2908317 Edison\'s first test of his electric railway, Menlo Park, 13th May 1880 (sepia photo) by American Photographer, (19th century); Private Collection; (add.info.: Thomas Edison (1847-1931) American inventor. On a track about a third of a mile in length, made up of light weight rails spiked to ties laid on the ground, the locomotive pulled three cars: a flat freight-car, an open awning-car, and a box-car called the "Pullman," with which Edison illustrated a system of electromagnetic braking. ); Avant-Demain; American, out of copyright.