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by Merry_Hampton on March 1st, 2005
The first commercial railway was the Surrey Iron Railway, which ran from Wandsworth in London to Croydon. It was authorised by an Act of Parliament of 21st May 1801 and was opened throughout on 26th July 1803. It was extended to Merstham in Surrey under the provisions of the Croydon, Merstham & Godstone Iron Railway Act of 17th May 1803 and was opened to Merstham on 24th July 1805, thus predating the Mumbles Railway by a year if we consider the ultimate terminus of Merstham, or by 3 years if we consider the opening of the initial line from Wandsworth to Croydon
by geeknik on February 1st, 2005
In 1806 a horse-drawn railway was built between Swansea and Mumbles(in South Wales). In 1807 this railway started carrying fare-paying passengers - the first in the world to do so. The first successful steam-operated railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, ran in northern England in the 1820s. This was soon followed by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which proved the viability of rail transport.
Of course, the first horse tracked vehicles, drawn wagonways appeared in Greece, Malta, and parts of the Roman Empire at least 2000 years ago using cut-stone tracks. They began reappearing in Europe, from around 1550, usually operating with crude wooden tracks. It is arguable that those primitive "railways" were the first commercially used tracks.
What if you were going off the rails on a gravy train?
by Have A Nice Day on November 12th, 2010
| 2 people like this
What tools were used on the transcontinental railroad and what were their purposes?I'm mostly interested in tools used in its construction
by foolycooly1001 on May 25th, 2010
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Do train MOFOs take delight in making ordinary citizens wait an exorbitant amount of time at rail crossings?
by -O-uknow on August 31st, 2010
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In NY, why is the Croton-on-Hudson train station known as Croton-HARMON, as opposed to Croton-on-Hudson?
by byankno1 on May 15th, 2010
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who invented the worlds first train?
by jasperjones on June 20th, 2010
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