By Tim Lambert
The great railway engineer George Stephenson was born on 9 August 1781.
On 21 February 1804, the first-ever steam locomotive made its first journey. It hauled 10 tons of iron and 70 people nearly 10 miles from Penydarren Ironworks to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal in Wales.
The first passenger railway in the world opened in 1825 between Stockton and Darlington in England. The train that pulled the carriages was called Locomotion No 1.
In 1829 The Stourbridge Lion became the first locomotive to run on a US railroad.
A railway from Liverpool to Manchester opened in 1830.
On 15 September 1830, William Huskisson was run over by a train. He was the first person to be killed by a train.
The Dublin and Kingstown Railway opened in 1834. It was the first passenger railway in Ireland.
On 5 May 1835 the first railway in Europe, outside Britain, opened in Belgium. It ran from Brussels to Mechelen.
On 7 December 1835, the first railway in Germany opened.
In 1836 the first railway in Canada opened.
In 1837 the first railway in Russia opened. Euston Railway Station opened in 1837. It was the first intercity railway station in London.
In 1837 the first passenger railway in France opened.
In 1838 a railway was built from London to Birmingham.
In 1839 the first railway in The Netherlands opened. The first railway in Italy opened between Naples and Portici The first railway timetable was published in Britain on 25 October 1839.
In 1840 Southampton was connected to London by railway.
In 1842 a railway from Glasgow to Edinburgh opened. On 12 June 1842 Queen Victoria became the first British monarch to travel by train.
In 1847 the first railway in Denmark opened.
Waterloo Railway Station in London opened in 1848 (The Duke of Wellington lived to see it. He died in 1852).
In 1848 the first railway in Spain opened between Barcelona and Mataró.
In 1850 the first railway opened in Mexico.
In 1853, India’s first passenger train travelled from Mumbai to Thane.
The first railway in Brazil was opened in 1854. Also in 1854, the first railway in Norway opened. The first railway in Australia opened. Paddington Railway Station in London opened in 1854.
In 1856 the first railway in Portugal opened. Also in 1856, the first railway in Egypt was completed between Cairo and Alexandria.
In 1857 the first railway opened in Argentina.
In 1862, the first railway in Finland opened.
In 1863 the first railway in New Zealand. The first underground railway opened in London in 1863. The carriages were pulled by steam trains so it must have been smokey.
Clapham Junction Railway Station opened in 1863.
Charing Cross Railway Station in London opened in 1864.
St Pancras Railway Station in London opened in 1868.
In 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad across the USA was completed.
In 1870 a railway to Bournemouth opened.
In 1872 the first railway in Japan opened.
British trains first had toilets in 1873 but only on sleeping carriages.
On 28 December 1879, a railway bridge over the River Tay in Scotland collapsed while a train was crossing during high winds. 75 people died.
On 7 November 1885, the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven in.
In 1890, the world’s first electric underground railway opened in London.
In 1901 Sarah Clark Kidder became the first woman to run a railroad. She was elected president of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad, in California. The Kenya-Uganda railway opened in 1901.
The trans-Siberian railway was completed in 1904.
On 13 December 1904, the first electric train made a trial run in London.
In 1910 the Transandine Railway which connects Chile and Argentina opened.
The famous train The Flying Scotsman entered service on 24 February 1923. In 1934 she became the first train in the UK to reach 100 miles per hour.
In 1927 the first underground railway in Asia opened, in Tokyo Japan.
In 1973 Christine Gonzalez Aldeis became the first woman locomotive driver in the USA.
In 1978 Karen Harrison became the first woman train driver in Britain. Also in 1978, Ann Dadds became the first woman to drive a train on the London Underground.
