There was a railroad in ancient Greece? Well, sort of.

[just Warren]

Called Diolkos, it was in use for about 1500 years.

According to the video anyway, Wikipedia has a different take.

The video runs about 21 minutes and the Diolkos part starts about 9 minutes in, though the first 9 minutes are also interesting.

Some questions I have is why not use animals to do the grunt work?

Were there sidings so that ships going in opposite directions could both use the system at the same time?

Why not a canal instead? Turns out there are some really good reasons for not building a canal through there.

A canal was finally finished in the late 1800s (about 1700 years after work had started) and failed as a business venture. Maybe the Ancients knew what was up and the Moderns should have paid heed.

[Perd Hapley]

If I remember correctly there was some kind of rail system in the southern U.S., early in the 19th century, to get cargo up and down one particular grade. The Brits didn't so much invent the railroad as they invented the steam locomotive. The same way Gutenberg invented movable type; not the printing press. The same way Morse wasn't the first person to invent some kind of telegraph system, but his system was the first that was practical enough for widespread use.

More examples will occur to you.

[MechAg94]

I thought I remember reading somewhere the Romans had a system for moving grain ships up a canal to Rome, but it was on water with a system on the bank to pull the ships.  Been a while so my memory is fuzzy.