The Evolving Railways

Posted by kranenvuhurr from Flintshire - Published on 20/09/2011 at 13:14
5 comments » - Tagged as Art, Education, History, Technology, Travel

Yn Gymraeg

I first started my passion for trains around the age of eight.

I started to look at the railways as they were back in the 1960s and how the first ever steam engine was built.

The first steam engine was built by Richard Trevithick, a Welsh man from the valleys born in April 1771.

When he built the engine it was used for the mines. It had a top speed of 5mph and the first journey was along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. However, it kept on coming off the rails!

George Stephenson, an English inventor from Warrington, was born in 1781. He is known for being the "Father Of Railways". His engine had a width of 4 feet or 81⁄2 inches (1,435 mm), also known as the "Stephenson gauge".

This is now the standard gauge and is used by railways all over the world. As the railways evolved, more people cottoned on and the Darlington steam works worked with Sir Nigel Gresley to build ‘Pacifics’ and ‘Jinty’ locomotives.

The rail network expanded, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the first railway bridge. The rail network lifted off and Stephenson had the idea to transport passengers across a rail network.

As the network evolved from freight to passengers, the locomotives became faster and faster. Sir Nigel Gresley invented the Mallard, the fastest steam locomotive ever built. It broke the world speed record of 125mph which still stands today.

Years passed, and trains became more advanced, utilising Diesel and the combustion engine to power the massive trains. The age of steam was over and many of the locomotives ended up in Dai Woodhams scrap yard in Barry.

Now ‘preservation railways’, like the Llangollen Railway, return to Barry to bring the locomotives of the past in to the present, restoring them to ensure their history is not forgotten.

Transport Pages

5 Comments – Post a comment

769

Commented 8 months ago - 16th September 2011 - 16:21pm

interesting stuff...learnt some things i didnt know b4..
I love history, so more of articles like this would be cool !!

kranenvuhurr

Commented 8 months ago - 16th September 2011 - 23:43pm

id be greatfull to do more and on wider subjects and deeper in depth if you would ever like me to write an article on a subject or find out more about any topic id be greatfull too

CLICryan

Commented 8 months ago - 20th September 2011 - 13:11pm

kranenvuhurr you and I were talking at the resi about Dai Woodhams scrap yard in Barry and how you couldn't find it. I've now added this article to the national CLIC site and the Swoosh site in the Vale.

Do any Barry folk know where the scrap yard is, or can you ask your parents / grandparents? kranenvuhurr would like to contact them for a visit.

The other thing you could do kranenvuhurr is contact south Wales paper the Echo, and they might publish your letter asking if people know where it is. They often publish such letters looking for historical things. You can email them at ecletters@walesonline.co.uk.

Let me know if you email them and I'll keep an eye on the letters page as I get the Echo every day!