George Stephenson was the first man who put a steam-engine on wheels. The English call him the “Father of Railways.”
Stephenson was born in a poor family near Newcastle, one of the industrial centers of England. His father could not send him to school, so George helped his mother look after his younger brothers and sisters. His duty was to make sure the children did not get under the horses that pulled coal-cars on the wooden rails near his father’s house. George watched the rails every day and saw how often they were repaired. He decided that iron rails could be better.
At eight, Stephenson began to work as a horse-driver in a coal-mine. He could not read or write, but he thought about iron rails. He imagined a steam-engine that could do the work of twenty horses. He built a model of it in clay. At nineteen, he worked on a real steam-engine and learned to read and write. He designed a locomotive that moved on iron rails, but he could not build it because he had no money.
Stephenson was fifty when some businessmen decided to build an iron railway and test his locomotive. The first railway was built between Stockton and Darlington. On the opening day, a man on a horse went in front of the engine and shouted that the train was coming. People on horses and in carriages moved near the train. After some time, Stephenson asked the horseman to go away. He used steam and ran the locomotive at 12 miles an hour (about 20 kilometers).
Parliament did not want to build railways. They said a locomotive could not run against strong wind. Then Stephenson built a new locomotive called “The Rocket.” His son Robert helped him. This locomotive was faster and stronger than the first. It could pull thirteen tons and run 29 miles (46 kilometers) an hour.
This time, the railway company agreed to use Stephenson’s locomotive. The first railway in England was built in 1825.
