Who invented the train?
The answer depends on how you define the word train and who you ask. Tramways using wooden rails hauled by horses dates back to the 1500s.
If you define train to mean railroads in the more modern sense, this article traces the first railroad in North America to Louisburg, Nova Scotia in 1720. http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/107456.aspx
If you define train to mean a railway locomotive consisting of a steam engine, according to the BBC, the world's first locomotive was designed by Richard Trevithick and built in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England, in 1802 http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2007/12/27/trevithick_locomotive_anniversary_feature.shtml
Pioneered by Stephenson, rail transport was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century and a key component of the Industrial Revolution. Built by George and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company, the Locomotion No. 1 is the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. George also built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephenson
History of rail transport in the United States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_the_United_States
A Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad wagon at a level crossing, circa 1900. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Dlw_railroad_wagon_1900.jpg
The age of railroads
Railroads would play an important role in the expansion of business and industry during the Industrial Revolution. Mechanized rail transport systems first appeared in England in the 1820s, with passenger railway systems coming on the scene in the 1830s.
In the United States the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was established in 1828. Although technically not the first railroad in the United States, it built the first passenger and freight station and was the first railroad that earned passenger revenues, according to History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, by John F. Stover.(1)
Railroads would be equally important in the United States during the Technological Revolution
The days of moving people and packages by wagon train had officially moved on to the age of transcontinental railroad lines.
The iconic event was the opening of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, providing six-day service between the East Coast and San Francisco
An equally significant but generally less known event in the history of railroads also occurred in 1869, George Westinghouse invented the railroad air brake.
The locomotive was not an invention of the Gilded Age. Indeed Americans had traveled by rail in the decades that preceded the Civil War. But such travel was risky.
After the Civil War many rail problems were solved. George Westinghouse invented the air brake and trains could stop more reliably as a result. Railroad firms agreed on a standard width between tracks to reduce transfers.
The Golden Spike - The government declared that the two lines would merge at Promontory Summit near Ogden, Utah. On May 10, 1869, Leland Stanford, representing the Central Pacific Railroad, was provided the honor to hammer a golden spike into the ground that marked the completion of the coast-to-coast line. Celebrations erupted across the land. Even the Liberty Bell tolled once again to commemorate the occasion.
The locomotive was not an invention of the Gilded Age.
Soon, other transcontinental lines were constructed and travel across the continent became worlds simpler, less expensive, and much faster, than by the old Conestoga wagon.
Indeed Americans had traveled by rail in the decades that preceded the Civil War. But such travel was risky.
One man that would play a significant role in the railroads the the development of electricity was George Westinghouse.
Work done by a machine was measured in horsepower
The unit of measurement done by a machine was measured in horsepower.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in his 1939 memoir Wind, Sand, and Stars about the way people tend to react to new technology using the slow embrace of the railroad.
The change in perception reflected in the language - we began calling it the iron horse
The Guru 42 Universe is not run by a university professor with a team of editors and advisers working to developing a website. Tom Peracchio is simply someone who loves technology and history and is amazed by how little people know about the great minds in the world of technology.
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