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114-461: The main function of the Diolkos was the transfer of goods, although in times of war it also became a preferred means of speeding up naval campaigns. The 6-to-8.5-kilometre-long ( 3 + 3 ⁄ 4 to 5 + 1 ⁄ 4  mi) roadway was a rudimentary form of railway , and operated from c.  600 BC until the middle of the first century AD. The Diolkos combined the two principles of

228-408: A crank on a driving axle. Steam locomotives have been phased out in most parts of the world for economical and safety reasons, although many are preserved in working order by heritage railways . Electric locomotives draw power from a stationary source via an overhead wire or third rail . Some also or instead use a battery . In locomotives that are powered by high-voltage alternating current ,

342-554: A crystalline texture, and is typically not foliated ( layered ), although there are exceptions. In geology , the term marble refers to metamorphosed limestone , but its use in stonemasonry more broadly encompasses unmetamorphosed limestone. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material . The word "marble" derives from the Ancient Greek μάρμαρον ( mármaron ), from μάρμαρος ( mármaros ), "crystalline rock, shining stone", perhaps from

456-586: A dining car . Some lines also provide over-night services with sleeping cars . Some long-haul trains have been given a specific name . Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with outlying, surrounding areas, or provide a regional service, making more stops and having lower speeds. Commuter trains serve suburbs of urban areas, providing a daily commuting service. Airport rail links provide quick access from city centres to airports . High-speed rail are special inter-city trains that operate at much higher speeds than conventional railways,

570-731: A fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway , now part of the London Underground Northern line . This was the first major railway to use electric traction . The world's first deep-level electric railway, it runs from the City of London , under the River Thames , to Stockwell in south London. The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed by Charles Brown , then working for Oerlikon , Zürich. In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC , between

684-542: A funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . The line is still operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway. Wagonways (or tramways ) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate

798-492: A hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km (170 mi). Using experience he had gained while working for Jean Heilmann on steam–electric locomotive designs, Brown observed that three-phase motors had a higher power-to-weight ratio than DC motors and, because of the absence of a commutator , were simpler to manufacture and maintain. However, they were much larger than

912-476: A recommended exposure limit (REL) of 10 mg/m total exposure and 5 mg/m respiratory exposure over an 8-hour workday. Dust, debris and temperature fluctuations from working marble can endanger the eye health of employees. For the staff involved in marble processing, it is necessary to provide eye protection equipment, and it is recommended to improve the education of all workers on occupational health risks and strengthen preventive measures. As

1026-431: A steam engine that provides adhesion. Coal , petroleum , or wood is burned in a firebox , boiling water in the boiler to create pressurized steam. The steam travels through the smokebox before leaving via the chimney or smoke stack. In the process, it powers a piston that transmits power directly through a connecting rod (US: main rod) and a crankpin (US: wristpin) on the driving wheel (US main driver) or to

1140-469: A transformer in the locomotive converts the high-voltage low-current power to low-voltage high current used in the traction motors that power the wheels. Modern locomotives may use three-phase AC induction motors or direct current motors. Under certain conditions, electric locomotives are the most powerful traction. They are also the cheapest to run and provide less noise and no local air pollution. However, they require high capital investments both for

1254-550: A diesel locomotive from the company in 1909. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through

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1368-478: A double track plateway, erroneously sometimes cited as world's first public railway, in south London. William Jessop had earlier used a form of all-iron edge rail and flanged wheels successfully for an extension to the Charnwood Forest Canal at Nanpantan , Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge rails. Jessop became a partner in

1482-464: A few hundred meters, after which it switched to the north side, running in a slight bend a similar distance along the canal. From there on, the Diolkos either followed in a straight line the course of the modern canal, or swung south in a wide arc. The roadway ended at the Saronic Gulf at the village Schoinos, modern-day Kalamaki , described by Strabo as the trackway's eastern terminal. Sections of

1596-570: A growth of 12% annually for the 2000–2006 period, compared to 10.5% annually for the 2000–2005 period. The largest dimension marble application is tile. The stone and marble industry is one of the largest industries in Palestine, contributing 20-25% of its total industrial revenues, generating USD $ 400–$ 450 million in revenue annually. The industry employs 15,000–20,000 workers across the West Bank across 1200–1700 facilities, and amounts to 4.5% of

1710-437: A large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Since 1980, rail transport has changed dramatically, but a number of heritage railways continue to operate as part of living history to preserve and maintain old railway lines for services of tourist trains. A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along

