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Jan 31, 1550
First Use
Roads of rails called Wagon Ways were being used in Germany. They had woden rails where horse drawn wagons or carts moved with ease instead of pulling large amounts over dirt roads. -
Start of Iron Use
Iron replaced wood in the rails and wheels on the carts, wagonways evolved into tranways and spread throughout Europe. Horses still provided all of the pulling power. -
Flanged Wheels
Englishman William Jessup designed first wagons with flanged wheels. The flange was a groove that allowed the wheels to grip the rail. -
Invention of the Steam Engine
Samuel Homfray decided to fund the development of a steam-powered vehicle to replace the horse-drawn carts. -
First Use of the Steam engine
The locomotive hauled 10 tons of iron, 70 men and five extra wagons the 9 miles in Wales. It took about 2 hours. -
First Railroad company
Stockton & Darlington Railroad Company began as the first railroad to carry both goods and passengers. The locomotive pulled six loaded coal cars and 21 passenger cars with 450 passengers over 9 miles in about one hour. -
First American Locomotive
Tom Thumb, built by John Cooper, was the first American-built steam locomotive to be operated on a common-carrier railroad. -
Modern train speeds
The average train can now go 85 to 125 miles per hour. The worlds fastest train goes 310 mph. -
US Railroads Today
On US railroads a typical diesel-electric road locomotive develops between 3,000 and 6,000 horsepower each. -
Train Cars
Today an average of 150 people can hit into a train car. -
First Floating train
The first floating train has been created and is fully functional for people to be aboard comfortably. -
Not What They Seem
Trains not only float now but full size rooms are available for very long travel. Trains appear to be average size like always but once inside expand to become a large room for passengers to stay. -
Trains to space
Trains now have the capabilities to travel into space and to other planets and galaxies.
