How fast and powerful are railway locomotives? The fastest steam engine was the British `Mallard’ which reached 203 km (126 miles) per hour. The most powerful were the huge engines built in the USA, such as the ‘Mallet’ locomotive. There are now few steam trains. Instead we use electric and diesel engines. Electric trains pick up current from extra ‘power’ rails or overhead cables. The French TGVs (Train Grand Vitesse, French...

How can trains run underground and climb mountains?   In big cities there is often no room for railway tracks. Trains go either under or over the roads. The ‘tube’ trains in London run as much as 67 m (220 ft) deep. Whole stations are hollowed out under the surface. In New York the subway sometimes runs under-ground and sometimes on stilts over the road. When main railway lines have to...

How does steam work engines? When water is boiling in a kettle steam rushes out of the spout and lid with great force. It often moves the lid up and down as it escapes. This force is what drives steam engines. A fire heats water in a boiler, sending steam to a cylinder. This is a short, strong pipe with a round piston inside, which can move up and down. When...

Who built the first railway? In 1803 Richard Trevithick, a Cornishman, used a steam locomotive to pull coal wagons on a special track. This was the first time an engine, instead of horses, had been used for this. The first passenger railway in Europe was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. This opened in 1830. It used a steam engine built by George Stephenson called the ‘Rocket’. In the USA the Baltimore...

Why were silkworms smuggled to Constantinople? Silk had long been prized as the most valuable of al materials – it was literally worth weight in gold when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, (AD 483 AD 565), set up a weaving industry in his capital city of Constantinople. Raw silk was always imported from China, where, for countless centuries, the art of producing silk was a closely guarded secret. However, Justinian persuaded two...

When did wool first become widely used?   Ever since the days of Ancient Greece, wool has played a very important part in clothing. Roman togas were made of wool and it continued to be woven during the Dark Ages. In fact, it was the only material available to most people. The woollen clothes worn during the first half of the Middle Ages were simple and made for warmth. Houses and...

Who wove the finest linen in the Ancient World?   The ancient Egyptians grew an enormous amount of flax which was then spun and woven into linen. Linen is strong and cool and smooth to wear, and Egyptian linen was incredibly fine, sometimes almost trans-parent. This fine weaving has never been matched, even with the advanced machines used in textile mills today. It was the quality of material that distinguished the...

When did man first wear clothes?   Look at the clothes you are wearing, you will ‘ find that they are made of a great variety of fabrics. We are fortunate that they are all available, imagine what it must have been like with nothing to protect you from the bitterest weather! We do not know when man first wore clothes, but large numbers of flint scrapers found in Old Stone...