Who was George Stephenson?

Who was George Stephenson?

There is something very exciting about watching a train thundering past, isn’t there? Today, trains run mostly on electricity or diesel, but did you know that the very first trains ran on steam? The steam engine was invented by an engineer called George Stephenson. His life is an excellent example of how a poor boy can ultimately win eminence and fame by industry and perseverance.

Stephenson started his career as an engine-man at a coal mine. For the next ten years, his knowledge of steam engines increased, until in 1812 he stopped operating them for a living, and started building them. Stephenson designed his first locomotive in 1814. It was a traveling engine designed for hauling coal on a coal site. In 1825, he built a steam locomotive for the first passenger railway.

Stephenson gained fame as the designer of the historically important steam locomotive named Rocket. He is known as the ‘Father of Railways”. His invention really changed the way people traveled in the nineteenth century.