Rail travel has not always been dependent upon mechanical locomotion. An early invention using horsepower for locomotion won, for C.E. Detmole, the $500 prize offered in 1829 by the South Carolina Railroad Company. (See the "History of the First Locomotives in America" by William H. Brown, published in 1871.) This sailing car took a party of travelers on an excursion on the South Carolina Railroad in March of 1830, almost a year before the successful debut of the "Best Friend of Charleston."
Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
