A PEEP INTO HISTORY
Power of Steam - What was invented first ? - The Gauge,-
Who invented steam locomotive ? - The rainhill trial,
Progress of Railway revolution, - Prejudice and opposition
BHOLU THE GUARD
Some
earliest steam powered engines claimed to be used in ancient times.
click thumbnail to enlarge
(FRANCE) In 1641 Marion de Lorme and the Marquis of Worcester visited together one of the Paris madhouses. Looking through the bars of his cell was a man named Solomon de Cause.
"I am not mad," he cried to the visitors, "I am not mad! But I have made a discovery that would enrich the country that would adopt it. But I am not mad. I am not mad."
"The poor creature says that he has discovered a wonderful power in the use of steam from boiling water," explained the keeper. "He came from Normandy, about four years ago, to present to the king a statement of the wonderful effects that might be produced from his invention. Cardinal Richelieu sent him away without listening to him. Solomon persisted, and, following the cardinal wherever be went, finally so annoyed him with his discovery that he had him shut up in the Bicetre as a madman."
The Marquis of Worcester, not being dependent upon Richelieu, went back to England to work at the same problem that had cost Solomon de Cause his liberty. He succeeded so well that in 1656 he erected in London a machine which "raised water more than forty feet by the power of one man only." What the machine was used for, or if it was used for anything, we are not told.
After this, however, progress was more rapid, and in 1718 steam was for the first time put into industrial harness by a Cornish miner named Savary, who built an engine to pump water from the mines. Forty seven years later in 1765 - James Watt constructed his first steam engine at the Corson Iron Works, Glasgow,Scotland and the steam age began.
even in early 16th Century, in England there were metalled tracks for horse-hauled trucks,
What was invented first ? The Railways or the Steam Engine ?
Though even before the age of steam engines, i.e., even in early 16th Century, in England there were metalled tracks for horse-hauled trucks, the earliest is in
1630 - when a man named Beaumont laid rails on a highway in England to transport coal from the Newcastle mines. This is the first railroad known in history.Strictly speaking , the history of Railways goes back much further in time. Traces of evidence are still available which establish that in devastated Pompeii, ancient Greece and even in the Middle-East, "rutways" in stone paving were in existence several centuries earlier, for facilitating haulage of wagons and chariots.
The distance between the two-wheel tracks was surprisingly the same, Just less than 1.5 meters, similar to standard gauge(4'-8.5") used on most modern Railways in the world today. The earlier vehicle were of course hauled by horses. It is a bizarre fact that dimension of this gauge is related to the size of the horse.
The two bamboos of the yoke are spaced around 2'-6" to 2'-2" , and as these are in turn attached to the vehicle, allowing a clearance of 6" on either side for the horse body and 6" for the wheel, the gauge works out to 4'- 6" to 4'- 9". Apparently when the horses were replaced by locomotives the original track and vehicles were retained. This led to the proliferation of this size as the "STANDARD GAUGE" around the world.
1801 - A short line of track for a horse railroad was laid between Wandsworth and Croydon in the suburbs of London - the first chartered railroad on record.
But the greatest step which made possible the development of Railways to the admirable condition we saw in yester years is the invention of the Steam Locomotive Engine.The invention of the Locomotive Engine was made possible as a result of the earlier invention of the Railways.First it was discovered that trucks could be propelled by the adhesion of a smooth wheeled engine over a pair or smooth rails.
WHO INVENTED STEAM
LOCOMOTIVE ?
RICHARD TREVITHICK
(1771-1833).
A Cornish Mine Manager's son. He earlier in 1801 invented the road-locomotive,
putting upon the highways on Christmas Eve 1801, the first steam propelled
vehicle for passengers. This invention was not for the railway but for the
highway.
Evolution of Steam Locomotive is probably closely associated with extraction of coal and its transport to the users from pithead. George Stephenson invented the earliest steam locomotive some time between 1804 and 1821.
In February 1804, Trevithick produced the world's first steam engine to run successfully on rails. The locomotive, with its single vertical cylinder, 8 foot flywheel and long piston-rod, managed to haul ten tons of iron, seventy passengers and five wagons from the ironworks at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal. During the nine mile journey the locomotive reached speeds of nearly five miles an hour.Trevithick's locomotive only made three journeys. Each time the seven-ton steam engine broke the cast iron rails. and was abandoned.
Unabated by repeated failures and criticism Trevethick continued his experiments. Trevithick developed a new locomotive he called Catch Me Who Can. In the summer of 1808 Trevithick erected a circular railway in Euston Square and during the months of July and August people could ride on his locomotive on the payment of one shilling. Trevithick had plenty of volunteers for his locomotive that reached speeds of 12 mph (19 kph) but once again the rails broke and he was forced to bring the experiment to an end.
GEORGE STEPHENSON, (1781-1848) was born at Wylam, near New Castle, and up to 1804 was mainly engaged in ordinary Colliery occupation. It is amazing to know that he learnt to read and write at the age of 18 to get a decent job and learn the intricacies of steam engines. In 1804, however , an engagement as Brakesman at Killingworth Colliery brought him in touch with the working of Watt's Steam Engine, and his first efforts in invention were in improving one of those engines, showing so much ability that he was offered an Engine Wright's position at Killingham, which he held for some time. Then it was that he began to think seriously of producing a locomotive engine, and managed to construct an engine that would draw coal trucks at the rate of 4 miles an hour. In 1821, when the Stockton and Darlington Railway was undertaken he was appointed Engineer and when the Railway was opened it was opened as a line for the transport of coal only,
Stephenson
on
September 27, 1825,
won
his first great triumph by
putting a locomotive on the line that was able to draw 38
wagons ( not coaches), laden with goods and 600 passengers at a rate of 12 miles
an hour, with Stephenson at the controls, thus
inaugurating the first public
steam railway of the world. It is interesting to note that the 600
passengers were made to ride on wagons.