1824-498: A larger locomotive named Galvani , exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors , with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators . It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour) for a distance of one and a half miles (2.4 kilometres). It

1938-423: A locomotive. This involves one or more powered vehicles being located at the front of the train, providing sufficient tractive force to haul the weight of the full train. This arrangement remains dominant for freight trains and is often used for passenger trains. A push–pull train has the end passenger car equipped with a driver's cab so that the engine driver can remotely control the locomotive. This allows one of

2052-510: A nearly continuous stretch of 800 m (2,600 ft) and traced about 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in all. Even though Verdelis' excavation reports continue to provide the basis for modern interpretations, his premature death prevented full publication, leaving many open questions concerning the exact nature of the structure. Additional investigations in situ , meant to complement Verdelis’ work, were later published by Georges Raepsaet and Walter Werner. Today, erosion caused by ship movements on

2166-477: A number of trains per hour (tph). Passenger trains can usually be into two types of operation, intercity railway and intracity transit. Whereas intercity railway involve higher speeds, longer routes, and lower frequency (usually scheduled), intracity transit involves lower speeds, shorter routes, and higher frequency (especially during peak hours). Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities. Trains typically have amenities such as

2280-676: A piece of circular rail track in Bloomsbury , London, the Catch Me Who Can , but never got beyond the experimental stage with railway locomotives, not least because his engines were too heavy for the cast-iron plateway track then in use. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's rack locomotive Salamanca built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. This twin-cylinder locomotive

2394-465: A pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive Blücher , also a successful flanged -wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the northeast of England, which became the first public steam railway in

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2508-646: A potential hazard. Mitigations such as dust filters, or dust suppression are suggested, but more research needs to be carried out on the efficacy of safety measures. In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the legal limit ( permissible exposure limit ) for marble exposure in the workplace as 15 mg/m total exposure and 5 mg/m respiratory exposure over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set

2622-400: A relative resistance to shattering. Also, the low index of refraction of calcite allows light to penetrate 12.7 to 38 millimeters into the stone before being scattered out, resulting in the characteristic waxy look which brings a lifelike luster to marble sculptures of any kind, which is why many sculptors preferred and still prefer marble for sculpting the human form. Construction marble is

2736-439: A revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO 2 emissions . Smooth, durable road surfaces have been made for wheeled vehicles since prehistoric times. In some cases, they were narrow and in pairs to support only the wheels. That is, they were wagonways or tracks. Some had grooves or flanges or other mechanical means to keep

2850-623: A route other than the Diolkos, due to the extensive time lag. The Diolkos played an important role in Ancient Greek naval warfare. Greek historians note several occasions from the 5th to the 1st century BC when warships were hauled and pulled across the Isthmus in order to speed up naval campaigning. In 428 BC, the Spartans planned to transport their warships over the Diolkos to the Saronic Gulf to threaten Athens , while later in

2964-739: A single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, and was the prototype for all diesel–electric locomotive control systems. In 1914, world's first functional diesel–electric railcars were produced for the Königlich-Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen ( Royal Saxon State Railways ) by Waggonfabrik Rastatt with electric equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie and diesel engines from Swiss Sulzer AG . They were classified as DET 1 and DET 2 ( de.wiki ). The first regular used diesel–electric locomotives were switcher (shunter) locomotives . General Electric produced several small switching locomotives in

3078-407: A standard. Following SNCF's successful trials, 50 Hz, now also called industrial frequency was adopted as standard for main-lines across the world. Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman . Sir William Thomson examined it in 1888 and described it as a "Priestman oil engine mounted upon a truck which

3192-434: A stone which is composed of calcite, dolomite or serpentine that is capable of taking a polish. More generally in construction , specifically the dimension stone trade, the term marble is used for any crystalline calcitic rock (and some non-calcitic rocks) useful as building stone. For example, Tennessee marble is really a dense granular fossiliferous gray to pink to maroon Ordovician limestone, that geologists call

3306-632: A terminus about one-half mile (800 m) away. A funicular railway was also made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the River Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. The Wollaton Wagonway , completed in 1604 by Huntingdon Beaumont , has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from Strelley to Wollaton near Nottingham . The Middleton Railway in Leeds , which

