Millions of passengers around the world use the train to travel from one place to another every day. You also must have travelled by train at some point, and you know that this journey is least expensive in comparison to other modes of transportation and yet most comfortable one. But have you ever wondered when did trains come into existence? If you want to know when, how and by whom train was invented, keep reading ahead. Here, we will be exploring the developmental journey of trains and when was the train invented?

The first days of the invention of the train
The idea of train originated from a wagonway. A wagonway is a line of horses that carry goods from one place to another. These chariots were either driven by humans or pulled by horses or oxen. The wagonway was mainly used to transport quarries or stones from quarries to construction sites. The first steam engine was built on 21 February 1804 by Richard Trevithick, an engineer living in the United Kingdom. Since the first steam locomotive appeared in Cornwall, in the south of England, in 1804, one could consider Richard Trevithick to be the train's inventor. The trial phase with Trevithick railway locomotives was not much successful because his engine was too heavy for the cast iron plateway track. Its main purpose was to transport coal from the coal mine to the iron foundry. However, his steam locomotive was not popular due to several shortcomings.

Inspirational inventions from Richard Trevithick's invention
Although Trevithick’s experiment was not much successful and popular, it inspired other engineers and many engineers began working on the same idea. George Stephenson had a major role in making steam locomotives. In 1825, he built a steam locomotive for the Stockton and Darlington railways in northeastern England. It is the world's first public steam railway. On September 27, 1825, this train travelled for the first time with 450 people in Stockton, England.
In the beginning of 1840, railways developed rapidly in countries that have coal or can import it easily, such as Europe and the United States. This discovery went together with the conquest of regions (particularly in the American West and Siberia) and stimulated tremendous economic expansion in industrialized countries. Urban and rural environments became familiar to railroads and the trains that move through them. Diesel engine trains were invented by modifying steam locomotive trains and later modified into electric locomotives. In 1837 all trains ran on coal steam, but in 1912 a diesel engine was built in Switzerland and proved to be very useful to the world. Soon, electric and battery-powered trains came into existence.

Trains that run on electricity
Following Werner von Siemens' successful introduction of the electric tramline in Berlin, Germany, the first electric train was introduced in 1880. Electric trains grew more practical in the following decades and many electric railways were developed around the world. Overhead wires or an electric rail are used in these systems.

Recent trains
The trains we see these days are mostly based on early electric train designs or diesel locomotive designs. Inventors and engineers, on the other hand, are working on innovative ideas that could improve railway travel in the future.
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When the train was invented?