More Reading (Tell Me The Answer) ISBN 0 85558 909 4 The History of Steam Engines Why the first trains were drawn by steam engines The first types of true motor cars were steam engines applied to vehicles. This fact alone would not have guaranteed them against competition by other kinds of motors if, as far as the railways are concerned, locomotives had not immediately proved to be such powerful and practical engines able to meet any demand. Even the most sceptical individuals were soon convinced. In forty years England had passed from the few kilometres of the Liverpool- Manchester railway of 1830 to almost 22,000 kilometres in 1870. No other engine could compete with the steam engine although as early as 1 879 the first electric locomotive had appeared but it was very small. The first English electric railway was opened on 3 August 1883. However steam engines dominated the scene for many years and are still in use on some railways. When George Stephenson built his Rocket Trevithick is generally regarded as the father of the steam train but the most famous figure of the pioneer days of railways is George Stephenson who was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1781. An enginewright and mechanic at the Killingworth colliery in Northumberland, he managed to find the money to build a Iocomotive which he called My Lord and which was successfully tested on the tramroads of the colliery in 1814. Various kinds of locomotive were designed by Stephenson and they were all remarkably successful. The young engineer became so enthusiastic about the new means of locomotion that he decided to launch himself into the exciting task of providing steam engines for public railways. In 1822 Stephenson was appointed engineerof the Stockton and Darlington Railway. On 27 September 1825 the first steam passenger service in railway history was inaugurated. Speeds of up to 24 kilometres an hour were reached. Conclusive proof of the efficiency of Stephenson's steam engines came on 6 October 1829. Five locomotives entered for trials set by the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway but only Stephenson's Rocket passed and so won the competitio n and a prize of 500 Pownds. It travelled at up to 39 kilometres per hour, fully laden. On 15 September 1830 the railway age began. That day the Liverpool to Manchester line was opened, the first to be operated entirely by steam. When steam replaced sails no The Seas The nineteenth century is also known as the steam age, which reflects what an important part steam played in every sphere of life. At the same time as the steam train was making its trial runs, the American, Robert Fulton, was designing and testing his first river boat propelled not by the force of the wind but by two big wheels worked by a steam engine. His steamboat, as Fulton called it, made its maiden voyage on 9 August 1807 and, eight days later, it started a 240-kilometre trip up the Hudson River, from New York to Albany. It took 32 hours to accomplish this journey, a speed which was soon considerably increased. In the war of 1812-14 against Great Britain, Fulton built the first steam warship. The new ships were so successful that they soon began to sup- plant sailing ships, despite the fierce struggle which the owners of the sailing ships put up against the 'dangerous' new invention. In May and June 1819 the first ocean-going steam ship, the Savannah, crossed the Atlantic from the United States to Ireland. The voyage cannot be said to have been a complete success, however, as the engines only took over from the sails for 85 hours because supplies of coal ran out. The early steam ships still depended partly on sails for auxiliary power. It was a long fight between sail and steam, and at the beginning of the twentieth' century there were still plenty of sailing ships plying the oceans. But they were now economic only for transporting non-perishable food-stuffs over long distances. Compiled from the Book (Tell Me The Answer) ISBN 0 85558 909 4 A Children's Incyclopedia