Misplaced Pages

#91908

154-529: The Reading Traction Company was an interurban railroad in and around Reading, Pennsylvania , USA. In 1892 the company was involved in a suspect stock deal that ended up before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1901, Strunk v. Owen, et. al . This United States rail–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about transportation in Pennsylvania

308-408: 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 ,

462-546: A deme that both parents were Alexandrian citizens. Alexandrians were the only Egyptians that could obtain Roman citizenship. If a common Egyptian wanted to become a Roman citizen he would first have to become an Alexandrian citizen. The Augustan period in Egypt saw the creation of urban communities with " Hellenic " landowning elites. These landowning elites were put in a position of privilege and power and had more self-administration than

616-586: 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,

770-710: 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

924-527: 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

1078-488: 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

1232-486: A proconsul , since a Roman law (a lex ) granted him "proconsular imperium " (Latin: imperium ad similitudinem proconsulis ). Unlike in senatorial provinces , the prefect was responsible for the collection of certain taxes and for the organization of the all-important grain shipments from Egypt (including the annona ). Because of these financial responsibilities, the governor's administration had to be closely controlled and organized. The governorship of Egypt

1386-431: 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

1540-469: 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

1694-479: A cemetery is 60 metres (200 ft) long and 20 metres (66 ft) wide. In the late 4th century, monastic churches differed from the other churches by building rectangular sanctuaries – rather than semi-circular ones – at their east ends where the altar stood, and in place of the apse was an aedicula or niche embellished with an arch and columns in applied in plaster. In the 5th century, regional styles of monumental church basilica with pastaphoria emerged: on

SECTION 10

#1733084901092

1848-481: A city founded c.  130 by the emperor Hadrian ( r.  117–138 ). All these were sacred cities dedicated to particular deities. The ruins of these cities were first methodically surveyed and sketched by intellectuals attached to Napoleon's campaign in Egypt , eventually published in the Description de l'Égypte series. Illustrations produced by Edme-François Jomard and Vivant Denon form much of

2002-544: 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

2156-468: 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

2310-499: A highly developed urban economy. It was by far the wealthiest Roman province outside of Italy . The population of Roman Egypt is unknown, although estimates vary from 4 to 8 million . Alexandria , its capital, was the largest port and second largest city of the Roman Empire. Three Roman legions garrisoned Egypt in the early Roman imperial period , with the garrison later reduced to two, alongside auxilia formations of

2464-437: 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

2618-488: 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

2772-423: 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

2926-477: 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

3080-650: 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

3234-460: 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

SECTION 20

#1733084901092

3388-418: A record of soldiers' service history, six bronze Roman military diplomas dating between 83 and 206 are the main source of documentary evidence for the auxilia in Egypt; these inscribed certificates rewarded 25 or 26 years of military service in the auxilia with Roman citizenship and the right of conubium . That the army was more Greek-speaking than in other provinces is certain. The heart of

3542-439: 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

3696-407: A rival power base (as Mark Antony had been able to do), while the military legati commanding the legions were career soldiers, formerly centurions with the senior rank of primus pilus , rather than politicians whose military experience was limited to youthful service as a military tribune . Beneath the praefectus Aegypti , the overall commander of legions and auxilia stationed in Egypt

3850-402: A royal scribe ( βασιλικός γραμματεύς , basilikós grammateús , 'royal secretary'). These scribes were responsible for their nome 's financial affairs, including administration of all property, land, land revenues, and temples, and what remains of their record-keeping is unparalleled in the ancient world for its completeness and complexity. The royal scribes could act as proxy for

4004-724: 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

4158-407: 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

4312-479: A temple of Serapis and a tetrastyle at Diospolis Magna at Thebes , and, at Philae , a triumphal arch and temples dedicated to the worship of the emperor Augustus and the goddess Roma , the personification of Rome. Besides a few individual stone blocks in some mētropoleis , substantial remains of Roman architecture are known in particular from three of the mētropoleis – Heracleopolis Magna , Oxyrhynchus , and Hermopolis Magna – as well as from Antinoöpolis ,

4466-620: 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

4620-444: A time. Three or four alae of cavalry were stationed in Egypt, each ala numbering around 500 horsemen. There were between seven and ten cohortes of auxilia infantry, each cohors about 500 hundred strong, although some were cohortes equitatae – mixed units of 600 men, with infantry and cavalry in a roughly 4:1 ratio. Besides the auxilia stationed at Alexandria, at least three detachments permanently garrisoned

4774-408: 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

Reading Traction Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

4928-657: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport ) 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

