As early as 1834, he developed a battery-powered electric motor, along with his wife Emily Davenport.

They used it to operate a small model car on a short section of track, paving the way for the later electrification of streetcars.

Then he forged a better iron core and redid the wiring, using silk from his wife's wedding gown.

[6] In 1849, Charles Grafton Page, the Washington scientist and inventor, commenced a project to build an electromagnetically powered locomotive, with substantial funds appropriated by the US Senate.

In 1851, Page's full sized electromagnetically operated locomotive was put to a calamity-laden test on the rail line between Washington and Baltimore.