Modern rail travel owes its existance to the great engineer George Stephenson. While working as a mechanic in a coal mine, he educated himself at night school. By 1812, he was a chief mechanic and, in 1814, he built his first locomotive, the Blucher. This locomotive propelled itself at 6 km (4 miles ) per hour and could pull eight wagons loaded with coal. Stephenson refined the steam engine until, in 1829, he built the first practical steam locomotive, the Rocket. It could travel at an amazing 58 km (36 miles) per hour.
Fact file
In 1840, the American Inventor Samuel F. B. Morse launched a code based on dots, dashes and space. Known as the Morse code, it speeded up the sending of message through the telegraph.