5082-410: 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

5236-399: 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

5390-654: Is known from other provinces of the empire, and little evidence exists of the military practices of the prefect and his officers. Most papyri have been found in Middle Egypt 's villages, and the texts are primarily concerned with local affairs, rarely giving space to high politics and military matters. Not much is known about the military encampments of the Roman imperial period , since many are underwater or have been built over and because Egyptian archaeology has traditionally taken little interest in Roman sites. Because they supply

5544-566: Is not known precisely when it was withdrawn from Egypt, though it was certainly before 23 AD, during the reign of Tiberius ( r.  14–37 ). In the reign of Tiberius's step-father and predecessor Augustus, the legions had been stationed at Nicopolis and at Egyptian Babylon, and perhaps at Thebes . After August 119, the III Cyrenaica was ordered out of Egypt; the XXII Deiotariana was transferred sometime afterwards, and before 127/8,

5698-408: 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

5852-550: 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

6006-521: The strategoi , but each reported directly to Alexandria, where dedicated financial secretaries – appointed for each individual nome – oversaw the accounts: an eklogistes and a graphon ton nomon . The eklogistes was responsible for general financial affairs while the graphon ton nomon likely dealt with matters relating to the Idios Logos . In 200/201, the emperor Septimius Severus ( r.  193–211 ) granted each metropolis, and

6160-454: The Idios Logos , responsible for special revenues like the proceeds of bona caduca property, and the iuridicus (Koinē Greek: δικαιοδότης , romanized:  dikaiodotes , lit.   'giver of laws'), the senior legal official, were both imperially appointed. From the reign of Hadrian ( r.  117–138 ), the financial powers of the prefect and the control of

6314-638: The Legio II Traiana arrived, to remain as the main component of the Army of Egypt for two centuries. After some fluctuations in the size and positions of the auxilia garrison in the early decades of Roman Egypt, relating to the conquest and pacification of the country, the auxilia contingent was mostly stable during the Principate , increasing somewhat towards the end of the 2nd century, and with some individual formations remaining in Egypt for centuries at

Reading Traction Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

6468-571: The canabae settlements surrounding the army's base at Nicopolis, while only about one eighth were Alexandrian citizens. Egyptians were given Roman-style Latin names on joining the army; unlike in other provinces, indigenous names are nearly unknown among the local soldiers of the Army of Egypt. One of the surviving military diplomas lists the soldier's birthplace as Coptos , while others demonstrate that soldiers and centurions from elsewhere retired to Egypt: auxilia veterans from Chios and Hippo Regius (or Hippos ) are named. Evidence from

6622-532: The demos '), and cargo supervisors ( ἐπίπλοοι , epiploöi ). Other liturgical officials were responsible for other specific aspects of the economy: a suite of officials was each responsible for arranging supplies of particular necessity in the course of the prefect's official tours. The liturgy system extended to most aspects of Roman administration by the reign of Trajan ( r.  98–117 ), though constant efforts were made by people eligible for such duties to escape their imposition. The reforms of

6776-616: The Ancient Egyptian deities and Hellenistic religions of Egypt kept most of their temples and privileges, and in turn the priests also served the Roman imperial cult of the deified emperors and their families. As Rome overtook the Ptolemaic system in place for areas of Egypt, they made many changes. The effect of the Roman conquest was at first to strengthen the position of the Greeks and of Hellenism against Egyptian influences. Some of

6930-750: The Christianization of the Roman Empire , especially the growth of Christianity in Egypt . After Constantine the Great gained control of Egypt in AD ;324, the emperors promoted Christianity. The Coptic language , derived from earlier forms of Egyptian, emerged among the Christians of Roman Egypt. Under Diocletian the frontier was moved downriver to the First Cataract of the Nile at Syene ( Aswan ), withdrawing from

7084-563: The Coptos – Myos Hormos road and at the imperial granite quarry at Mons Claudianus . Another Roman outpost, known from an inscription, existed on Farasan , the chief island of the Red Sea 's Farasan Islands off the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula . As in other provinces, many of the Roman soldiers in Egypt were recruited locally, not only among the non-citizen auxilia , but among

7238-565: The Dodekaschoinos region. This southern frontier was largely peaceful for many centuries, likely garrisoned by limitanei of the late Roman army . Regular units also served in Egypt, including Scythians known to have been stationed in the Thebaid by Justinian the Great ( r.  527–565 ). Constantine introduced the gold solidus coin , which stabilized the economy. The trend towards private ownership of land became more pronounced in

