The invention of wrought iron rails, together with Richard Trevithick's pioneering steam locomotive meant that Britain had the first modern railways in the world.

Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about half a mile away.

[3] As early as 1671 railed roads were in use in Durham to ease the conveyance of coal; the first of these was the Tanfield Wagon Way.

In 1820, John Birkenshaw introduced a method of rolling rails in greater lengths using wrought iron which was used from then onwards.

As railway technology developed, longer lines became possible, connecting mines with more distant transshipment points and promising lower costs.

These longer lines often required public subscription to build and crossed over land not owned by the mine owners.

(U.K.) c. xxxiii), on 21 May 1801 to build a tram-road between Wandsworth and Croydon in what is now south London; the engineer was William Jessop.

The Penydarren locomotive used a high-pressure cylinder without a condenser, the exhaust steam being used to assist the draught via the firebox, increasing efficiency even more.

Amid great interest from the public, on 21 February 1804 it successfully carried 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 men a distance of 9.75 miles (15.69 km) from Penydarren to Abercynon in 4 hours and 5 minutes, an average speed of nearly 5 mph (8.0 km/h).

Trevithick built a third locomotive in 1808, Catch Me Who Can, which ran on a temporary demonstration railway in Bloomsbury, London.

The first commercially successful steam locomotive was the twin cylinder Salamanca, built in 1812 by John Blenkinsop and Matthew Murray for the 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm) gauge Middleton Railway.

The single rack ran outside the narrow gauge edge-rail tracks and was engaged by a cog-wheel on the left side of the locomotive.

The proprietors of Wylam Colliery, near Newcastle upon Tyne wanted to replace horse-drawn trains with steam.

[16] William Hedley and Timothy Hackworth (another colliery employee) designed a locomotive in 1813 which became known as Puffing Billy.

[20] The railway was initially operated like a public road, and it was a common occurrence for waggoners' trains to meet on the single track, leading to arguments as to who should back up to a passing loop.

This differed from the Stockton and Darlington, as sections of this line employed cable haulage, and only the coal trains were hauled by locomotives.

[23] The L&MR was primarily built to provide faster transport of raw materials and finished goods between the port of Liverpool and mills in Manchester in north-west England.

The 35-mile (56 km) line was a remarkable engineering achievement for its time, beginning with the 2,250-yard (2,060 m) Wapping Tunnel beneath Liverpool from the docks to Edge Hill.

Rocket was the first locomotive to use a multi-tubular boiler, which allowed more effective heat transfer from the exhaust gases to the water.

It was also the first to use a blastpipe[citation needed], where used steam from the cylinders discharges into the smokebox beneath the chimney in order to increase the draught of the fire.