The first steam train was built to haul iron instead of people
Long before commuters boarded passenger cars, Richard Trevithick’s 1804 steam locomotive debuted in Wales to transport heavy iron ore across rugged industrial terrain.
Richard Trevithick debuted the world’s first steam-powered railway locomotive at the Penydarren Ironworks in Wales on February 21, 1804. This pioneering machine was designed specifically to haul ten tons of iron and seventy men over nearly ten miles of track.
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