7392-518: The Egyptian temples and priesthoods was devolved to other procurators, a dioiketes ( διοικητής ), the chief financial officer, and an archiereus ( ἀρχιερεύς , 'archpriest'). A procurator could deputize as the prefect's representative where necessary. Procurators were also appointed from among the freedmen ( manumitted slaves) of the imperial household , including the powerful procurator usiacus , responsible for state property in

7546-490: The Ptolemaic period , but the development of a much more complex and sophisticated taxation system was a hallmark of Roman rule. Taxes in both cash and kind were assessed on land, and a bewildering variety of small taxes in cash, as well as customs dues and the like, was collected by appointed officials. A massive amount of Aegyptus' grain was shipped downriver (north) both to feed the population of Alexandria and for export to

7700-569: The Roman army . The major town of each nome (administrative region) was known as a metropolis and granted additional privileges. The inhabitants of Roman Egypt were divided by social class along ethnic and cultural lines. Most inhabitants were peasant farmers, who lived in rural villages and spoke the Egyptian language (which evolved from the Demotic Egyptian of the Late and Ptolemaic periods to Coptic under Roman rule). In each metropolis,

7854-409: The Roman calendar . Evidence exists of more than 60 edicts issued by the Roman governors of Egypt. To the government at Alexandria besides the prefect of Egypt, the Roman emperors appointed several other subordinate procurators for the province, all of equestrian rank and, at least from the reign of Commodus ( r.  176–192 ) of similar, "ducenarian" salary bracket. The administrator of

SECTION 50

#1733084901092

8008-455: The Roman pharaoh . The Ptolemaic institutions were dismantled: the government administration was wholly reformed, as was the social structure, though some bureaucratic elements were maintained. The Graeco-Egyptian legal system of the Hellenistic period continued in use, but within the bounds of Roman law . The tetradrachm coinage minted at the Ptolemaic capital of Alexandria continued to be

8162-671: 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

8316-609: 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

8470-631: The Wars of Alexander the Great that overthrew Achaemenid Egypt . The Ptolemaic pharaoh Cleopatra VII sided with Julius Caesar during Caesar's Civil War (49–45 BC) and Caesar's subsequent Roman dictatorship . After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Cleopatra aligned Egypt with Mark Antony , the Roman triumvir who controlled the eastern Mediterranean. In the last war of the Roman Republic (32–30 BC), Antony (with Cleopatra's support) fought against Octavian . The decisive naval Battle of Actium

8624-536: The augustus himself: his fairness ( aequitas , 'equality') and his foresight ( providentia , 'providence'). From the early 2nd century, service as the governor of Egypt was frequently the penultimate stage in the career of a praetorian prefect. The governor's powers as prefect, which included the rights to make edicts ( ius edicendi ) and, as the supreme judicial authority, to order capital punishment ( ius gladii , 'right of swords '), expired as soon as his successor arrived in

8778-678: The legions and cohorts , for the organization of finance and taxation, and for the administration of justice. The Egyptian provinces of the Ptolemaic Kingdom remained wholly under Roman rule until the administrative reforms of the augustus Diocletian ( r.  284–305 ). In these first three centuries of Roman Egypt, the whole country came under the central Roman control of single governor, officially called in Latin : praefectus Alexandreae et Aegypti , lit.   'prefect of Alexandria and Egypt' and more usually referred to as

8932-414: 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

9086-458: 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

9240-418: 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

9394-532: 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

SECTION 60

#1733084901092

9548-510: 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

9702-500: 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),

9856-651: The 2nd century suggests most auxilia came from Egypt, with others drawn from the provinces of Africa and Syria , and from Roman Asia Minor . Auxilia from the Balkans, who served throughout the Roman army, also served in Egypt: many Dacian names are known from ostraca in the Trajanic period, perhaps connected with the recruitment of Dacians during and after Trajan's Dacian Wars ; they are predominantly cavalrymen's names, with some infantrymen's. Thracians , common in

10010-660: The 3rd century. Having escaped much of the Crisis of the Third Century , Roman Egypt fell under the control of the breakaway Palmyrene Empire after an invasion of Egypt by Zenobia in 269. The emperor Aurelian ( r.  270–275 ) successfully besieged Alexandria and recovered Egypt. The usurpers Domitius Domitianus and Achilleus took control of the province in opposition to emperor Diocletian ( r.  284–305 ), who recovered it in 297–298. Diocletian then introduced administrative and economic reforms. These coincided with