3420-408: A wheel. This was a large stationary engine , powering cotton mills and a variety of machinery; the state of boiler technology necessitated the use of low-pressure steam acting upon a vacuum in the cylinder, which required a separate condenser and an air pump . Nevertheless, as the construction of boilers improved, Watt investigated the use of high-pressure steam acting directly upon a piston, raising

3534-531: Is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks , which usually consist of two parallel steel rails . Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport , next to road transport . It is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed . Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains . Power

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3648-457: Is a rock resulting from metamorphism of sedimentary carbonate rocks , most commonly limestone or dolomite . Metamorphism causes variable re-crystallization of the original carbonate mineral grains. The resulting marble rock is typically composed of an interlocking mosaic of carbonate crystals . Primary sedimentary textures and structures of the original carbonate rock ( protolith ) have typically been modified or destroyed. Pure white marble

3762-410: Is a single, self-powered car, and may be electrically propelled or powered by a diesel engine . Multiple units have a driver's cab at each end of the unit, and were developed following the ability to build electric motors and other engines small enough to fit under the coach. There are only a few freight multiple units, most of which are high-speed post trains. Steam locomotives are locomotives with

3876-512: Is bonded to the surface of the marble. This is harder, more glossy and stain resistant compared to the original surface. The other often used method of finishing marble is to polish with oxalic acid (H 2 C 2 O 4 ), an organic acid. The resulting reaction is as follows: In this case the calcium oxalate (CaC 2 O 4 ) formed in the reaction is washed away with the slurry, leaving a surface that has not been chemically changed. The haloalkaliphilic methylotrophic bacterium Methylophaga murata

3990-399: Is dominant. Electro-diesel locomotives are built to run as diesel–electric on unelectrified sections and as electric locomotives on electrified sections. Alternative methods of motive power include magnetic levitation , horse-drawn, cable , gravity, pneumatics and gas turbine . A passenger train stops at stations where passengers may embark and disembark. The oversight of the train is

4104-457: Is estimated at 6–7 km (3.7–4.3 mi), 8 km (5 mi) or 8.5 km (5.3 mi) depending on the number of supposed bends taken into account. A total of 1,100 m (3,609 ft) has been archaeologically traced, mainly at its western end close to the Bay of Corinth. There the known trackway began at a mooring place south of the more recent canal and ran parallel to the waterway for

4218-572: Is the result of metamorphism of a very pure ( silicate -poor) limestone or dolomite protolith. The characteristic swirls and veins of many colored marble varieties, sometimes called striations , are usually due to various mineral impurities such as clay , silt , sand , iron oxides , or chert which were originally present as grains or layers in the limestone. Green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally magnesium-rich limestone or dolomite with silica impurities. These various impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by

4332-408: Is usually provided by diesel or electrical locomotives . While railway transport is capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or animal power have existed since antiquity, but modern rail transport began with the invention of the steam locomotive in

4446-533: Is very high, because the internal structure of the rock is very uniform after long-term natural aging, and the internal stress disappears, so the marble will not be deformed due to temperature, and has strong wear resistance. It is a very popular building material. The following table is a summary of the features of Marble. White marble has been prized for its use in sculptures since classical times . This preference has to do with its softness, which made it easier to carve, relative isotropy and homogeneity, and

4560-556: Is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes." In 1894, a 20 hp (15 kW) two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks . In 1906, Rudolf Diesel , Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered

4674-565: The Holston Formation . Ashgabat , the capital city of Turkmenistan , was recorded in the 2013 Guinness Book of Records as having the world's highest concentration of white marble buildings. The extraction of marble is performed by quarrying . Blocks are favoured for most purposes, and can be created through various techniques, including drilling and blasting, water jet and wedge methods. Limestones are often commercially and historically referred to as marble, which differs from

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4788-618: The Peloponnesian War , in 411 BC, they carted over a squadron heading quickly for operations at Chios . In 220 BC, Demetrius of Pharos had a fleet of about fifty vessels dragged across the Isthmus to the Bay of Corinth by his men. Three years later, a Macedonian fleet of 38 vessels was sent across by Philip V , while the larger warships sailed around Cape Malea. After his victory at Actium in 31 BC, Octavian advanced as fast as possible against Marc Antony by ordering part of his 260 Liburnians to be carried over

4902-692: The United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. The first passenger railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened in 1825. The quick spread of railways throughout Europe and North America, following the 1830 opening of the first intercity connection in England, was a key component of the Industrial Revolution . The adoption of rail transport lowered shipping costs compared to water transport, leading to "national markets" in which prices varied less from city to city. In

