The first serious attempt at railroad operation in the United States was on the Baltimore & Ohio line in 1830. The company, although chartered in 1821, did not begin construction for seven years. It was three years later than this when Peter Cooper's "Tom Thumb" made a trial run out from Baltimore with a record of thirteen miles per hour. A road from Albany to Schenectady was opened in 1831; and a series of connecting links was rapidly pushed westward across New York state, finally reaching Buffalo in 1842. But prior to 1840, activity in railroad construction was most noticeable in Pennsylvania: partly because of its lack of so admirable a water route to connect it with inland markets as was enjoyed by New York, and partly because of the growth of the coal business which caused the main lines of the Reading Railroad to be laid down as early as 1838. The state of Pennsylvania was busily engaged in improving her existing route over the mountains by replacing the canal and portage portions with rail lines. Pittsburg, which formerly had been five and a half days distant, was thus connected by railroad in 1834. Cars built in the form of boat sections were to be transferred from the rails to canals along part of this route. The Pennsylvania Railroad aiming to provide continuous railway communication over the mountains, was not chartered until 1846; but, nevertheless, as early as 1835 Pennsylvania had over two hundred miles of railway, about one-quarter of the mileage of the United States. New York and New Jersey had about one hundred miles between them, while South Carolina had one hundred and thirty-seven miles. The Baltimore & Ohio during this time was being slowly pushed westward; although it did not reach the Ohio river until 1853, two years after the Erie had, by liberal state aid, been carried to the lakes at Dunkirk, N.Y. Thus it appears that during the decade to 1840 railroad building had progressed unchecked by the panic of 1837. This panic, in fact, by rendering the state construction of canals impossible, may actually have increased the interest in railroad building. The railways of this time were still mainly experimental. They were local and disconnected, serving rather as supplementary to, than as actual competitors of the existing water routes. In Massachusetts and Connecticut the lines radiating out from seaports were intended to serve only as feeders to coastwise traffic; just as short lines were built along the Great Lakes during the decade to 1850 to bring products out to a connection with the natural water routes. A notable exception was the continuous line which by 1840 was in operation lengthwise of the Atlantic coast plain from New York south to Wilmington, North Carolina. The Camden and Amboy between Philadelphia and New York was operated early in the thirties; about the same time that the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore was completed. Much interesting history centres about the first named road. It seems