10164-460: 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

10318-644: The 5th century and peaked in the 6th century, with large estates built up from many individual plots. Some large estates were owned by Christian churches, and smaller land-holders included those who were themselves both tenant farmers on larger estates and landlords of tenant-farmers working their own land. The First Plague Pandemic arrived in the Mediterranean Basin with the emergence of the Justinianic Plague at Pelusium in Roman Egypt in 541. Egypt

10472-574: The Army of Egypt was the Nicopolis garrison at Alexandria, with at least one legion permanently stationed there, along with a strong force of auxilia cavalry. These troops would both guard the residence of the praefectus Aegypti against uprisings among the Alexandrians and were poised to march quickly to any point at the prefect's command. At Alexandria too was the Classis Alexandrina ,

10626-522: 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

10780-511: 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

10934-568: The Egyptian monarchy. The division between the rural life of the villages, where the Egyptian language was spoken, and the metropolis, where the citizens spoke Koine Greek and frequented the Hellenistic gymnasia , was the most significant cultural division in Roman Egypt, and was not dissolved by the Constitutio Antoniniana of 212, which made all free Egyptians Roman citizens. There

11088-451: The Egyptian population. Within the citizenry, there were gymnasiums that Greek citizens could enter if they showed that both parents were members of the gymnasium based on a list that was compiled by the government in 4–5 AD. The candidate for the gymnasium would then be let into the ephebus . There was also the council of elders known as the gerousia . This council of elders did not have a boulai to answer to. All of this Greek organization

11242-573: The Greek cities in Egypt, it is clear that the other Greek cities, such as Antinoöpolis, enjoyed privileges very similar to the ones seen in Alexandria; for instance, like Alexandrians, Antinoöpolites were exempted from paying poll-taxes. All of these changes amounted to the Greeks being treated as an ally in Egypt and the native Egyptians were treated as a conquered race. The Gnomon of the Idios Logos shows

11396-592: The Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis (under the name ϹΑΡΑΠΟ , "Sarapo"). Since Serapis was the supreme deity of the pantheon of Alexandria in Egypt , this coin suggests that Huvishka had as strong orientation towards Roman Egypt, which may have been an important market for the products coming from the Kushan Empire. In the administrative provincial capitals of the nomoi , the mētropoleis mostly inherited from

11550-555: The Latin: praefectus Aegypti , lit.   'prefect of Egypt' or the Koinē Greek : ἔπαρχος Αἰγύπτου , romanized:  eparchos Aigyptou , lit.   ' Eparch of Egypt'. The double title of the governor as prefect "of Alexandria and Egypt" reflects the distinctions between Upper and Lower Egypt and Alexandria, since Alexandria, outside the Nile Delta ,

11704-529: The Nile Valley, but about their duties little is known, as little evidence survives, though they were, in addition to the strategoi of the nomoi , the prime local representatives of the Roman state. Archaeological work led by Hélène Cuvigny has revealed many ostraca (inscribed ceramic fragments) which give unprecedently detailed information on the lives of soldiers stationed in the Eastern Desert along

11858-523: The Pharaonic and Ptolemaic period, Roman public buildings were erected by the governing strategos and the local gymnasiarch . In most cases, these have not survived and evidence of them is rare, but it is probable that most were built in the classical architecture of the Graeco-Roman world, employing the classical orders in stone buildings. Prominent remains include two Roman theatres at Pelusium ,

12012-406: The Roman capital. There were frequent complaints of oppression and extortion from the taxpayers. For land management and tenure, the Ptolemaic state had retained much of the categorization of land as under the earlier pharaohs, but the Roman Empire introduced a distinction between private and public lands – the earlier system had categorized little land as private property – and a complex arrangement

12166-772: The Romans was both unique and complicated. On the one hand, the Romans continued to use many of the same organizational tactics that were in place under the leaders of the Ptolemaic period. At the same time, the Romans saw the Greeks in Aegyptus as "Egyptians", an idea that both the native Egyptians and Greeks would have rejected. To further compound the whole situation, Jews, who themselves were very Hellenized overall, had their own communities, separate from both Greeks and native Egyptians. Most inhabitants were peasants, many working as tenant-farmers for high rents in kind, cultivating sacred land belonging to temples or public land formerly belonging to

12320-600: The army in other Roman provinces, were also present, and an auxiliary diploma from the Egyptian garrison has been found in Thracia . Two auxilia diplomas connect Army of Egypt veterans with Syria, including one naming Apamea . Large numbers of recruits mustered in Asia Minor may have supplemented the garrison after the Diaspora Revolt , a Jewish uprising in Egypt, Libya and Cyprus. The social structure in Aegyptus under

