Full name: Richard Trevithick Born: 13th April 1771 Invention/Achievement: The Steam Locamotive Date of introduction/Achievement: 1804 (First steam powered locomotive to run on rails) Died: 22nd April 1833

Richard Trevithick, the pioneer of the locomotive technology, was born in the then thriving mining community of Cornwall and at school was known more for his great strength and wrestling prowess than his intellect.  

He went to work with his father at the Wheal Treasury mine and soon showed evidence of his engineering talent, making improvements to the mine's Bull Steam Engine.  He was appointed engineer at the Ding Dong mine in Penzance, where he developed a high-pressure steam engine.  Using high-pressure steam meant that engines could be smaller and more economical to run.  

Trevithick realised that such an engine could be used to drive a locomotive and in 1796 produced a successful working model.  

In 1801 he constructed a full-size locomotive and on Christmas Eve took seven intrepid friends on a short journey.  The locomotive comprised a horizontal cylindrical boiler with a cylinder let into it and driven back and forth by steam pressure.  Named the "Puffing Devil", it was unable to sustain steam pressure for long journeys.  

Trevithick addressed the problem in his next locomotive "The London Steam Carriage", which he took to London in 1803, where he drove it from Holborn to Paddington and back.  However it was expensive to run and uncomfortable for passengers and was abandoned.  

In 1804 at the Penydarren Steel Works in Merthyr Tydfil Trevithick ran another unnamed locomotive, the first steam locomotive to run on rails.  It carried 10 tons of iron, 70 passengers and five wagons on a nine mile journey, during which it reached speeds of five mph.  However, at seven tons it was too heavy for the rails, which it repeatedly broke, and made only three trips.  

Another locomotive called "Catch Me Who Can" was set up in Euston Square, London and carried passengers at one shilling (5 p) a time, reaching speeds of 12 mph.  Sadly, it too broke the rails.  After this Trevithick went to South America and for a time made money.  Local wars once forced him to return to England, where after working for a year in Dartford, he died in poverty in 1833.