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Trains: A Homeschool Field Trip! |
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Trains are one of the most amazing inventions. Powered by nothing more than chunks of coal, steam, or electricity, these metal marvels speed across the country at speeds up to 320 mph. Join the Trading Train Team on an exciting online homeschool field trip, and we'll explore the history of trains, how trains work, and what the future of transportation holds for trains. |
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The History of Trains |
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| What is a Train? A train is a vehicle with wheels that travels along a track. The wheels have a flange, or lip, that sits inside the rails. The earliest trains relied on humans or horses to pull or push them along the tracks. However, with the introduction of the steam locomotive all of that changed. By the mid-19th century, the strength and simplicity of the steam locomotive had established its superiority as a reliable means of transportation. The principles behind the steam locomotive remained relatively unchanged until the eletric and diesel trains were invented near the end of the 19th century. Electric trains had the advantage of being easier to run, much quieter, and very fast. The locomotives gather power to run either from cables overhead or an electrified rail down next to the tracks. The diesel locomotive depends on its diesel engine to produce electric current which, in turn, drives the train wheels. They were also very powerful and fast. These are still in use today around the world. Let's explore each of these eras in railroading history: steam locomotives, electric locomotives, and diesel locomotives. |
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The Age of Steam
With the invention of the steam locomotive, the age of the "Iron Horse" had begun. Many people laughed at the steam engine and said it would never replace the horse. Several men challenged that theory with their inventions. A Cornish engineer named Richard Trevithick built the first working steam-powered locomotive. It first ran in South Wales in 1804 and hauled 70 men plus some coal wagons. But it was the vision of engineer George Stephenson, "the father of railways," which led to the first passenger railway that ran from Stockton to Darlington, in England. It was opened in 1825. The steam engine Locomotion, largely designed by Stephenson's son Robert, traveled at 24kph over a distance of 65 kilometres. Railway fever had begun! |
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| It was decided to build a new line between Liverpool and Manchester. In 1829, a competition was held to test locomotives for the new line. Huge crowds gathered at Rainhill near Liverpool to watch the time trials. The Perseverance was too slow, and the Sans Pareil broke down too often. The 500 pounds prize was collected by George Stephenson, whose Rocket traveled 113 kilometers at an average speed of 24kph. Its highest speed was 46kph. The Liverpool to Manchester Railway was engineered by George Stephenson. It was opened by the Duke of Wellington in September 1830, and proved to be a great success. While the first "modern" railroad opened in England, no nation had its development so influenced by the train as America. The railroads spanned what had been a huge, mostly empty continent, and centers of population sprang up all across the United States. | ||
| British-built locomotives such as the StourBridge Lion were imported from Britain and began hauling freight in Pennsylvania around 1829. One of the first American made steam trains was the De Witt Clinton which carried passengers beginning in 1831. By 1835 a thousand miles of track were in use and 200 railroad lines were under construction in eleven states. The gold rush of 1849 really opened up the West. Two companies set out to make a line of track across the entire continent: the Union Pacific Company started in the east, and the Central Pacific started in the west, laying track towards each other. After toiling through wilderness and fighting off Indians, the two companys met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869. As cheers went up, a golden spike was driven into the final joining section of track. |  |
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Electric Trains |
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| While electricity was available in the days of steam engines, no one had yet figured out a way to harness that power to propel a vehicle as large and heavy as a train. Near the end of the 19th century, much progress had been made and a German engineer named Werner von Siemens had developed a working electric train. He showcased his new locomotive at the Berlin Trade Fair and up to 30 people could ride on the train which went roughly 4.5 miles per hour. By 1895, the General Electric Company put it's first electric train into operation on a line in Ohio called the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. A portion of the railroad went through several tunnels, and the steam engine was producing choking fumes, so the cleaner-burning electric locomotive was a much better choice for the railroad. Slowly, the electric train began to replace the steam locomotive, and is still a dominant locomotive worldwide. The electric locomotive offers so many advantages: it is faster, quieter, and low maintenance. You will especially see electric trains being often used in commuter services and subways. The fastest passenger train in the world is an electric train, the French TGV ( Train a Grande Vitesse) which runs an average speed of 132 mph. | ||
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| Diesel Trains Power onto the Scene | ||
| The introduction of the internal combustion engine completely revolutionized the world of transportation. A man named Rudolph Diesel was born to German parents living at Paris in 1858. Diesel had the idea of making a heavy oil derived from coal that would power the engine and in theory replace the steam engine. In 1893, he published some papers detailing his theory and how the engine would be constructed. | ||
| The papers received a lot of attention., and within a few short years, Rudolph Diesel would go on to produce the first diesel locomotive, an internal combustion engine that runs on diesel oil. 1897 marked the date of the world's first reliable diesel engine, and it wasn't long before they were being used in locomotives around the world. The diesel engine powers a generator which in turn makes an electric current that helps the motors turn the wheels of the train. The diesel locomotive, like the electric engine before it, had many advantages over the steam locomotive–it was fast, cheaper to operate and somewhat cleaner. The locomotives could also be built smaller. One of the main advantages of a diesel motor is that is starts immediately, whereas a steam engine has to wait until enough steam is produced by the boiler. For these reasons, the age of the steam engine was coming to a close. One of the first successful high-speed diesel trains named Zephyr ran from Chicago to Denver in the mid-1930's. It set a world record for sustained rail speed over 1000 miles. Today, about some 98 percent of all locomotives in operation are diesel powered. |  |
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The Future of Trains |
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| Railroads have shown how valuable they are in providing speedy cross-country service, either for passengers or for freight. As more refinements and advancements are made, trains promise to relieve overcrowded highways while at the same time offering environmental benefits. Fascinating developments include driverless trains, trains that use magnetic levitation instead of track and wheels, and trains that have tilting tracks, which boosts speed and cuts down on the extra costs of building new track. Several such trains are already in operation in places such as Italy, France, England, and the United States. | ||
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| Join the Homeschool Trading Train today to enter our exclusive Train Workshop. There you can build your own train, take an interactive quiz about railroading, and explore what makes a train work. Plus you'll find many other links to explore and learn all about Trains! Get your Trading Train boarding pass today! | ||
