In February 1804, the first steam train in history made its first journey. Up until then animals had been the most important means of travel and transportation. It now became possible to transport larger loads more quickly over greater distances.

By all accounts, Richard Trevithick invented the steam locomotive as the result of a bet. He wanted his locomotive to replace the horses which drew heavily loaded carts from an ironworks to a nearby canal. The requirements for the English engineer’s innovation were two inventions which had already been made: tracks, which were being employed in mining, and a relatively powerful steam engine. Trevithick combined both. He placed a steam engine on tracks and used its power to drive its wheels. The first locomotive was born!

On 13th February 1804, the train undertook its first journey. Over a good four hours, Trevithick’s locomotive travelled the distance from an ironworks to a nearby canal at a maximum speed of eight kilometres an hour. The bet was won.

In 1825, the first public, steam-powered railway line in England was opened between Stockton and Darlington. At first, however, George Stephenson’s "Locomotion No. 1“ transported goods only.

In 1829, the English engineer entered a competition with his “Rocket” steam locomotive. The participants had to travel 56 kilometres, fill up on fuel and water and then set out on the return journey carrying a heavy load. The Rocket triumphed with an average speed of 24 kilometres an hour. Stephenson’s next major project was a train link between Liverpool and Manchester. In 1830, the first passenger train line was opened. Two years later, the first steam-powered railway line was inaugurated in France. The opening of a train line in Germany followed in 1835. The age of the railway had dawned.

In the course of time, the steam locomotive was replaced with the electric and the diesel locomotive which proved more powerful and cost-effective. The Scottish inventor Davidson had already constructed the first locomotive with an electric power system in 1842.

In 1879, Werner von Siemens developed the first direct current locomotive with a horsepower of 3. The first electrically-driven railway line was finally opened between Baltimore and Ohio in the USA in 1894. In 1908 the Italian Belluzo constructed the first locomotive powered by steam turbines. The first diesel-powered locomotive followed in 1912 by which time the trains were achieving a horsepower of 1,000. Top speeds were later reached by the Japanese high-speed Shinkansen train (1964, 210 km/h), the German ICE (1988, 406.9 km/h) and the French TGV with 515.3 kilometres an hour in 1990.