Page 28 - A Narrative of the History of Roanoke Virginia

Eventually, technology stepped in and other inventions supplanted animal-driven
transportation modes. Mechanical engines enabled the development of land and
water vehicles, including ships, steam locomotives and eventually the automobile
and space capsules.

So what was the single most important invention that allowed us to expand our
horizons beyond what had been available both in time and distance? My vote goes
to the steam locomotive.

The locomotive presupposes the invention of the steam engine, but a simple
steam engine,of and by itself, does not necessarily create an industry. So who
invented the locomotive?

Although many are arguably named the inventor of the steam engine, my vote
goes to someone who made the engine as a locomotive power that was capable of
moving 8 wagons loaded with 30 tons of coal at 4 mph while others were producing
table-top models that in theory only could be called steam engines.

At the time the earliest railways employed horses to draw carts along rail tracks.
But in 1784, William Murdoch, a Scottish inventor, built a small-scale prototype of
a steam road locomotive in Birmingham, England. A full-scale rail steam
locomotive was proposed by William Reynolds around 1787. An early working
model of a steam rail locomotive was designed and constructed by steamboat
pioneer John Fitch in the US during 1794. His steam locomotive used interior
bladed wheels guided by rails or tracks. The model still exists at the Ohio Historical
Society Museum in Columbus. The authenticity and date of this locomotive is
disputed by some experts and a workable steam train would have to await the
invention of the high-pressure steam engine by Richard Trevithick, who pioneered
the use of steam locomotives.

A steam locomotive is a type of railway locomotive that produces its pulling
power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning
combustible material – usually coal, wood, or oil – to produce steam in a boiler.
The steam moves reciprocating pistons which are mechanically connected to the
locomotive's main wheels (drivers). Both fuel and water supplies are carried with
the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in wagons (tenders) pulled
behind.

So while others were dealing in theories, one George Stephenson of Great Britain,
not content with 8 wagons and 30 tons, soon dramatically upped the ante by
improving his engine’s steam system to give it greater pulling power. It was this
that made his steam engine named The Blucher the first fully effective steam
railway locomotive.

The invention of the locomotive created railroads, with the ability to move large
quantities of goods over great distances at far lesser costs and with speed not