Railways
EARLY RAILWAYS.
Modern transportation of passengers and goods could not be imagined without trains, transport devices that revolutionized our industry, human expansion, and the way we can move from one place to another.
It all began in over 2000 years ago in ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylon and Greece.
Transport of people and goods in those time was done with carts that were pulled by animals
(horses or bulls)
Their engineers quickly noticed that animals will spend much less energy if the cart was traveling on predetermined path, without possibility for steering or traveling over uneven terrain.
To enable this new way of transport, they built roads with pre-built constraints for wheels.
These were the world’s first railway tracks, and archeological remains of them can still be found in Italy and Greece.
The most famous example of these ancient stone etched “wagon ways” can be found in the
Isthmus of Corinth, Greece.
These wagon ways went out of use after the fall of Roman Empire.
Changes to this kind of transport came in 1774 after the world found out about James Watt incredible discovery which was stationary steam engine that enabled engine to convert more steam’s power into mechanical energy.
First steam engines started running along primitive rail tracks in 1804.
Matthew Murray managed to showcase his simple locomotive first, but Richard Trevithick received more attention with his “Penydarren” locomotive that pulled weight of 25 tons and
70 people during its first ride.
This event proved to the engineer community, that pressurized steam engines indeed have enough power to become useful for transport of goods and people.
Another very important moment in the history of the trains was introduction of Diesel engines, which brought the end to the age of steam locomotives.
After second world war almost absolute majority of the world left steam behind, and embraced much faster, easier to maintain and
Modern transportation of passengers and goods could not be imagined without trains, transport devices that revolutionized our industry, human expansion, and the way we can move from one place to another.
It all began in over 2000 years ago in ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylon and Greece.
Transport of people and goods in those time was done with carts that were pulled by animals
(horses or bulls)
Their engineers quickly noticed that animals will spend much less energy if the cart was traveling on predetermined path, without possibility for steering or traveling over uneven terrain.
To enable this new way of transport, they built roads with pre-built constraints for wheels.
These were the world’s first railway tracks, and archeological remains of them can still be found in Italy and Greece.
The most famous example of these ancient stone etched “wagon ways” can be found in the
Isthmus of Corinth, Greece.
These wagon ways went out of use after the fall of Roman Empire.
Changes to this kind of transport came in 1774 after the world found out about James Watt incredible discovery which was stationary steam engine that enabled engine to convert more steam’s power into mechanical energy.
First steam engines started running along primitive rail tracks in 1804.
Matthew Murray managed to showcase his simple locomotive first, but Richard Trevithick received more attention with his “Penydarren” locomotive that pulled weight of 25 tons and
70 people during its first ride.
This event proved to the engineer community, that pressurized steam engines indeed have enough power to become useful for transport of goods and people.
Another very important moment in the history of the trains was introduction of Diesel engines, which brought the end to the age of steam locomotives.
After second world war almost absolute majority of the world left steam behind, and embraced much faster, easier to maintain and