Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
IV. Die Eisenbahn-Technik / Railway-technics - Manfred E. A. Schmutzer: Iron Rules Rule Iron Rails. Cultures and Their Technologies
Manfred E. A. Schmutzer developed not in a uniform way, although or because this system requires uniformity to a very high degree. In the sequel we emphasize two aspects intrinsic to the concept of culture, and equally decisive for the foundations, i.e. the substructure of transport: attendance and conservation.12 The ancient invention of the wheel for example made the “cultivation” of roads necessary. Another historic example also provides evidence of this requirement: the disappearance of wheeled transport in the Near East during the early Middle Ages. The political and military disruptions of late Antiquity did not allow sufficient maintenance of the extensive system of high-quality roads established by the Romans. The explosively expanding Islam, incapable of materializing a system of roads at the same speed, dispensed with such a system and replaced it by another novelty, the camel. This animal, able to carry loads of up to half a ton, was not only most enduring, but in addition required almost no maintenance infrastructure. The rapid expansion of Islam would have been unthinkable without the camel (Applied History Research Group, 2000).11 Small wonder that the camel replaced wheeled transport in a large context. Thus lack of attendance and conservation disrupted the entire system of wheeled transport and brought a different system to the fore. For expanding wheeled transport adequate roads had to be provided. This constitutes a basic requirement of any wheeled transport. In the European Middle Ages the construction and maintenance of this infrastructure was provided by certain associations, monasteries, the military or private enterprises charging tolls for their services at the turnpike. Often two separate associations cooperated by providing two distinct services, maintenance of the substructure and vehicle transport. The advent of the railway disrupted this division of labor, as railways constitute a closed and hence intolerant system. Rails obviously do not permit bypassing, neither when going in opposite directions nor when two different speeds are present in the same direction. While the first defect could in principle be eliminated by doubling the 12 A culture is the product of some cultivation, requiring attendance and maintenance. 0 Applied History Research Group: Old World Contacts. Camels and Caravans. 2000. URL: http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied history/tutor/oldwrld/transport/camels.html, 20.3.2003. 310
