One of the most revolutionary inventions in human history to date was the steam engine. The first commercial steam-powered device – a water pump – was built in 1698 by the English inventor Thomas Savery. The successful experiments of the Englishman Thomas Newcomen, the German Jacob Leopold and (especially) the Scotsman James Watt during the 18th century led to the construction of the locomotive – a powerful steam engine that pulled carriages with passengers and freight on iron rails.
The world’s first successful steam locomotive was built by the English engineers George and Robert Stephenson. Originally called the “Active”, and later renamed “Locomotion No. 1”, this engine was at the head of the first passenger train in history on September 27, 1825, which ran between Stockton and Darlington, in northeastern England. The train consisted of a passenger "coach" called the "Experiment", with 18 seats, and 21 coal freight cars, which accommodated about 300 people with purchased tickets and an unknown number of those without tickets, while the locomotive was driven by George Stephenson himself.
The journey between the two places, less than 14 kilometers apart, took almost two hours, of which the 122-meter-long and 80-ton train was in motion for about 55 minutes, while the rest of the time was spent on two stops due to breakdowns: first, when a wheel fell off on one of the carriages, and then when a valve on the locomotive's water pump broke. Despite the long delay, 10,000 people enthusiastically welcomed the first passenger train in Darlington. "Locomotive 1" pulled passenger and freight trains on the Stockton-Darlington line for less than three years, until 1 July 1828, when its boiler exploded at Aycliffe Lane station, killing the driver. In the autumn of 1829, Robert Stephenson constructed the famous "Rocket" locomotive, which was a (technically) significantly improved version of his previous steam engine and which, from October of the following year, pulled trains between Liverpool and Manchester, the first public railway with exclusively steam traction.