5016-615: The United Kingdom , South Korea , Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short-haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates

5130-414: The overhead lines and the supporting infrastructure, as well as the generating station that is needed to produce electricity. Accordingly, electric traction is used on urban systems, lines with high traffic and for high-speed rail. Diesel locomotives use a diesel engine as the prime mover . The energy transmission may be either diesel–electric , diesel-mechanical or diesel–hydraulic but diesel–electric

5244-458: The puddling process in 1784. In 1783 Cort also patented the rolling process , which was 15 times faster at consolidating and shaping iron than hammering. These processes greatly lowered the cost of producing iron and rails. The next important development in iron production was hot blast developed by James Beaumont Neilson (patented 1828), which considerably reduced the amount of coke (fuel) or charcoal needed to produce pig iron. Wrought iron

5358-418: The rotary phase converter , enabling electric locomotives to use three-phase motors whilst supplied via a single overhead wire, carrying the simple industrial frequency (50 Hz) single phase AC of the high-voltage national networks. An important contribution to the wider adoption of AC traction came from SNCF of France after World War II. The company conducted trials at AC 50 Hz, and established it as

5472-540: The 1880s, railway electrification began with tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting in the 1940s, steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives . The first high-speed railway system was introduced in Japan in 1964, and high-speed rail lines now connect many cities in Europe , East Asia , and the eastern United States . Following some decline due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had

5586-521: The 1930s (the famous " 44-tonner " switcher was introduced in 1940) Westinghouse Electric and Baldwin collaborated to build switching locomotives starting in 1929. In 1929, the Canadian National Railways became the first North American railway to use diesels in mainline service with two units, 9000 and 9001, from Westinghouse. Although steam and diesel services reaching speeds up to 200 km/h (120 mph) were started before

5700-508: The 1960s in Europe, they were not very successful. The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up to and above 300 km/h (190 mph), has been built in Japan, Spain, France , Germany, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China),

5814-464: The 40 km Burgdorf–Thun line , Switzerland. Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than a short section. The 106 km Valtellina line was opened on 4 September 1902, designed by Kandó and a team from the Ganz works. The electrical system was three-phase at 3 kV 15 Hz. In 1918, Kandó invented and developed

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5928-530: The Butterley Company in 1790. The first public edgeway (thus also first public railway) built was Lake Lock Rail Road in 1796. Although the primary purpose of the line was to carry coal, it also carried passengers. These two systems of constructing iron railways, the "L" plate-rail and the smooth edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well into the early 19th century. The flanged wheel and edge-rail eventually proved its superiority and became

6042-514: The DC motors of the time and could not be mounted in underfloor bogies : they could only be carried within locomotive bodies. In 1894, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó developed a new type 3-phase asynchronous electric drive motors and generators for electric locomotives. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Évian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898. In 1896, Oerlikon installed

6156-419: The Diolkos have been destroyed by the 19th-century Corinth Canal and other modern installations. The Diolkos was a trackway paved with hard limestone with parallel grooves running about 1.60 metres (63 in) apart. The roadway was 3.4 to 6 metres (11 to 20 ft) wide. Since ancient sources tell little about how the ships were hauled across, the mode of ship transport has largely to be reconstructed from

6270-403: The Diolkos may have been used to transport lighter ships across land. Ancient literature is silent on the date of the construction of the Diolkos. For Thucydides (460–395 BC) the Diolkos already seemed to be something ancient. Excavated letters and associated pottery found at the site indicate a construction date at the end of the 7th or beginning of the 6th century BC, that is around

6384-528: The German archaeologist Habbo Gerhard Lolling in the 1883 Baedeker edition. In 1913, James George Frazer reported in his commentary on Pausanias on traces of an ancient trackway across the Isthmus, while parts of the western quay were discovered by Harold North Fowler in 1932. Systematic excavations were finally undertaken by the Greek archaeologist Nikolaos Verdelis between 1956 and 1962, and these uncovered

6498-455: The Isthmus. In 868 AD, the Byzantine admiral Niketas Oryphas had his whole fleet of one hundred dromons dragged across the Isthmus in a quickly executed operation, but this took place most likely on a different route. Despite the frequent mentioning of the Diolkos in connection with military operations, modern scholarship assumes that the prime purpose of the trackway must have been

