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FROM ТЛЕ HISTORY OF RAIL WA YS
I
We usually think of railways as a means of travel. It is true that railways are often used for travel, but their most important function is to carry freight.
Railways play a very important part in the nation al economy of a country
Because the economic and political development of a country depends on a wide
network of transportation systems. Although we have now faster and more modern means of communication and transport, railways are still the safest and the most popular means of transportation.
The early railways were not like the railways we have today. The very first railways used horses for drawing trains and were put into operation for transporting such products as coal, ore and timber. Later on, the horse railways were used as passenger transport in large cities. But these railways did not last long.
One of the first attempts to use the steam engine to draw passenger and freight trains was made in 1808 by Richard Trevithick, an Englishman, who demonstrated , his working model in London. This locomotive was looked at with great interest when Й ran on a circular track of iron rails. For a shilling the public could travel in a carriage drawn by. the steam engine. The locomotive was called "Catch-me-who-can", and people could really catch it cause it developed only 12mpn. But one day a rail broke and the locomotive overturned, ending Trevithick's career as' an inventor.
In 1829, George Stephenson, an English inventor engineer, built a successful steam locomotive which he called the "Rocket". This locomotive was much smaller
and lighter, than the steam locos developed later on, and it was much slower. However, it could draw a small train loaded cars on the railway and developed an
unheard-of d of 13 mph (21 kph). The invention of the steam locomotives made the ' railway the most important of all means of transportation.
Stephenson not only constructed the world's first steam locomotive' but he was
also the builder of the first public railway in England—the Stockton and Darlington
railway using both steam and horses as tractive power. This rail way was a success
and Stephenson was asked" to build another railway, now steam-powered, between Liverpool and Manchester.
It is difficult for the people living in the second half of the 20th century to imagine the opposition to the building of the early railroads. Most people did not believe that it was possible to make locomotives suitable for serv ice. Many of them were afraid of the railways when they first appeared and did all in their power to stop railway construction. However, in 1824 the steam-powered railways were already in wide use in England.
In Russia, many people also had doubts about the possibility of using steam engines in the Russian winter. Nevertheless, the first railway using steam traction was put into service at the Nizhni Tagil metallurgical works. It was a short distance line covering only 854 metres. This railway was soon followed by another one constructed in 1837. It was a 15-mile public railway between St. Pe tersburg and Tsarskoye Selo.
The first steam locomotive in Russia was built by the Cherepanovs, father and son, who were talented and skilled workmen of their time. Thanks to the Cherepanovs our country may be placed among the countries which were the first to use steam as tractive power.
Since that time many changes have taken place on railways. Still greater changes will take place in the future. We shall run more powerful locomotives and have more comfortable cars. Greater speeds will be developed by diesel and electric locomotives. Railways will soon be op erated by means of electronic computers. Д great number of other developments which were not heard and thought of before will be introduced.