Most people have heard of Stephenson’s Rocket, but Robert Stephenson didn’t actually invent the first steam engine. That honour went to Richard Trevithick, a Cornishman whose Penydarren tram road engine hauled 70 men and 10 tons of iron some 10 miles at 5mph – 25 years earlier in 1804. Trevithick’s design was ignored, leaving it to Stephenson to grab the glory.
By the 1920s and 30s, the golden age of steam was in full flow. At the height of steam train popularity, there were over 30,000 miles of track in the UK, transporting goods, commuters and holidaymakers, but the Beeching cuts of the 1960s and then electrification meant that steam engines were consigned to the heritage sector.