6612-450: The archaeological evidence. The tracks indicate that transport on the Diolkos was done with some sort of wheeled vehicle. Either vessel and cargo were hauled across on separate vehicles, or only the cargo was taken across and reloaded on a different ship at the other side of the Isthmus. Although a technical analysis has shown that the transport of triremes (25 t , 35 metres (115 ft) long, 5 metres (16 ft) beam), albeit difficult,

6726-449: The canal. The Diolkos itself was then surrounded by earth and stone edging, sidewalks with gravel edging to discourage walking directly on the Diolkos (apparently) and streetlights. This surround and walkway is on both sides of the road at the western end of the canal, east of the lowering-bridge. The works were still curing on 20 October 2024, and roped-off from foot traffic. The nearby road and curb are built up to prevent vehicles traffic on

6840-444: The cleaning of marble products. Crystallization refers to a method of imparting a glossy, more durable finish on to a marble floor (CaCO 3 ). It involves polishing the surface with an acidic solution and a steel wool pad on a flooring machine. The chemical reaction below shows a typical process using magnesium fluorosilicate (MgSiF 6 ) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) taking place. The resulting calcium hexafluorosilicate (CaSiF 6 )

6954-402: The construction of the Diolkos may have initially served particularly for transporting heavy goods like marble , monoliths and timber to points west and east. It is not known what tolls Corinth extracted from the Diolkos on its territory, but the fact that the trackway was used and maintained long after its construction indicates that it remained for merchant ships an attractive alternative to

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7068-430: The duty of a guard/train manager/conductor . Passenger trains are part of public transport and often make up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations. Passenger trains provide long-distance intercity travel, daily commuter trips, or local urban transit services, operating with a diversity of vehicles, operating speeds, right-of-way requirements, and service frequency. Service frequencies are often expressed as

7182-402: The end of the 19th century, because they were cleaner compared to steam-driven trams which caused smoke in city streets. In 1784 James Watt , a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, patented a design for a steam locomotive . Watt had improved the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen , hitherto used to pump water out of mines, and developed a reciprocating engine in 1769 capable of powering

7296-471: The end of the 19th century, improving the quality of steel and further reducing costs. Thus steel completely replaced the use of iron in rails, becoming standard for all railways. The first passenger horsecar or tram , Swansea and Mumbles Railway , was opened between Swansea and Mumbles in Wales in 1807. Horses remained the preferable mode for tram transport even after the arrival of steam engines until

7410-527: The engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales . Trevithick later demonstrated a locomotive operating upon

7524-475: The era of great expansion of railways that began in the late 1860s. Steel rails lasted several times longer than iron. Steel rails made heavier locomotives possible, allowing for longer trains and improving the productivity of railroads. The Bessemer process introduced nitrogen into the steel, which caused the steel to become brittle with age. The open hearth furnace began to replace the Bessemer process near

7638-487: The excavated material will be waste, this is often then used as chips for flooring or wall finish, and uses for which high-calcium limestone is suitable. Marble sludge waste can be used as a mineral filler in water-based paints. Using ground calcium carbonate as a filler in paint production can improve the brightness, hiding power and application performance of paint, and can also replace expensive pigments such as titanium dioxide . Recycling of marble waste leads to

7752-410: The excavated tracks may give a different picture. While there is agreement that the grooves in the eastern part were cut deliberately into the stone slabs to guide cart wheels, those in the western section are interpreted by some authors as a result of wear or do not appear at all. On the other hand, the marked cambers of this road section may point at deliberate tracks as well. Generally, varying forms of

7866-454: The favorite medium for Greek and Roman sculptors and architects (see classical sculpture ), marble has become a cultural symbol of tradition and refined taste. Its extremely varied and colorful patterns make it a favorite decorative material. Places named after the stone include Marblehead, Massachusetts ; Marblehead, Ohio ; Marble Arch , London; the Sea of Marmara ; India's Marble Rocks ; and

7980-522: The first commercial example of the system on the Lugano Tramway . Each 30-tonne locomotive had two 110 kW (150 hp) motors run by three-phase 750 V 40 Hz fed from double overhead lines. Three-phase motors run at a constant speed and provide regenerative braking , and are well suited to steeply graded routes, and the first main-line three-phase locomotives were supplied by Brown (by then in partnership with Walter Boveri ) in 1899 on

