Stephenson’s first locomotive, called the Blutcher, debuted in 1814 – and soon enough, his locomotive prototype was everywhere. In 1812, English inventor George Stephenson picked up where Trevithick left off and created a series of advanced locomotives that became the model for future steam engines. Built by a man named Richard Trevithick, this tramway locomotive successfully made a two-hour journey on that fateful February afternoon. On February 21, 1804, the whole world shifted on its axis when the first workable steam-powered locomotive hauled 10 tons of iron and 70 men through Wales. Steam Changes Everything: The Rise of Steam Power Connects the World Wood was replaced by cast-iron in the 1700s and then by wrought-iron rails in the 1800s, which was when things really began to pick up steam for trains. Wooden railway systems appeared across Europe during that century, though most relied on pulley systems or literal horsepower.īy 1700, most mines in Great Britain and many across Europe had wooden rail networks drawn by horses. Trains reemerged in the mid-1500s in Germany, when wagonways were created to move horse-drawn carriages more efficiently than dirt roads. Over the next 650 years, extensive networks of similarly grooved limestone roads cropped up in Babylon and Rome, but they fell out of fashion with the fall of the Roman Empire. In the 6th century B.C.E., a paved trackway called Diolkos was designed to move boats across the Isthmus of Corinth. The history of trains is as long and winding as your average railroad, but one thing’s for certain: The world wouldn’t be the same without them.Īs with so many innovations, the story of trains began in ancient Greece. Without further ado, let’s board a train to the past and return to where it all began.Ī History of Trains: Ancient Origins of Transit They’ve carried countless people to new lands and launched countless cultures to new heights. Often when I take trains, I find myself daydreaming about all the people who rode similar contraptions centuries before me.įrom their roots in ancient Greece to their crucial influence on the explosion of global commerce during Industrial Revolution-era, trains have played integral roles in shaping human civilization into what it is today. They also provide windows into the distant past. Trains allow us to escape, to travel, and to reflect whilst on our way. In that sweet spot between destinations, whether scanning the Italian countryside as it passed me by one summer or viewing the city skyline from the Q train above the East River in New York, I always feel a bracing mix of nostalgia and inspiration.Ī train in Italy (Image Credit: The Telegraph) Trains are my all-time favorite form of transportation, and in fact, some of the happiest moments of my life have occurred on trains. But how did trains evolve over the centuries to become so central to modern life? Along the way, they’ve connected continents and sparked industrial and political revolutions. Since their origins in ancient Greek civilization, trains have changed the course of human history countless times, allowing billions of ordinary people to venture far from home.
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