12474-449: The auxiliary forces and attain citizenship upon discharge. The different groups had different rates of taxation based on their social class. Roman citizens and citizens of Alexandria were exempted from the poll tax . Hellenized inhabitants of the nome capitals paid a low rate of poll tax, while native Egyptians paid a higher rate. Native Egyptians were barred from serving in the army, and there were other defined legal distinctions between

12628-419: The citizens spoke Koine Greek and followed a Hellenistic culture. However there was considerable social mobility, increasing urbanization, and both the rural and urban population were involved in trade and had high literacy rates. In AD 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana gave Roman citizenship to all free Egyptians. The Antonine Plague struck in the late 2nd century, but Roman Egypt recovered by

12782-400: The city of Alexandria, a boulē (a Hellenistic town council). The nomoi were grouped traditionally into those of Upper and Lower Egypt, the two divisions each being known as an " epistrategy " after the chief officer, the epistrategos ( ἐπιστράτηγος , epistratēgós , 'over-general'), each of whom was also a Roman procurator. Soon after the Roman annexation, a new epistrategy

12936-489: The city, which was dedicated to the medjed , a sacred species of Mormyrus fish. Two groups of buildings survive at Heracleopolis Magna, sacred to Heracles / Hercules , which is otherwise known from Jomard's work, which also forms the mainstay of knowledge about the architecture of Antinoöpolis, founded by Hadrian in honour of his deified lover Antinous . The Napoleonic-era evidence is also important for documenting Hermopolis Magna, where more buildings survive and which

13090-438: The classes. Within the mētropoleis there was a Hellenic socio-political élite, an urban land-owning aristocracy that dominated Egypt by the 2nd and throughout the 3rd centuries through their large private estates. The social structure in Aegyptus is very closely linked to the governing administration. Elements of centralized rule that were derived from the Ptolemaic period lasted into the 4th century. One element in particular

13244-533: The coast of the Mediterranean and throughout the northern part of the country the churches were basilicas of three or five aisles, but in Middle Egypt and Upper Egypt the basilicas were often given a colonnade all the way around the structure, forming a continuous ambulatory by the addition of a transverse fourth aisle to the west of the other three. In eastern Egypt, the columns and colonnade were emphasized, and

13398-467: The connection between law and status. It lays out the revenues it deals with, mainly fines and confiscation of property, to which only a few groups were apt. The Gnomon also confirms that a freed slave takes his former master's social status. The Gnomon demonstrates the social controls that the Romans had in place through monetary means based on status and property. The economic resources that this imperial government existed to exploit had not changed since

13552-657: The count of the Orient (i.e. the vicar) of the diocese headquartered in Antioch in Syria. Emperor Justinian abolished the Diocese of Egypt in 538 and re-combined civil and military power in the hands of the dux with a civil deputy ( praeses ) as a counterweight to the power of the church authorities. All pretense of local autonomy had by then vanished. The presence of the soldiery was more noticeable, its power and influence more pervasive in

13706-449: The currency of an increasingly monetized economy, but its value was made equal to the Roman denarius . Augustus introduced land reforms that enabled wider entitlement to private ownership of land (previously rare under the Ptolemaic cleruchy system of allotments under royal ownership) and the local administration reformed into a Roman liturgical system, in which land-owners were required to serve in local government. The priesthoods of

13860-473: The diverse set-up of various institutions that the Romans continued to use after their takeover of Egypt. Just as under the Ptolemies, Alexandria and its citizens had their own special designations. The capital city enjoyed a higher status and more privileges than the rest of Egypt. Just as it was under the Ptolemies, the primary way of becoming a citizen of Roman Alexandria was through showing when registering for

14014-430: 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

14168-400: The early 4th century had established the basis for another 250 years of comparative prosperity in Aegyptus, at a cost of perhaps greater rigidity and more oppressive state control. Aegyptus was subdivided for administrative purposes into a number of smaller provinces, and separate civil and military officials were established; the praeses and the dux . The province was under the supervision of

14322-404: The elites per aroura of land in tax-rates, and about 4–5 times more than Alexandrians per aroura of land in tax-rates. These privileges even extended to corporal punishments. Romans were protected from this type of punishment while native Egyptians were whipped. Alexandrians, on the other hand, had the privilege of merely being beaten with a rod. Although Alexandria enjoyed the greatest status of

14476-478: The emperor or to wealthy private landlords, and they were relatively much more heavily burdened by rentals, which tended to remain at a fairly high level. Overall, the degree of monetization and complexity in the economy, even at the village level, was intense. Goods were moved around and exchanged through the medium of coin on a large scale and, in the towns and the larger villages, a high level of industrial and commercial activity developed in close conjunction with

