Steam powered locomotive richard trevithick biography

British inventor and mining engineer (1771–1833)

Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer.

The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of steam-poweredroad and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive.^[1] The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.^[2][3]

Turning his interests abroad Trevithick also worked as a mining consultant in Peru and later explored parts of Costa Rica.

Throughout his professional career he went through many ups and downs and at one point faced