THE EARLY BEGINNINGS OF THE LOCOMOTIVE |
The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick. In 1804 his unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Although the locomotive hauled a train of 10 tons of iron and 70 passengers in five wagons over nine miles (14 km), it was too heavy for the cast iron rails used at the time. The locomotive only ran three trips before it was abandoned. Trevithick built a series of locomotives after the Penydarren experiment, including one which ran at a colliery in Tyneside where it was seen by the young George Stephenson. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray's rack locomotive, The Salamanca, built for the narrow gauge Middleton Railway in 1812. This was followed in 1813 by the Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814 George Stephenson, inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick and Hedley persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. He built the Blücher, one of the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotives. Stephenson played a pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of steam locomotives. His designs improved on the work of the pioneers. In 1825 he built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway which became the first public steam railway. In 1829 he built The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success lead to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the United Kingdom, the United States and much of Europe. In the 19th century the first railway locomotives were powered by steam, usually generated by burning coal. Because steam locomotives included one or more steam engine, they are sometimes referred to as "steam engines". The steam locomotive remained by far the most common type of locomotive until after World War II. The first steam locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick; it first ran on 21 February 1804, although it was some years before steam locomotive design became economically practical. The first commercial use of a steam locomotive was The Salamanca on the narrow gauge Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. The locomotive Fairy Queen, built in 1855 runs between New Delhi and Alwar in India and is the oldest steam locomotive in regular (albeit tourist-only) service in the world, and the oldest steam locomotive operating on a mainline. |
Synopsis from various sources. |
