298. The Steam Locomotive
Steam was used to drive boats through the water . Why should not steam be used to haul wagons over a railroad ? This was a very easy question to ask , and a very hard one to answer . Year after year inventors worked on the problem . Suddenly , about 1830, it was solved in several places and by several men at nearly the same time . It was some years , however , before the locomo - tive came into general use . The early railroad trains were rude affairs . The cars were hardly more than stagecoaches with flanged wheels . They were fastened together with chains , and when the engine started or stopped , there was a terrible bumping and jolting . The smoke pipe of the engine was very tall and was hinged so that it could be let down when coming to a low bridge or a tunnel . Then the smoke and cin - ders poured straight into the passengers ＇ faces . But these trains went faster than canal boats or steamboats . Soon the railroad began to take the first place as a means of transport .
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