Train Origins

An invention that changed the world was 200 years old in 2004. Origins of rail transport include systems with man or horse power, and tracks or guides made of stone or wood, the history of rail transport dates back as far as the ancient Greeks.

Wagonways were relatively common in Europe (typically in mining) from about 1500 through 1800. Mechanised rail transport systems first appeared in England in the 1820s. These systems, which made use of the steam locomotive, were critical to the Industrial Revolution and to the development of export economies across the world. They have remained the primary form of land transport ever since for most of the world.The man who first put steam engines on rails was Richard Trevithick (1771-1833).

They say that Trevithick's invention was 20 years ahead of his time but Trevithick’s engines were seen as little more than a novelty. On February 21, 1804, Trevithick’s pioneering engine hauled 10 tons of iron and 70 men nearly ten miles from Penydarren, at a speed of five miles-per-hour, winning the railway’s owner a 500 guinea bet into the bargain. In Jan 2004 the new £2 coin had both his name and his invention on it.

Sources: wiki, ukhistory

-Alex