Jump to content

Train

Change links
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about a set of cars or vehicles running on a special path called a track. For other uses, seeTrain (disambiguation).
Train
Passenger train powered by overhead electricity in theCzech Republic
TheSimple English Wiktionaryhas adefinitionfor: train.
Anelectric locomotivepulling a passenger train in Russia

Arail train,otherwise referred to as simply atrain,is a set ofrailway[a]cars (also called vehicles) that are tied together with or without alocomotive.[b][1]Trains are used to carry people, and also things likeraw material,finished goods,cargo,andwaste.The vehicles that carry freight are calledcars(in theUnited States) orwagons(in theUnited Kingdom). The ones that carry passengers are often called coaches or carriages. A place where a train stops to let people get on and off is called atrain stationorrailway station.

Trains have their roots inwagonways,which used railway tracks and werepowered by horsesorpulled by cables.Following the invention of thesteam locomotivein the United Kingdom in 1804, trains rapidly spread around the world, allowing freight and passengers to move over land faster and cheaper than ever possible before.Rapid transitandtramswere first built in the late19th centuryto transport large numbers of people in and around cities. Beginning in the 1920s, and accelerating followingWorld War II,dieselandelectric locomotivesreplaced steam as the means of motive power. Following the development ofcars,trucks,and extensive networks ofhighwayswhich offered greater mobility, as well as fasterairplanes,trains declined in importance and market share, and many rail lines were abandoned. The spread ofbusesled to the closure of many rapid transit and tram systems during this time as well.

History

[change|change source]
Historic tram pulled by a horse

Before steam trains there werewagonwayswhere horses and people pulled cars over tracks made of stone and wood.[2]

A steam train made its first journey on 21 February 1804 at the Penydarren Iron Works in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, UK.[3][4]The locomotiveCoalbrookdalewas built byRichard Trevithickhelped by the owner of the ironworks Samual Homfray.[4]

The Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825 showed how a train could be run.[5]The Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 was the first to run passenger trains and freight trains in the way that trains run on most railways today.[6]The use of trains were then to go from country to country over the world, and it was more easy for people and things to get from one place to another place.[5]

Soon after 1830 nearly all trains were pulled by steam locomotives. The steam engine was be the main way to run trains until the 1960s when many countries stopped using them, for example the United States of America had 38,853 steam engines in 1945 but by 1961 that was only 110.[7]

As theinternal combustion enginethat usedpetroleumoil anddieseloil got better people tried to use those those, but they were not very successful at first.[8]The year 1913 in Sweden was when the first successful in the world ran, and it was able to keep going until 1939.[9]The 1920s saw diesel trains get better and by the 1930s diesel trains were going very fast, including the a German train going from Berlin to Hamburg at over 100 mph (160 km/h) and a train going fromDenvertoChicago,1,015 miles (1,633 km) without stopping at an end-to-end speed of 77 miles per hour (124 km/h).[10]

While the first small railway run by electricity was in 1835 it was about after the 1890s when more electric railways and trains started across the world.[11]

AfterWorld War 1there improvements in road cars and buses and people began to use them more than trains.[12]The same was true for how things were moved.[12]From the 1950s the aeroplane became a better way for people to go to some places that were further away.[12]Trains and railways had to get better to stop losing people and things to cars and aeroplanes but many have had to close.[12]

Types of train

[change|change source]

Freight

[change|change source]
Freight train hauled by diesel locomotives.

Freight trains have freight cars (US) or goods' wagons (UK) to carry goods from one place to another. Some areboxcars(closed and roofed cars forcargo); others are special so they can carry special cargo. There are hopper cars for sand, coal, ore and other granulous (sand-like) materials, flatbed cars for vehicles and machinery,tank carsfor liquids, container cars forcontainersand even bottle cars formolten iron.Almost anything which is not too large to fit under tunnels and bridges can be transported on special freight cars.[source?]

Passenger

[change|change source]

Passenger trains have passenger cars (US) or coaches (UK), made so people can ride them from onetrain stationto another. Passenger trains are usually a very comfortable way of traveling. Many trains have electrical outlets andWi-Fihotspotsfor computers andmobile devices.

Most passenger cars are single-deckers: there are also double-decker passenger cars,[13]such as the Finnish Inter-City cars.

Some trains look like abusthat can only drive on rails.

The world's longest passenger train was 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) long and had 100 cars. It was a special train that ran in October 2022 in Switzerland.[14]

Trains in the city

[change|change source]
Busy train in Egypt (2019)

To get to a city and to move around it trains may need to carry many people and they can get very busy. There are many names for this type of train includingrapid transit.[15]The railway for these trains may go underground or be above the road.[15]Trains which go along city roads are calledTrams.[16]A new word for trams that also use tracks used by other trains outside the city is '''tram-trains'''.[17]

Trains that go far

[change|change source]

There are few long-distance passenger trains in theUnited States,but more inEuropeandAsia.[source?]

