The underground railroad wasn't actually a railroad but a code name for a group of persons who helped the slaves escape in the 1800's. Take a journey on the trackless train here.
Map from The Underground Railroad Written & illustrated by Raymond Bial (1995).
some history about trains:
abolitionist emblem
designed in 1787
Orphan Trains
Beginning in 1854, charitable institutions in New York City began sending orphans on trains to the west to find new families, feeling that the children would fare better out west than on the streets of New York. Read more at
The Switchback Railroad, the world's first roller coaster, opened at Coney Island, New York, on June 13, 1884. Passengers seated sideways rode an unsophisticated train on tracks over a wooden structure 600 feet long. The train started at a height of 50 feet on one end and ran downhill by gravity until its momentum died. Passengers left the train and attendants pushed the cars over a switch to a higher level. The passengers then returned to their seats and rode back to the original starting point. Admission was 5 cents. Creator Lamarcus Thompson grossed an average $600 per day. In 1998 dollars, that translates to $12,000.
The Carolwood Pacific, Walt Disney's miniature railroad with Mickey, Minnie, Donald & Goofy out for an afternoon ride
"He [Mickey Mouse] popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner."
The first train robbery in the United States was committed by the Reno brothers in 1866. They hopped the Ohio and Minnesota train as it pulled out of the Seymour depot. Their take was $15,000
