By Editor Colin Dixon
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 12^th of September 2025

As we go into a period of Technological (Industrial) Revolution with AI technology which is going to change our lives and work for the future generations, I thought I would look at an event 200 years ago, another revolution from the past, Railways and Steam power.

The first Railways used were in mines where tracks were used to move coal, but these were carriages pulled by horses.
The oldest of these railways was the Middleton Railway in Leeds, England. Built in 1758 - it is the world's oldest working railway in continuous usage.

Richard Trevithick

Trevithick, a British inventor and engineer, was one of the pioneers of high-pressure steam engines. His steam engine was involved in the world's first locomotive-hauled railway. This journey took place on 21 February 1804 when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the rail lines of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
Unfortunately, his engines were too heavy for the tracks and railroad had to revert to horse drawn.

The Stephenson family

This problem was eventually solved by George Stevenson and his son Robert who recommended using malleable iron rails, even though he owned a share of the patent for the alternative cast iron rails. Working alongside a steam engineer, George Overton, who in 1820 received permission to build the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives.
Their first line was to connect collieries near Shildon with Darlington and Stockton in County Durham, England, to only carry coal at first. On 27th September 1825 the directors gave permission for a test run of the steam locomotive and coal waggons also carrying people. They gave permission for 300 passengers and it was driven by James Stephenson, George’s older brother.
But the train left carrying between 450 and 600 people, most travelling in empty coal waggons but some on top of waggons full of coal. It travelled at an average speed of 8 mph (13 km/h).

But train journeys had begun and in the following years revolutionised the world. As the networks grew around the UK and the world, goods could be moved quickly and people could now travel longer distances and in less time.

One of the first consequences of this was standardised time.  Before the railways, clocks in different areas could be set to different times - a clock at a train station in London might read 2pm while, at the same time, a clock in an Edinburgh station might read 2.10pm. The railway companies introduced standardised time so that train timetables could be coordinated and trains departed and arrived on time.

This was not only a huge advance in the industrial revolution, making the movement of coal and goods quicker, cheaper and easier over larger distances. Trains and railways also affected the whole world in the movement of people over greater distances, for example in the USA. But we all live with the changes brought about by this invention in our every day lives. Many of us as photographers find trains and railways a huge inspiration and here are some of the subjects that inspire the creators here at 1X.

TRAINS

‘Wälderbähnle : Climbing the Ramp’ by Peter Ebel

‘Trainsets’ by Leif Løndal

‘The Train in Snow’ by Steve Zhang

‘TrainStation’ by Marcel Egger

‘The Horse Against The Iron’ by Vlad Paulet

PEOPLE WHO RUN THE RAILWAYS AND TRAINS

‘Railroad Bil’l by Richard Bland

‘Bucharest North railway station’ by Julien Oncete

‘machinist’ by Christoph Hessel

‘Proud train conductor’ by Marius Cinteza

TRAIN STATIONS

'Portugal World Most Beautiful Train Stations’ by Nancy Sun

‘Chicago Station 2’ by Carmine Chiriacò 

‘Blue eyes’ by fotomarion

‘The little orange stairs’ by Wilma Wijers Smeets

‘Train station’ by Martin Steeb

‘Fragments Of Lost Time’ by Laura Mexia

‘Baker Street Station 4’ by Steven Zhou

THE CUSTOMERS (TRAVELLERS)

‘ghostly’ by Desislava Ignatova

‘The last prayer’ by Azim Khan Ronnie

‘Emotion of eyes’ by Fahad Ahmed

‘Farewell Spock’ by Jochen Bongaerts

‘CENTRAL STATION HUSTLE’ by Tom Baetsen – xlix.nl

‘The Express Train’ by Yuzo Fuji