The First Train Journey by Steam

Richard Trevithick was employed to build a stationary steam hammer, but he put the engine on wheels instead, and drove it on a return journey over a nine-mile railway track, hauling ten tons of iron. It was the first time anyone had done anything like that, and it was the beginning of the railway revolution.

55 words

Read the whole story

Return to the Index

Tags

Discovery and Invention (93) Railways (35) Georgian Era (166) British History (377) History (777)

Related Posts

for The First Train Journey by Steam

Discovery and Invention

Private Risk, Public Benefit

For George Stephenson, the motto of the Stockton and Darlington Railway was a code to live by.

by Michael Longridge 1785-1858

Discovery and Invention

The Rainhill Trials

To prove that steam power was the future of railways, George Stephenson held a truly historic competition.

Discovery and Invention

Ireland’s First Railway

The Dublin to Dun Laoghaire line opened in 1834, and proved a remarkable testimony to the speed of technological progress.

Discovery and Invention

The Stockton and Darlington Railway

The little County Durham line built by George Stephenson and his son Robert was the place where the world’s railway infrastructure really began.