They may have a special car where you can eat. Sometimes there are also sleeping cars (passenger cars withbeds) for long overnight voyages.

Very fast trains

[change|change source]

High-speed railuses special, fast passenger trains on special tracks.[18]A few of the fast ones aremaglev trains,using magnets to hover slightly off the tracks to have lessfriction.[19]

Crew

[change|change source]
  • Thedriverorengineermakes sure the train works right, and speeds it up or slows it down. Usually a train needs a driver to make it run well, but a few are run by computer.[source?]
  • Theguardorconductormakes sure the train goes the right way and tells the driver if he makes a mistake.[source?]
  • Only steam trains have afireman.He makes sure the fire that powers the steam locomotive is burning properly by puttingcoalinto the fire.[source?]

Propulsion

[change|change source]
A steam locomotive.

Most trains are pulled bylocomotives.[source?]Before 1900, almost all weresteam locomotives.As this kind ofsteam engineuses very muchfuelfor the work it does,[source?]steam began to give way todiesellocomotives andelectric locomotivesduring the 1930s.[source?]Today, most locomotives arediesel-electriclocomotives.[source?]

Sometimes a train has no separate locomotive, but the prime mover (diesel engine orelectric motor) is located on the first car of the train itself, and the car has engineer's cabin. The car is called a "motor unit". Some trains have motors in many or all of the cars. This is called adiesel multiple unitorelectric multiple unit.Usually, both ends of the train have engineer's cabins. These trains are especially popular incommutertraffic in large towns and cities. Electric trains get their power from athird railor from overhead wires.[source?]

Thefastest trainin the world is a special type of train usingmaglevpropulsion, and it can reach 600 kilometres per hour (370 mph).[20]

Notes

[change|change source]
  1. ↑A railway is often call a railroad and is a path (track) with usually twosteelrailswith one or two meters between them. Other types of track are possible, for example amonorailthat one single track only.
  2. ↑Alocomotive(sometimes called aprime moveror anengine) is a special vehicle that can move itself or other vehicles but does not carry things or people other than the people needed to drive it.

References

[change|change source]
  1. ↑"Definition of train (1a)".www.merriam-webster.com.Retrieved27 October2022.a connected line of railroad cars with or without a locomotive
  2. ↑Peter Herring (2000).Ultimate Train.London: DK. p. 8.ISBN0-7894-4610-3.OCLC1036892037.OL8155464M.WikidataQ114992388.
  3. ↑"BBC - A History of the World - Object: Replica of Trevithick's steam locomotive".www.bbc.co.uk.Retrieved18 March2022.
  4. ↑4.04.1O. S. Nock (1975).Locomotion: a world survery of railway traction.London:Routledge.pp. 4–7.ISBN0-7100-8222-3.OCLC1858758.OL5253681M.WikidataQ114260807.
  5. ↑5.05.1David Ross (2003).The encyclopedia of trains and locomotives: the comprehensive guide to over 900 steam, diesel, and electric locomotives from 1825 to the present day.p. 6.ISBN1-57145-971-5.OCLC1285577165.OL3690962M.WikidataQ115184543.
  6. ↑John Marshall (1975).The Guinness Book of Rail Facts and Feats(2nd ed.). London: Guinness Superlatives. p. 14.ISBN0-9004-2433-8.OCLC2007088.OL4946651M.WikidataQ114966495.
  7. ↑Marshall (1975). pp. 149, 152
  8. ↑Colm Flanagan (2003).Diesel Dawn: Ireland's contribution to the Development of the DMU 1931-1967.Newtownards: Colourpoint Books. p. 7.ISBN978-1-904242-08-6.OCLC56539422.OL3374749M.WikidataQ115119562.
  9. ↑Marshall (1975). p. 150
  10. ↑Marshall (1975). pp. 150–152
  11. ↑Marshall (1975). pp. 155–161
  12. ↑12.012.112.212.3Ross (2003). p. 7
  13. ↑David West (2015).Trains.pp. 16–17.ISBN978-1-62588-099-4.OCLC1195034600.OL28682825M.WikidataQ114970195.
  14. ↑"World's longest passenger train rolls through Alps".BBC News.Retrieved1 November2022.
  15. ↑15.015.1West (2015) pp. 14-15
  16. ↑West (2015) pp. 18-19
  17. ↑Nast, Condé (24 November 2019)."The UK is on the verge of a radical tram-train revolution".Wired UK.ISSN1357-0978.Retrieved9 November2022.
  18. ↑West (2015) pp. 11-12
  19. ↑West (2015) p. 22-23
  20. ↑Jones, Ben (10 December 2021)."Flying without wings: The World's fastest trains".CNN.Archivedfrom the original on 22 October 2022.Retrieved22 October2022.

Other websites

[change|change source]
Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Train&oldid=9840293"