Question

Although trains were invented long ago, what kept them from being really efficient?

Answer 1

Their tracks were too brittle.

Early train tracks were initially made from iron. Iron is brittle and prone to cracking when trains ran over them repeatedly.

The process of converting iron to steel in an cheap and efficient way changed the quality of railroad rails. Once rails were creating through the Bessemer process and manufactured by Carnegie Steel, the rails help up longer. This also meant trains could be used more effectively and rails could be place all over the country increasing transportation.

Answer 2

For the answer to the question above asking Although trains were invented long ago, what kept them from being really efficient?
Even though trains had been around awhile, they could not run efficiently on poor quality tracks. Their tracks were too brittle.