'I have always been
fascinated by all kinds of transportation and where they originated. Trains,
however, have always been my favourite kind of transportation. So, let's take a
look at where it all started. The train is not a modern
invention as most people think. The first ones were made of wood, and wagons
were pulled by horses.
At the star of
the Industrial Revolution in Britain, it was necessary to transport raw
materials, such as coal. A network of canals and rail was created to link
between towns. As the way was so slow, the speed of railway wagons needed to be
increased. By 1800 many industries began using steam engines. designed by James
Watt. Later, Richard Trevithick created the first locomotive for an Iron Works
in Wales. It was called ‘puffer’ because of the noise it made, and on the first
journey it traveled at almost 8km/h an hour. Can you guess what happened? It
was so heavy that it broke the rails, so it could make only three journeys.
But steam
engines could be used to move trains, and speeds began to increase. The most
famous locomotive, then was The Rocket.
The next 130 years can be described as a Golden Age of
Steam, and so railways were built all over the world and the size, speed and
comfort continued to increase. By 1870 it was possible to cross America by
train. There were famous trains and journeys at the time. The Orient Express
carried people through more than 13 countries between France and Turkey.
The Flying
Scotsman reached speeds of over 130 km/h.
The Trans-Siberian railway was finished in 1916, and
is still the longest railway line in the world. It goes between St. Petersburg
and Vladivostok, is over 9000 km long and even today the journey takes over a
week.
The fastest steam train in the world was The Mallard.
It reached 202 km/h.
Now it is
commom to have trains running on electrified line on most railways. They are
faster and cleaner than steam engines although many people miss the puffing
sound and the romance of steam.
Nowadays
only a few countries use high speed trains: Bullet Train in Japan and the TGV
in France whose speeds are over 300km/h.
The future of train travel could be in Maglev trains. These
trains are supported by electro-magnets and hover off the ground.
How nice to
see this marvellous means of transportation and the long way since the first
one was created!