14630-402: 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

14784-467: 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

14938-515: 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

15092-404: The equestrian order, rather than, as in other provinces, a governor of the senatorial class. This distinction was stipulated in a law promulgated by Augustus, and, because it was unthinkable that an equestrian should command a senator, the commanders of the legions in Egypt were themselves, uniquely, of equestrian rank. As a result of these strictures, the governor was rendered unable to build up

15246-470: 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

15400-403: The evidence of these remains, because since the 19th century many of the ruins have themselves disappeared. South of Thebes, the mētropoleis may have been largely without classical buildings, but near Antinoöpolis the classical influence may have been stronger. Most mētropoleis were probably built on the classical Hippodamian grid employed by the Hellenistic polis , as at Alexandria, with

15554-451: The exploitation of the predominant agricultural base. The volume of trade, both internal and external, reached its peak in the 1st and 2nd centuries. By the end of the 3rd century, major problems were evident. A series of debasements of the imperial currency had undermined confidence in the coinage, and even the government itself was contributing to this by demanding more and more irregular tax payments in kind, which it channelled directly to

15708-515: 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

15862-401: The government of the country in the prefect's name and were themselves drawn from the Egyptian upper classes. The strategoi in each of the mētropoleis were the senior local officials, served as intermediaries between the prefect and the villages, and were legally responsible for the administration and their own conduct while in office for several years. Each strategos was supplemented by

16016-517: The governors' engagements. Yearly in Lower Egypt , and once every two years in Upper Egypt , the praefectus Aegypti held a conventus (Koinē Greek: διαλογισμός , romanized:  dialogismos , lit.   'dialogue'), during which legal trials were conducted and administrative officials' practices were examined, usually between January ( Ianuarius ) and April ( Aprilis ) in

16170-407: 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. Roman Egypt Egypt was conquered by Roman forces in 30 BC and became a province of the new Roman Empire upon its formation in 27 BC. Egypt came to serve as a major producer of grain for the empire and had

16324-523: The legionaries as well, who were required to have Roman citizenship. An increasing proportion of the Army of Egypt was of local origin in the reign of the Flavian dynasty , with an even higher proportion – as many as three quarters of legionaries – under the Severan dynasty . Of these, around one third were themselves the offspring (Latin: castrenses , lit.   'camp-men') of soldiers, raised in

16478-1218: 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

16632-493: The liturgical focus at the east, and the pastaphoria (side-rooms) were a common mark of churches in the country. Churches were built quickly after the victory of Constantine over Licinius, and in the 4th century even towns like ‘Ain el-Gedida in the Dakhla Oasis had their own churches. The earliest known monumental basilica of which remains survive is that at Antinoöpolis; a five-aisled, apsed basilica facing east and set in

16786-429: 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

16940-453: The lowest class. In between those classes was the metropolite, who was almost certainly of Hellenic origin. Gaining citizenship and moving up in ranks was very difficult and there were not many available options for ascendancy. One of the routes that many followed to ascend to another caste was through enlistment in the army. Although only Roman citizens could serve in the legions, many Greeks found their way in. The native Egyptians could join

17094-510: The main consumers, the army personnel. Local administration by the councils was careless, recalcitrant, and inefficient; the evident need for firm and purposeful reform had to be squarely faced in the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I . There are numerous indications of Roman trade with India during the period, particularly between Roman Egypt and the Indian subcontinent. Kushan Empire ruler Huvishka (150–180 CE) incorporated in his coins

17248-560: 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

17402-433: 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

17556-572: The names of persons due to perform unpaid public service as part of the liturgy system. They were required to be literate and had various duties as official clerks. Other local officials drawn from the liturgy system served for a year in their home kome ; they included the practor ( πράκτωρ , práktōr , 'executor'), who collected certain taxes, as well as security officers, granary officials ( σιτολόγοι , sitologoi , 'grain collectors'), public cattle drivers ( δημόσιοι kτηνοτρόφοι , dēmósioi ktēnotróphoi , 'cattleherds of

17710-412: 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

17864-507: The only surviving information beyond the names of the offices is a few names of the incumbents. In general, the central provincial administration of Egypt is no better-known than the Roman governments of other provinces, since, unlike in the rest of Egypt, the conditions for the preservation of official papyri were very unfavourable at Alexandria. Local government in the hinterland (Koinē Greek: χώρα , romanized:  khṓrā , lit.   'countryside') outside Alexandria

