Weekend Steam: The First Locomotive

Replaying an old favorite.

Merle's pick is  a brief video of a re-creation of Peter Trevithick's little loco, which was the first one. Think about the inventions and upgrades that had to come along after this 1802 invention.  Boilers were notorious for failing in the early years.  There are very few steam engines of any kind from before the late Nineteenth Century that survive. Boilers are a big reason for that. Of course, stopping these machines was harder than making them go.  During the mid-Nineteenth Century train wrecks that killed scores of people were common.  Wrecks were caused by bad rails, inadequate brakes, poor communication, telescoping cars in wrecks, stoves in the cars that ignited wrecked cars, and bad bridges. Travel by rail was not for the faint of heart.  It all started with Trevithick's little engine.  Thank You, Merle!