8094-503: The geological definition. In 1998, marble production was dominated by 4 countries that accounted for almost half of world production of marble and decorative stone. Italy and China were the world leaders, each representing 16% of world production, while Spain and India produced 9% and 8%, respectively. In 2018 Turkey was the world leader in marble export, with 42% share in global marble trade, followed by Italy with 18% and Greece with 10%. The largest importer of marble in 2018

8208-466: The grooves can also be explained by the long period of operation of the Diolkos, during which modifications and repairs must have significantly changed the appearance of the trackway. The chief engineer of the Corinth Canal, Béla Gerster , conducted extensive research on the topography of the Isthmus, but did not discover the Diolkos. Remains of the ship trackway were probably first identified by

8322-412: The highest possible radius. All these features are dramatically different from freight operations, thus justifying exclusive high-speed rail lines if it is economically feasible. Marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO 3 ) or dolomite (CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 ) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has

8436-504: The intense pressure and heat of the metamorphism. Acids react with the calcium carbonate in marble, producing carbonic acid (which decomposes quickly to CO 2 and H 2 O) and other soluble salts : Outdoor marble statues, gravestones , or other marble structures are damaged by acid rain whether by carbonation , sulfation or the formation of "black-crust" (accumulation of calcium sulphate, nitrates and carbon particles). Vinegar and other acidic solutions should be avoided in

8550-677: The latter casually refers to a diolkos close to the harbor of Alexandria which may have been located at the southern tip of the island of Pharos. Another diolkos is mentioned by Ptolemy (90–168 AD) in his book on geography (IV, 5, 10) as connecting a false mouth of a partly silted up Nile branch with the Mediterranean Sea . Neither Xenocrates nor Ptolemy offers any details on his trackway. 37°56′59.95″N 22°57′40.61″E  /  37.9499861°N 22.9612806°E  / 37.9499861; 22.9612806 Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport )

8664-1230: The limit being regarded at 200 to 350 kilometres per hour (120 to 220 mph). High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haul service and most systems are in Western Europe and East Asia. Magnetic levitation trains such as the Shanghai maglev train use under-riding magnets which attract themselves upward towards the underside of a guideway and this line has achieved somewhat higher peak speeds in day-to-day operation than conventional high-speed railways, although only over short distances. Due to their heightened speeds, route alignments for high-speed rail tend to have broader curves than conventional railways, but may have steeper grades that are more easily climbed by trains with large kinetic energy. High kinetic energy translates to higher horsepower-to-ton ratios (e.g. 20 horsepower per short ton or 16 kilowatts per tonne); this allows trains to accelerate and maintain higher speeds and negotiate steep grades as momentum builds up and recovered in downgrades (reducing cut and fill and tunnelling requirements). Since lateral forces act on curves, curvatures are designed with

8778-429: The locomotive-hauled train's drawbacks to be removed, since the locomotive need not be moved to the front of the train each time the train changes direction. A railroad car is a vehicle used for the haulage of either passengers or freight. A multiple unit has powered wheels throughout the whole train. These are used for rapid transit and tram systems, as well as many both short- and long-haul passenger trains. A railcar

8892-569: The main portion of the B&;O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. By the early 1900s most street railways were electrified. The London Underground , the world's oldest underground railway, opened in 1863, and it began operating electric services using

9006-439: The manpower needed to haul the vessels over the isthmus ridge. Assuming that a trireme soaked with water weighed 38 tons including its trolley, and that a man can exert a force of 300  N over an extended period of time, the pulling teams—depending on the slope and the surface of the cart track—must have numbered between 112 and 142 people, with a combined exertion of force of 33 to 42 kN, or around 3.8 tons weight. Bringing

9120-433: The mid-1920s. The Soviet Union operated three experimental units of different designs since late 1925, though only one of them (the E el-2 ) proved technically viable. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp , a General Electric electrical engineer, developed and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system (subsequent improvements were also patented by Lemp). Lemp's design used

9234-546: The nation's GDP. The vast majority of the industry's exports are to Israel. Marble in the geologic sense does not naturally outcrop in Palestine, and that the vast majority of commercially labeled marble produced in Palestine produced would be geologically considered limestone. Particulate air pollution exposure has been found to be elevated in the marble production industry. Exposure to the dust produced by cutting marble could impair lung function or cause lung disease in workers, such as silicosis . Skin and eye problems are also