18018-513: 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

18172-512: The previous offices and names of offices under the Hellenistic Ptolemaic rule were kept, some were changed, and some names would have remained but the function and administration would have changed. The Romans introduced important changes in the administrative system, aimed at achieving a high level of efficiency and maximizing revenue . The duties of the prefect of Aegyptus combined responsibility for military security through command of

18326-455: The province. Other procurators were responsible for revenue farming of state monopolies (the procurator ad Mercurium ), oversight of farm lands (the procurator episkepseos ), of the warehouses of Alexandria (the procurator Neaspoleos ), and of exports and emigration (the procurator Phari , 'procurator of the Pharos '). These roles are poorly attested, with often

18480-414: The provincial capital at Alexandria, who then also took up overall command of the Roman legions of the Egyptian garrison. (Initially, three legions were stationed in Egypt, with only two from the reign of Tiberius ( r.  14–37 AD ).) The official duties of the praefectus Aegypti are well known because enough records survive to reconstruct a mostly complete official calendar ( fasti ) of

18634-598: The provincial fleet of the Roman Navy in Egypt. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, there were around 8,000 soldiers at Alexandria, a fraction of the megalopolis 's huge population. Initially, the legionary garrison of Roman Egypt consisted of three legions: the Legio III Cyrenaica , the Legio XXII Deiotariana , and one other legion. The station and identity of this third legion is not known for sure, and it

18788-439: The routine of town and village life. The Roman army was among the most homogenous Roman structures, and the organization of the army in Egypt differed little from its organization elsewhere in the Roman Empire. The Roman legions were recruited from Roman citizens and the Roman auxilia recruited from the non-citizen subjects. Egypt was unique in that its garrison was commanded by the praefectus Aegypti , an official of

18942-619: The southern border, on the Nile's First Cataract around Philae and Syene ( Aswan ), protecting Egypt from enemies to the south and guarding against rebellion in the Thebaid . Besides the main garrison at Alexandrian Nicopolis and the southern border force, the disposition of the rest of the Army of Egypt is not clear, though many soldiers are known to have been stationed at various outposts ( praesidia ), including those defending roads and remote natural resources from attack. Roman detachments, centuriones , and beneficiarii maintained order in

19096-441: 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

19250-566: The state and forming most of its revenue; and the "gifted land" (Koinē Greek: γή εν δωρεά , romanized:  gḗ en dōreá , lit.   'land in gift'; Δωρεά , Dōreá , 'gifts') leased out under the cleruchy system. The Roman government had actively encouraged the privatization of land and the increase of private enterprise in manufacture, commerce, and trade, and low tax rates favored private owners and entrepreneurs. The poorer people gained their livelihood as tenants of state-owned land or of property belonging to

19404-470: 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

19558-536: 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

19712-466: 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

19866-452: The typical Roman pattern of the Cardo (north–south) and Decumanus Maximus (east–west) thoroughfares meeting at their centres, as at Athribis and Antinoöpolis. Vivant Denon made sketches of ruins at Oxyrhynchus, and Edme-François Jomard wrote a description; together with some historical photographs and the few surviving remains, these are the best evidence for the classical architecture of

20020-609: 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 ,

20174-601: 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

20328-507: 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

20482-474: Was a vital part of the metropolis and the Greek institutions provided an elite group of citizens. The Romans looked to these elites to provide municipal officers and well-educated administrators. These elites also paid lower poll-taxes than the local native Egyptians, fellahin . It is well documented that Alexandrians in particular were exempted from paying poll-taxes, and were able to enjoy lower tax-rates on land. Egyptian landholders paid about 3 times more than

20636-585: 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

20790-447: Was based on poros (property or income qualification), which was wholly based on social status and power. The Romans also introduced the poll tax which was similar to tax rates that the Ptolemies levied, but the Romans gave special low rates to citizens of mētropoleis . The city of Oxyrhynchus had many papyri remains that contain much information on the subject of social structure in these cities. This city, along with Alexandria, shows

20944-509: 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

21098-687: 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

21252-481: Was concentrated at Nicopolis, a district of Alexandria, rather than at the strategic heart of the country around Memphis and Egyptian Babylon . Alexandria was the Mediterranean's second city in the early Roman empire, the cultural capital of the Greek East and rival to Rome under Antony and Cleopatra. Because only a few papyri are preserved from the area, little more is known about the legionaries' everyday life than

