The Steam Train - Who Really Invented It?
Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010
by Tim Bennett
Argon Animation Inc
First let me start by saying that a steam engine and a steam train are not the same. One is an engine and one is a train, although the steam train does have a steam engine inside it!
Confused?
There is much argument about who build the first steam train, but first a quick history about the steam engine.
In 1AD Hero of Alexandria is credited for the very first recordings of a steam engine. It was called the aeolipile which spins at it heats up using the steam to drive it.
Denis Papin invented the steam "digester" in 1679 and a first steam piston engine in 1690 with the first steam powered engine coming out in 1698 by Thomas Savery.
Thomas Newcomen brought out the first commercially successful engine in 1712. James Watt took Newcomen's designs and improved them tremendously.
Richard Trevithick introduced high pressure steam engines in 1800, which really brought about the first sensible steam engines that could be used for transportation purposes.
So whilst many people think that George Stephenson invented the first steam train they are wrong...and they are right at the same time.
On February 21, 1804, Trevithick's new "train" pulled 70 men and 10 tons of steel over 10 miles at 5 miles per hour (a 2 hour journey) 20 years before Stephenson started designing the Rocket.
In 1813, George Stephenson discovered that a train was being designed by Hedley and Hackworth and he wanted to beat them, so at 20 years old he built "Blucher" in ten months and carried eight coal loaded wagons four hundred and fifty feet at a speed of 4 miles per hour.
This was the first steam engined train to run on rails!
In 1825 Stephenson build the Stockton to Darlington railway, which has always been dear to me as I grew up in Stockton as a child. What they did to the impressive train station at Stockton was simply terrible!
It wasn't until 1829 that Stephenson invented the famous Rocket with his son Robert and he was also credited with designing the spoke to wheel system.
So who invented the first steam train?
Well technically Richard Trevithick did, but George Stephenson invented the first steam train that ran on rails.
Either way they were both jolly clever and part of a very important history and development of the steam train.
Tim Bennett is passionate about model steam trains and is giving away a free mini-course to other fellow collectors at his special page all about Model Steam Trains as well as lots of other information about building model train kits.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Great article. Well done.I seams that all the great inventions are invented and then reinvented repeatedly by successive inventors before they reach the point they are at today.Yes I forget who said "There is nothing new on earth" but it does make me think that in order to make something new all we have to do is upgrade something we already have.Thanks for visiting and also your kind comment.Tim
Hi Tim, another very good article in your series. Thanks for contributing.Hi Richard,Good to hear from you again and thanks for the vote!You know the more I write about the trains, the more I remember why I love them. It's very stimulating for me.Take care.Tim
Very informative material you have here and really enjoyed reading it. Keep posting more articles such as this.TerenceHi Terence,Thank you so much and glad you enjoyed the article. I am presently in transit, but will be home in Boracay on Saturday (I'm not on a steam train!) and will get back to writing more articles then.Thanks so much and hope to connect with you soon.Tim
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