<Ul> <Li> Mid-16th century (1550)--Hand - propelled mining tubs known as "hunds" were used in the provinces surrounding / forming modern day Germany by the mid-16th century having been in proven use since the mid-15th century . This technology was brought to England by German miners working in the Mines Royal at various sites in the English Lake District near Keswick (now in Cumbria). </Li> <Li> c. 1594--The first overground railway line in England may have been a wooden - railed, horse - drawn tramroad which was built at Prescot, near Liverpool, around 1600 and possibly as early as 1594 . Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about half a mile away . </Li> <Li> c. 1600--A funicular railway was made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1605 to carry coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the river Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns . </Li> <Li> 1604--Huntingdon Beaumont, partner of landowner Sir Percival Willoughby, built the Wollaton Wagonway, running from mines at Strelley to Wollaton in Nottinghamshire . It was approximately two miles in length . Beaumont built three further wagonways shortly afterwards near Blyth, Northumberland, to service the coal and salt trades . </Li> <Li> 1722--The Tranent--Cockenzie Waggonway was built by the York Buildings Company of London, to transport coal from the Tranent pits to the salt pans at Cockenzie and the Harbour at Port Seton, in Haddingtonshire, now East Lothian . This wooden waggonway was replaced in 1815 with an iron fish bellied edgeway to Cockenzie Harbour by the new owners, the Cadell family . This was Scotland's first railway of any kind, with one section of it remaining in constant use until 1962 . Some in situ stone sleeper blocks survive at the Robert Stevenson designed Cockenzie Harbour, and the entirety of the route is a way marked footpath . </Li> <Li> 1758--The Middleton Railway, the first railway granted powers by Act of Parliament, carried coal cheaply from the Middleton pits to Leeds . The line was privately financed and operated, initially as a waggonway using horse - drawn waggons . Around 1799, Middleton began to replace wooden tracks with iron edge rails at a gauge of 4 ft 1 in (1,245 mm). In 1812 the Middleton Railway became the first commercial railway to successfully use steam locomotives: the Salamanca of John Blenkinsop . </Li> <Li> 1768--The Wagon Way was constructed by the Erskines of Mar in Alloa, to carry coal from the Clackmannanshire coalfields of central Scotland to the Port of Alloa . Initially using wooden rails, these were later clad in Swedish iron (1785), and carried horse - drawn wagons . Some of the Wagon Way route still exists, although the tracks are long gone . </Li> <Li> 1783--Henry Cort patented the grooved rolling mill for rolling iron into bars, but it was eventually adapted to making other shapes including rails . Rolling was 15 times faster than hammering . </Li> <Li> 1783--Henry Cort patented puddling process for making wrought iron . This was the first large scale process for making a structural grade of iron and was also much less expensive than previous methods . Puddled iron production came into widespread production after 1800 . </Li> <Li> 1784--William Murdock demonstrated a steam carriage powered by a high pressure engine . He would later show it to his neighbor Richard Trevithick who would go on to build locomotives . </Li> <Li> 1789--The Charnwood Forest Canal, sometimes known as the "Forest Line of the Leicester Navigation" has a railways to supplement the canal between Nanpantan and Loughborough, Leicestershire . William Jessop had realised a horse - drawn railway for coal wagons . He used successfully an iron edge - rail, in contrast to his partner Benjamin Outram, who, for other such lines, preferred the traditional iron "L" shaped flange - rail plateway . </Li> <Li> 1793--the Butterley Gangroad or the "Crich Rail - way" was built by Benjamin Outram, to connect the Warner limestone Quarry to the Cromford Canal a mile away at Bullbridge . Contains the oldest known Railway tunnel at Fritchley </Li> <Li> 1798--the Lake Lock Rail Road, arguably the world's first public railway, opened in 1798 to carry coal from the Outwood area to the Aire and Calder navigation at Lake Lock near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on a distance of approximately 3 miles . The load of three waggons was hauled by one horse . The track used edge rails to a gauge of 3 ft 4 3 / 4 in (1,035 mm .). The line gradually declined and was closed in 1836 . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Mid-16th century (1550)--Hand - propelled mining tubs known as "hunds" were used in the provinces surrounding / forming modern day Germany by the mid-16th century having been in proven use since the mid-15th century . This technology was brought to England by German miners working in the Mines Royal at various sites in the English Lake District near Keswick (now in Cumbria). </Li> <Li> c. 1594--The first overground railway line in England may have been a wooden - railed, horse - drawn tramroad which was built at Prescot, near Liverpool, around 1600 and possibly as early as 1594 . Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about half a mile away . </Li> <Li> c. 1600--A funicular railway was made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1605 to carry coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the river Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns . </Li>

Who built the first train in the world