From the first time steam train rolled over the railways of industrial England in early 1800s to the modern times when bullet trains carry thousands of passengers with incredible speeds and freight train carry substantial amount of worlds goods, trains enabled us to develop our civilization with unexpected consequences that nobody expected. 


Today, trains are used in variety of ways – from small city trams, subway electric trains, distance trains (equipped with dining cars and sleeping quarters for longer journeys), freight trains, to high-speed bullet trains that can reach speeds of 300-500 kilometers per hour. However, their history started with much simpler and slower designs. Even before steam engines arrived, ancient civilizations of Greece and Egypt and industrial Europe (1600s -1800s) used horses as primary sources of driving simple train cars. With purposefully built train tracks that enabled journey in only two directions, horses or bulls needed to waste minimal amount of force while pulling coal, iron and other goods.

Arrival of first non-condensing pressurized steam engines in first few years of 19th century enabled engineers to build new kind of railway system and train cars – trains that were built to carry much more materials than ever before.