How Trains Changed Over Time - A History Of Trains

Trains have long been a part of our history, especially as they relate to the transport of goods

. As early as 1750, wagon ways were used in Germany; these were in effect roads of rails; primitive railroad tracks that consisted of wood rails; horse-drawn wagons or carts could then be driven over them quite easily, much easier than the dirt roads of the day.

By 1776, wheels on carts and the wood in the rails had been replaced by iron. Wagon ways became tramways, and these became popular throughout Europe. However, they were still powered by horses. William Jessup, an Englishman, designed the first weigh in with flash wheels in 1789. The flange or groove allowed the wheel to hold the rail better; this design eventually carried over into formal locomotive design.

It wasn't until the invention of the steam engine though that the modern railroad really took off. Samuel Homfray funded the development of what became a steam-powered vehicle, and replaced the tramway's horse-drawn carts. This first steam engine was built by Richard Trevithick; this first steam engine tramway locomotive carried 10 tons of iron and 70 men nine miles between the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, to the bottom of the Abercynnona valley. The journey took about two hours and took place on February 22nd, 1804.

The first regularly scheduled trips to carry goods and passengers started in 1825. Then, the Stockton Darlington Railroad Company used locomotives that George Stephenson, an English inventor, had designed. These locomotives could carry up to 450 passengers who wanted to experience the novelty of railway breaks, with 21 passenger cars and six loaded coal cars, and it could travel at speeds of around 15 miles an hour.

In 1923, scores of private railway companies became four large railway groups, merging into what became known as the "Big Four". These were the Southern Railway, or SR, the London North Eastern Railway, or LNER, the London, Midland Scottish Railway, or LMS, and the Great Western Railway, or GWR. The GWR had already been in existence, the only railway to survive the merger.

What was fortunate about these years was that London-Scotland routes fostered intense rivalry between two railways, the LMS and LNER. In turn, this led to major advances in train and locomotive design. Two men greatly responsible for this advancement were designers Sir Nigel Gresley for the LNER, and Sir William Stanier for the LMS.

Trains were taken into state control during World War II, and the Transport Act of 1947 allowed the network to be nationalised. British Railways was born on the January 1 1948, with the Big Four becoming regions. Prime Minister John Major through his Railway Act of 1993 privatized the nationalised network; it became Railtrack and other companies. This was replaced by Network Rail, a not-for-profit, state-owned company, in 2002.

by: Niamh Connor

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