21406-730: Was conquered by the Sasanian Empire in 618, who ruled the territory for a decade , but it was returned to the Eastern Roman Empire by the defection of the governor in 628. Egypt permanently ceased to be a part of the Roman Empire in 641, when it became part of the Rashidun Caliphate following the Muslim conquest of Egypt . The Ptolemaic Kingdom ( r.  305–30 BC , the Thirty-first Dynasty ) had ruled Egypt since

21560-412: Was considerable social mobility however, accompanying mass urbanization, and participation in the monetized economy and literacy in Greek by the peasant population was widespread. The Romans began a system of social hierarchy that revolved around ethnicity and place of residence. Other than Roman citizens, a Greek citizen of one of the Greek cities had the highest status, and a rural Egyptian would be in

21714-526: Was dedicated to the worship of Thoth , equated with Hermes / Mercury . The oldest known remains of church architecture in Egypt are at the Roman village of Kellis ; following the house church of the early 4th century, a three- aisled , apsed basilica church was built in the Constantinian period, with pastaphoria on either side, while a third church was accompanied by a Christian cemetery. All these churches were built on an east-west axis, with

21868-474: Was developed consisting of dozens of types of land-holding. Land's status was determined by the hydrological, juridical, and function of the property, as well as by the three main categories of ownership held over from the Ptolemaic system: the sacred property belonging to the temples (Koinē Greek: Ἱερά γη , romanized:  Hierā́ gē , lit.   'holy land'); the royal land ( Βασιλική γη , Basilikḗ gē , 'royal land') belonging to

22022-482: Was divided into traditional regions known as nomoi . The mētropoleis were governed by magistrates drawn from the liturgy system; these magistrates, as in other Roman cities, practised euergetism and built public buildings. To each nome the prefect appointed a strategos (Koinē Greek: στρατηγός , romanized:  stratēgós , lit.   'general'); the strategoi were civilian administrators, without military functions, who performed much of

22176-642: Was formed, encompassing the area just south of Memphis and the Faiyum region and named "the Heptanomia and the Arsinoite nome". In the Nile Delta however, power was wielded by two of the epistrategoi . The epistrategos 's role was mainly to mediate between the prefect in Alexandria and the strategoi in the mētropoleis , and they had few specific administrative duties, performing a more general function. Their salary

22330-535: 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 ,

22484-479: 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

22638-484: Was not within the then-prevailing traditional geographic boundaries of Egypt. From the 1st century BC, the Roman governor of Egypt was appointed by the emperor for a multi-year term and given the rank of prefect ( Latin : praefectus ). Both the governor and the major officials were of equestrian rank (unlike other Roman provinces, which had governors of senatorial rank). The prefect of Egypt had more or less equivalent civil and military powers ( imperium ) to

22792-431: Was sexagenarian – 60,000 sesterces annually. Each village or kome ( κώμη , kṓmē ) was served by a village scribe ( κωμογραμματεύς , kōmogrammateús , 'secretary of the kome '), whose term, possibly paid, was usually held for three years. Each, to avoid conflicts of interest, was appointed to a community away from their home village, as they were required to inform the strategoi and epistrategoi of

22946-562: Was styled in Latin: praefectus stratopedarches , from the Greek: στρατοπεδάρχης , romanized:  stratopedárchēs , lit.   'camp commander', or as Latin: praefectus exercitu qui est in Aegypto , lit.   'prefect of the army in Egypt';. Collectively, these forces were known as the exercitus Aegyptiacus , 'Army of Egypt'. The Roman garrison

23100-742: 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

23254-443: Was the appointment of strategoi to govern the ' nomes ', the traditional administrative divisions of Egypt. Boulai , or town councils, in Egypt were only formally constituted by Septimius Severus . It was only under Diocletian later in the 3rd century that these boulai and their officers acquired important administrative responsibilities for their nomes. The Augustan takeover introduced a system of compulsory public service, which

23408-609: 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

23562-449: Was the second-highest office available to the equestrian class on the cursus honorum (after that of the praetorian prefect (Latin: praefectus praetorio ), the commander of the imperial Praetorian Guard ) and one of the highest-paid, receiving an annual salary of 200,000 sesterces (a "ducenarian" post). The prefect was appointed at the emperor's discretion; officially the governors' status and responsibilities mirrored those of

23716-535: Was won by Octavian, who then invaded Egypt. Following the Battle of Alexandria the defeated Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves. The Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt ceased to exist; Egypt was seized by Octavian as his personal possession. The legal status was settled in 27 BC, when Octavian was granted the honorific name of Augustus and Egypt became an imperial province of the newly established Roman empire . Augustus (and succeeding Roman emperors ) ruled Egypt as

#91908