There was also another landmark. Till then whatever passenger traffic was there
were moved on same freight wagons meant for haulage of goods and basically the
railroads were for freight traffic. On this trial run for the first time in the
history of the world a passenger coach was attached. This was an elegant horse
drawn coach body placed on railway wheels and even provided with its own wooden
hand brakes. The coach was called "The Experiment" and used to carry
the directors of the firm and the " Steam Age " virtually began.
THE RAINHILL TRIAL
After
this incident George
Stephenson's fame as a railway engineer sky-rocketed and he was very much in
demand all over the world as a consultant and engineer. Subsequently in 1929 ,
George assisted by his son Robert, was engaged in construction of the Liverpool
and Manchester railway line,
which was meant for hauling wagons by a cable , wound by stationary steam
engine. Stephenson tried his best to convince the company to use steam
locomotives . But at last the company consented to conduct a "
trial" at Rainhill and
on 25th. of April 1929 an advertisement appeared to offer a prize money of
500 pounds sterling over and above the cost of the engine for the most improved
locomotive during a trial.. It would be interesting to know the "
terms and conditions " of the trial.
1. The engine was to be
delivered within tight delivery period of little over 5 months.
2. The maximum engine weight was stipulated as 6 tons.
3. The engine should be able to haul a trailing load of 20 tons at 10 miles per hour on level section. with boiled pressure of 20lbs. per Sq. inch
4. The basic price of the engine should not exceed 550 sterling pounds.
It is
also interesting to note that since this trial was to be conducted on a level
section and since the longest perfectly level section was only 1.5 miles
at Rainhill, each contestant was required to travel backward and forward ten
times , making a total journey of 30 miles.
Five locomotives were delivered for the trial but later two were withdrawn. The
trial took place on 6th. October 1829. Three locomotives " The
Novelty", The Sans Pereil" and the Rocket participated. The Novelty
after performing two runs broke down.although she achieved a speed of 30 m.p.h.
Sans Periel made eight runs before the water pump failed. ( At a later stage the
pump was replaced by " Water Injectors" in modern Steam Locomotives).
Stephenson's
" The Rocket" emerged as undisputed winner making complete 30 miles
journey not once but twice clocking 2 hrs. 45 mins. for the 1st. round trip and
2 hrs. 7 mins. for the second.
after
this the Railway age commenced.
However the first Steam
Locomotive in its completed form was put in service in 1829 and was
christened as ROCKET, which won in the celebrated "Rainhill
Trails" on April 25, 1829.
The Liverpool - Manchester line was completed and a colourful inauguration ceremony was organised on 15th. September 1830. It is unfortunate that this inauguration ceremony was marred by a tragedy. when one of the invited V.I.Ps William Huskisam M.P. and a former cabinet minister was fatally run over by " The Rocket". Obviously the train did not have effective brakes. This can be termed as the first train accident in the history of Railways.
Stephenson named his first steam engine "LOCOMOTION No.1" and perhaps this led to the later Steam Engines to called "Locomotives".
PREJUDICE AND OPPOSITION
People every where in the world have been prejudiced to oppose any new invention. In case of railways also there was enormous prejudice, opposition and criticism.
1. Queen Victoria after 17 years of opening of the first railway in the world, was advised by her council of ministers that it was "safe" for Her Majesty to take a trip from London to Slough on 13th. June 1842. But "The Atlas" , a popular paper expressed concern over the "fearful tremendous evil " excursion of the Queen and prayed either it should be wholly abandoned or only occasionally resorted to".
2. In 1835 John Bull denounced the railways as a menace wrote : If they suceed they will give an unnatural impetus to the society, destroy all the relations which exist between man and man, overthrow all mercantile regulations, overturn the metropolitan markets, drain the provinces of all their resources and create at the peril of life all sorts of confusion and distress. If they fail, nothing will be left but the hideous memory of public folly. ...... We denounce the mania as destructive....." I remember similar denouncement of a Minister in West Bengal when the Metro Railway was first started in Calcutta..
3. In India many people at the beginning also opposed sating " hazardous and dangerous venture." Many British in India considered " premature and expensive undertaking". They feared even if it could be started it will not be able to attract people from Bullock Carts and the people were so poor that they cannot be persuaded to spend money on railway travel. The great Indian economist Romesh Chandra Dutt considered railways as wasteful expenditure and at best deserve the secondary priority to roads and canals. Even Lord Lawrence the Governor-General considered "water ways will be more important for the country than railways.
4. France : Louis Phillip of France as late as 1848 was forbidden to endanger his life on the railway. The council of ministers after a sitting decided that the mode of travelling by railway was not secure for being used by the King and consequently His majesty was asked to go by horses.
BUT STILL THE RAILWAYS HAVE OVERCOME ALL OPPOSITION AND MARCHING FORWARD WITH SPEED AND SUCCESS.
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