9348-523: The nearby Canal has left considerable portions of the Diolkos in a poor state, particularly at its excavated western end. Critics who blame the Greek Ministry of Culture for continued inactivity have launched a petition to save and restore the registered archaeological site. Restoration work was performed in October 2024 to shore up the bank canal bank where the edge of the Diolkos was eroding into

9462-412: The noise they made on the tracks. There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck , Cumbria , England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot , near Liverpool , sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to

9576-511: The overland passage of the Isthmus, a neck of land 6.4 km (4.0 mi) wide at its narrowest, offered a much shorter route to Athens for ships sailing to and from the Ionian coast of Greece. The Diolkos also had a commercial function in transporting goods. Little is known of its success in increasing trade but because of the length of time it was maintained, it is presumed that it had some positive impact. In addition to trade, during wartime

9690-525: The possibility of a smaller engine that might be used to power a vehicle. Following his patent, Watt's employee William Murdoch produced a working model of a self-propelled steam carriage in that year. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick , a British engineer born in Cornwall . This used high-pressure steam to drive

9804-710: The railway and the overland transport of ships, on a scale that remained unique in antiquity . The Diolkos saved ships sailing from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea , a dangerous sea journey round the Peloponnese, whose three headlands had a reputation for gales, especially Cape Matapan and Cape Malea . By contrast, both the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf were relatively sheltered waters. In addition,

9918-441: The standard for railways. Cast iron used in rails proved unsatisfactory because it was brittle and broke under heavy loads. The wrought iron invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820 replaced cast iron. Wrought iron, usually simply referred to as "iron", was a ductile material that could undergo considerable deformation before breaking, making it more suitable for iron rails. But iron was expensive to produce until Henry Cort patented

10032-458: The surface. The following ancient writers mention the transfer of ships across the Isthmus (in chronological order): Apart from the Diolkos at Corinth, there is scant literary evidence for two more ship trackways by that name in antiquity, both in Roman Egypt : The physician Oribasius (c. 320–400 AD) records two passages from his 1st century AD colleague Xenocrates , in which

10146-413: The time when Periander was tyrant of Corinth . The Diolkos remained reportedly in regular service until at least the middle of the 1st century AD, after which no more written references appear. Possibly the trackway was put out of use by Nero 's abortive canal works in 67 AD. Much later transports of warships across the Isthmus in the late 9th century, and around 1150, are assumed to have used

10260-475: The time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway , built in 1830. Steam power continued to be the dominant power system in railways around the world for more than a century. The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery-electric locomotive. Davidson later built

10374-679: The towns of Marble, Minnesota ; Marble, Colorado ; Marble Falls, Texas , and Marble Hill, Manhattan, New York . The Elgin Marbles are marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens that are on display in the British Museum . Total world quarrying production in 2019 was approximately 316 million tonnes; however, quarrying waste accounted for 53% of this total production. In the process of marble mining and processing, around half or

10488-543: The track. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most trains carry a revenue load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railway's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. The engine driver (engineer in North America) controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are under automatic control. Traditionally, trains are pulled using

10602-522: The transport of cargo, considering that warships would not have needed transporting in this manner very often, and ancient historians were always more interested in war than commerce. Comments by Pliny the Elder and Strabo , which described the Diolkos as being in regular service during times of peace, also imply a commercial use of the trackway. Coinciding with the rise of monumental architecture in Greece ,

10716-471: The transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica . This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from

10830-428: The trip around Cape Malea for much of antiquity. The Diolkos ran across the narrowest part of the Isthmus, where the trackway followed the local topography in a curved course in order to avoid steeper gradients. The roadway passed the Isthmus ridge at c. 79 m (259 ft) height with an average gradient of 1:70 (a 1.43% grade), while the steepest sections rose at a gradient of 1:16.5 (a 6% grade). Its total length

10944-419: The trolley up to speed may have required as many as 180 men. Assuming a speed of 2 km per hour over an estimated length of 6 kilometres, the transfer from sea to sea would have taken three hours to complete. Assuming less load and rolling friction , Raepsaet, in contrast, calculates a maximum pulling force of 27 kN, which would have needed a slightly smaller towing crew. Under these circumstances,

11058-474: The use of harnessed oxen—which has been refuted by Tolley on the basis of their relatively diminished pulling capabilities—would have become feasible. However, the necessary expenditure of energy at the Diolkos must be regarded in both scenarios as considerable. According to the British historian of science M. J. T. Lewis, the Diolkos represented a railway , in the basic sense of a prepared track which so guides

