Discover how steam technology was developed and harnessed to provide the driving force behind an ever expanding railway network. Learn important facts and information about the early railways of Great Britain, and how they began as small wooden railway tracks found in mines, to massive, high speed intercity rail links which connected cities and countries across continents and provided the world with a transport network system never before seen.

Learn new facts about the world's greatest engineers and inventors who discovered the potential of steam power and worked towards developing steam engines which would later become the driving force for steam powered railways; a fantastic transportation network that allowed trade of goods and the transportation of passengers across Great Britain. This major leap in technology and transport helped bring on the Industrial Revolution.

The History of Steam Trains and Railways

Inventors of Steam Power

Discover important facts about the inventors of steam power including who invented the first steam pump, when the first steam engine was developed, how early steam engines worked and which inventor’s ideas were patented.

Our history timeline provides important information about the developments and evolution of steam power technology, and includes facts about the most notable inventors including Edward Somerset, Christiaan Huygens, Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen, Humphrey Potter, Henry Beighton, Josiah Hornblower, John Smeaton and James Pickard John Theophilus Desaguliers, James Watt, Matthew Boulton, Ivan Polzunov, John Wilkinson, Jonathan Hornblower, William Murdoch, Nathan Read, William Bull and Richard Trevithick.

Inventors of Steam Locomotives

The early steam locomotives were invented and developed by some of the greatest engineers in history. The first full scale working railway steam locomotive was invented by Richard Trevithick in 1804. He successfully demonstrated his invention on February 21, 1804, carrying seventy passengers, five wagons and ten tons of iron.

Some of the oldest steam trains in the world were build for Christopher Blackett, the owner of the Northumberland colliery at Wylam. Some of his most famous engineers were called William Hedley, Jonathan Forest and Timothy Hackworth. They built the Puffing Billy which is now the oldest surviving steam locomotive in the world.

George Stephenson and his son, Robert Stephenson, became major engineers and inventors of steam locomotives building famous locos such as the Blücher (1814), Stephenson’s Rocket (1829) and the Planet (1830).

Early Steam Trains

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Early Railways

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The Industrial revolution

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World War 1

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World War 2

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Victorian Era

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The History of Steam Trains and Railways