Trains, Industry Sector MACHINERY

1811 John Blenkinsop invented a steam engine which had cogs on one of its wheels. These gripped an extra rail laid down on the normal rail line and gave his engine more grip.

1813 The "Puffing Billy" was built by William Hedley to pull coal wagons at the Wylam Colliery in Northumberland. It was so reliable that it was used for fifty years. A man called George Stephenson lived in Wylam. His father looked after the pumping engine at the colliery. By the time George was fifteen, he was working on the same engine as his father. George Stephenson was fascinated by steam engines and in 1821 he was made engineer for the colliery. The owners of the colliery decided to build a rail line from Stockton to Darlington so that they could move their coal to a large market with more ease. Stephenson was given to job of building this line.

1821 Englishman, Julius Griffiths was the first person to patent a passenger road locomotive.

1825 The Stockton to Darlington rail line was opened. Two locomotives were used (the "Experiment" and "No 1") and they could pull 21 coal wagons 25 miles at 8 miles per hour. This was unheard of at the time and soon the line was in profit. Passengers were soon carried but steam trains did not operate on the line for passengers until 1833. In many senses, 1825 is seen as the start of the Age of the Railways.

1826 Colonel John Stevens is considered to be the father of American railroads. In 1826 Stevens demonstrated the feasibility of steam locomotion on a circular experimental track constructed on his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey, three years before George Stephenson perfected a practical steam locomotive in England. The first railroad charter in North America was granted to John Stevens in 1815. Grants to others followed, and work soon began on the first operational railroads.

1826  George Stephenson was given a much bigger task  - to build a railway between Manchester and Liverpool. However, the company financing the scheme was not convinced that steam trains would worked properly on this rail line. They organised a competition to find out what train and which type of train would be best for their line. The competition was to be held at Rainhill near Liverpool in 1829. The winning train was the legendary "Rocket" built by George Stephenson. He won £500. The "Rocket" travelled at 46 kph - about 30 mph.

The success of Stephenson's train caught the public's imagination and so-called "Railway Mania" took place. Railways were seen as a way of earning a fortune. Between 1825 and 1835 the British Parliament agreed to the building of 54 new rail lines. From 1836 to 1837, 39 new lines were agreed to. By 1900, Britain had 22,000 miles of rail track.

Railways greatly helped industry. But not everybody approved of them. The Duke of Wellington - famed for leading Britain to victory at the Battle of Waterloo - feared that trains might encourage the poor and undesirables in society to come to London and that any trains coming from places such as Bath and Bristol had to pass near to Eton School and that the pupils there might be disturbed !! Some farmers believed that trains could cause cows to produce stale milk but trains did allow farmers to get their products to market quicker and this was very important to farmers producing perishable goods.   

1830 Designed and built by Peter Cooper the Tom Thumb was the first American-built steam locomotive to be operated on a common-carrier railroad.

1838 Robert Stephenson, the son of George, completed the London to Birmingham rail line.

1841  Isambard Kingdom Brunel completed his London to Bristol line - the Great Western Railway. This was such a stunning achievement that people used the rail line's initials (GWR) to call it "God's Wonderful Railway"