itself before it moved on to the mainline. very quickly it proved its worth. adoptgers were eager to these locomotives. if you look at the promotional advertising of the 1930's and 19, you will see a lot of the streamlined locomotives. they really did look very fresh compared to steam locomotives. they are trying to do whatever they can to attract passengers.

everybody's that a family car in the garage. the diesel locomotive became a quick success on american railroads because it comes at the right time. railroads have not been able to replace a lot of locomotives during the war because they weren't being built for the war. they are pushing their aging infrastructure with all the warm material. railroads need to replace their locomotives anyway. providing all these great efficiencies, it is only natural railroads turned to them. it is always remarkable to think of all the work and design that went into that locomotive, how impressive and sophisticated it is. it is literally a museum piece.

visitors ask a lot of questions about these trains. they ask why this one looks so weird. just an early example of a diesel electric locomotive. know what a diesel locomotive should look like. this was sometimes called a box cap locomotive for obvious reasons. for practicality in its purest form it is housing around the diesel prime mover and the electric generator. and controls up in the front and back. when we see them they tend to have cabs up front. you go inside. nowadays you flip open panels.

it is much shorter than modern locomotives. they tend to have platforms. here you have a few basic platforms and not particularly safe. particularly running somewhere. we try to preserve them as they are. you inevitably have to compare things over time. it becomes original with each passing year. we don't do it for those reasons. something like the allegheny is far far too big.

we do have an operating steam railroad. we have 3/19 century locomotives that we keep in regular operating condition. we are preserving the skills required to maintain the locomotives. steam locomotives aren't being used. we tend to get people here rather young. we work them up through the ranks. they were kind of cleaning up helping with others, working on the maintenance of the locomotives, eventually working your way up the firemen. it's kind of an smaller scale, we are preserving that whole system of maintenance and repair.

favorite and it is out on our railroad right now. it is from the later 19th century. much bigger than the sam hill. we just put it into operating condition a few years ago. looks a little larger than our locomotives. it has this beautiful whistle when you hear it. yourailroad crews will tell it is like driving a cadillac. that is probably my personal favorite. it's just so impressive. the locomotives we have are more or less permanent parts of our collection. we have gotten rid of them because of the space they take up.

that is an important concern with any museum artifact. are we already tongue the story with something else. occasionally museums do have to remove things from their collection. they are still in the public eye, just not part of our collection. we have a locomotive we keep operating. family have a gasoline powered locomotive. in fact the gasoline engine is connected to the wheel, so it is not driving the electric motor of any kind. we have a turntable entirely hand powered. if the locomotive is balanced properly one person can turn the whole thing around. we are really trying to tell the

story of the development of the railroad as a technology in the united states and its growth from regional small carriers into a truly national system by the late 19th century. telling the story from the steam locomotive right on up through the peak of development in the 1940's, right up to the very soroduction of the d electric locomotive in 1926, which will ultimately replace the locomotive area there is a lot of ground covered. of course they take up quite a bit of space. we've only talked about the locomotives.

we have 18's passenger coach. refrigerated cars like that changed the american diet. the advent of the railroad. maybe the most famous of the freight cars. a two course would have been stationed on a train and whether conductor would have set up shop. we have a nice selection. pretty impressive way. >> we can watch -- you can watch other america not affect programs by watching c-span.org.

>> tonight at eight eastern on lectures in history, sonoma state university professor discusses the evolution of the national park festival. >> this was not a case of setting aside a natural land gave and leaving it alone, which is what we tend to ink of when we think of part infection. what he was was making nature out of what was more photos. -- what was old sheep's meadows. at 6 p.m., architect and historic preservation on saving slave houses. documentation is a type of presentation. by documenting them, that is one way of preserving them. documenting them through my

database is one way to share information. >> at 7 p.m. in oral history, we continue our series on photojournalists with an interview. >> ending up in the front page of the posts. wall, chinsinst the tucked in like this. storynvinced that that may help me. can every weekend on c-span3. >> radio host and can jupiter charles sites discusses his book how the right lost its mind.

>> donald trump represented something, he represented a big middle finger from voters to the establishment. it would have gone with a marco rubio and they didn't. he was a master trip -- master of twitter. he's erratic. this was relatively well-known and conservative. somehow found a way to rationalize the behavior of somebody who insults women.

multi million dollar fine for defrauding students just wanting to get an education. >> sunday night at 9 p.m. eastern on book tv. >> american history tv is joining our cable partners. to learn more about the cities on the current tour, watch cities to her. we continue with a look at the history. >> describe the state of south dakota. >> south dakota is an agricultural state. it is the foundation of our economy. i grew up on a farm, many people are one or two generations or