Trains: Birth of the Modern Railways

Coal was the fuel that shaped the modern world. The North East of England was a major exporter of coal from the 13th century right up until the 1990s. Coal was first used to heat homes, but eventually it replaced charcoal in the manufacture of iron and steel. 

As a result, coal production increased. Wagonways were used to transport the coal from the collieries to the major rivers. However, the horses could not move the coal quickly enough to keep up with demand.

 The genius invention of the steam locomotive in the 1800s meant that railways could haul far more coal than horses ever could. This 19th-century scene shows the coal miner collecting his safety lamp before making his way to the coal seam underground.

A leather cap might protect the miner from a bump on the head but very little else. Miners wore very little protective clothing. This was partly because it was so hot in the mines. Miners also had to buy all of their own equipment.

Miners usually lived in a house owned by the colliery company, but it took as long as an hour to get to the coalface, during which time miners would earn no money.

Pit props were wooden supports that held the roof up, helping to stop the roof and walls collapsing. The wood buckled and groaned as pressure built up, warning miners of potential collapse. 

But they did not always find out in time: miners knew they were risking their lives every time they went to work.

Mining was dangerous and cramped work. Miners breathed in dust that caused lung problems. Mines were hot (around 38°C), wet and dark. Some miners used humour to combat the harsh conditions of their work. They also knew that without the work, their families would starve.

The tubs of coal were pulled on rail tracks out of the mine by the miners, their families or pit ponies. It was backbreaking work. The tracks were wooden in early mines and iron later on.

Mines near water sent their coal by boat to cities and iron works. When coal seams close to rivers got used up, it became necessary to mine seams further and further away. How could coal be transported from these distant mines? 

Coal was heavy, dirty, fragile and produced in huge quantities. Anyone who solved this problem was likely to make a lot of money.

Steam engines that operated using atmospheric pressure were originally used to pump water out of mines. Eventually, high-pressure steam engines were developed. These were much more powerful and could raise and lower a cage in a vertical shaft using a flywheel.

The rails were originally made of wood, but they often split because of the weight they carried. When John Birkinshaw produced rolled wrought-iron rails in 1820, they became more reliable.

This is a replica of Puffing Billy, which was an early steam engine. It was a marvel of its age, engineered in about 1813 by William Hedley for Christopher Blackett. 

Blackett owned the Wylam Colliery, 6 miles away from Lemington, where coal was loaded onto keelboats and taken down the River Tyne to Newcastle.

Early engineers thought that wheels would just spin if smooth rails were used. William Hedley, Timothy Hackworth and Jonathan Forster experimented with a chassis onto which they could add weights. 

They found that an engine weighing 8 tonnes could pull 8 loaded chauldrons on a smooth rail before the wheels started spinning, as long as the rails remained fairly level.

Driving Puffing Billy was a slow process. It could reach speeds of only 5 miles an hour – a fast walking pace. This was enough for some: there was a theory that if you went too fast you might pass out. 

The blacksmith Timothy Hackworth took what he had learned designing this engine and helped in the design and development of faster, more reliable engines by George Stephenson.

The driver would drive Puffing Billy and its load of coal from the pithead at Wylam to Lemington on the river Tyne. This would take about an hour and a half. The coal was used to help make iron, steel, glass, pottery, cotton and cement. 

The cheap availability of energy in the form of coal helped to make the Industrial Revolution in the UK possible.

The fireman had to keep the fire hot enough to produce steam. The engine would also need constant maintenance to keep it working. Driving the engine was difficult, as it had no brakes.

This engine could pull about 8 chauldrons holding about 35 tonnes of coal per trip. It replaced about 16 horses and 14 men to drive the horses. Horses and men were expensive, so replacing them with an engine meant that coal could be sold at lower prices.

This man is the local union official. Conditions in mines were dangerous, with lots of deaths each year. Miners and locomotive drivers had few rights, although pay was good. 

Slowly, a solidarity developed between workers in different collieries and they organised themselves to fight for better working conditions. During the 19th century, miners and drivers started unions. Conditions began to improve, particularly after public outcry about children working in mines.