My daughter, Stephanie wants to know who made the first train. She says is Stephen Harrison. Is that correct?

Question

Stephanie is staying her grounds on Stephen Harrison and it has become a hot topic in our family. It will help us to further our knowledge on this issue.

Answer 1

http://www.stevengraphs.com/firtrainbuil...

http://inventors.about.com/library/inven...

I googled it. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Semantics are at play here.

The first practical locomotive good ol' George built.

But, "trains" (ie. vehicles moving on rail) date way back to the 1500's, actually, first utilized in mines in France, where the power was provided by animal, with carts running on wooden rails. There is evidence of this type of machine even further back.

Even more surprisingly, the first steam "engine" was a steam powered device contrived and built by Heron of Alexandria.  It was a sphere suspended by two pipes on each side which fed in steam.  The steam was exhausted through two "jets" on opposite sides causing the sphere to rotate, at considerable rpms.

But, they didn't make that last crucial step of applying this power source to any good use, other than for its value as an amusement.

If they had made that leap, the industrial revolution would have occurred more than 2000 years before it did.  How different our world would be...

Answer 3

yeah define your definition of "train"

cart puled by horse

a steam engine (first American or European)

a diesel engine

a electric engine

a subway system

a interurban

a street car

a passenger or freight train

Answer 4

George Stephenson (June 9, 1781 - August 12, 1848).

British engineer who designed a famous and historically important steam-powered locomotive named The Rocket.

George Stephenson was born in Wylam, England, several miles west of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1748, a wagonway -- an arrangement similar to a railway, but with wooden tracks and designed to support horse-drawn carts -- had been built from the Wylam colliery to the River Tyne, running for several miles. The young Stephenson grew up near it, and in 1802 gained employment as an engine-man at a coal mine. For the next ten years his knowledge of steam engines increased, until in 1812 he stopped operating them for a living, and started building them.