11172-405: The vehicles running on it that they cannot leave the track. Measuring between 6 km (4 mi) and 8.5 km (5.3 mi), and being open to all on payment, it constituted even a public railway, a concept which according to Lewis did not reoccur until c. 1800. Also, its average gauge of around 160 cm (5 ft 3 in) is similar to modern standards. However, a close examination of

11286-585: The verb μαρμαίρω ( marmaírō ), "to flash, sparkle, gleam"; R. S. P. Beekes has suggested that a " Pre-Greek origin is probable". This stem is also the ancestor of the English word "marmoreal", meaning "marble-like." While the English term "marble" resembles the French marbre , most other European languages (with words like "marmoreal") more closely resemble the original Ancient Greek. Marble

11400-570: The wheels on track. For example, evidence indicates that a 6 to 8.5 km long Diolkos paved trackway transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt . In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug ,

11514-655: The widespread exchange of marble objects, including building elements, sculptures, and sarcophagi . There was a significant increase in the distribution of white marble from the late 1st century BC to the end of the 2nd century AD. A gradual decline in distribution started in the third century AD. According to the United States Geological Survey , U.S. domestic marble production in 2006 was 46,400 tons valued at about $ 18.1 million, compared to 72,300 tons valued at $ 18.9 million in 2005. Crushed marble production (for aggregate and industrial uses) in 2006

11628-559: The world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive Rocket , which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all

11742-753: Was China with a 64% market share, followed by India with 11% and Italy with 5%. White marbles throughout the Mediterranean basin were widely utilized during the Roman period. Extraction centers were unevenly distributed across the Italian Peninsula , mainland Greece , the Aegean Islands , Asia Minor , and smaller hubs like those in the Iberian Peninsula . The need for extensive trade arose due to this imbalance, leading to

11856-465: Was 11.8 million tons valued at $ 116 million, of which 6.5 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate and the rest was construction aggregate . For comparison, 2005 crushed marble production was 7.76 million tons valued at $ 58.7 million, of which 4.8 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate and the rest was construction aggregate. U.S. dimension marble demand is about 1.3 million tons. The DSAN World Demand for (finished) Marble Index has shown

11970-512: Was a soft material that contained slag or dross . The softness and dross tended to make iron rails distort and delaminate and they lasted less than 10 years. Sometimes they lasted as little as one year under high traffic. All these developments in the production of iron eventually led to the replacement of composite wood/iron rails with superior all-iron rails. The introduction of the Bessemer process , enabling steel to be made inexpensively, led to

12084-602: Was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, and is the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814, George Stephenson , inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played

12198-514: Was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 volts DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station . The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton , England. The railway is still operational, thus making it the oldest operational electric railway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria. It

12312-706: Was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in Lewiston, New York . In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of the wooden rails. This allowed a variation of gauge to be used. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use that allowed for switching. A system

12426-548: Was introduced in which unflanged wheels ran on L-shaped metal plates, which came to be known as plateways . John Curr , a Sheffield colliery manager, invented this flanged rail in 1787, though the exact date of this is disputed. The plate rail was taken up by Benjamin Outram for wagonways serving his canals, manufacturing them at his Butterley ironworks . In 1803, William Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway ,

12540-455: Was isolated from deteriorating marble in the Kremlin . Bacterial and fungal degradation was detected in four samples of marble from Milan Cathedral ; black Cladosporium attacked dried acrylic resin using melanin. Marble is a rock composed of calcium and magnesium carbonate , mostly white and pink. Common marble varieties are granular limestone or dolomite . The hardness of marble

12654-489: Was light enough to not break the edge-rails track and solved the problem of adhesion by a cog-wheel using teeth cast on the side of one of the rails. Thus it was also the first rack railway . This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This

12768-423: Was technically feasible, it is assumed that the vessels were usually smaller boats rather than ships. To avoid damaging the keel during transport, hypozomata , thick ropes running from bow to stern , to reduce sagging and hogging of the hull , must have been used. Ship and cargo were presumably pulled by men and animals with ropes, tackles and possibly also capstans . The scientist Tolley aimed to establish

12882-762: Was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security. By the middle of the nineteenth century most european countries had military uses for railways. Werner von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway , opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin , Germany, in 1881. It

12996-636: Was the first tram line in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years later, in the U.S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway , using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague . The first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile section of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1895 connecting

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