Willing Servant: A History of the Steam Engine by David Ross

From the Publisher

The railway locomotive was invented by a Cornishman called Richard Trevithick in February 1804. For the previous few hundred years there had been rail and wagon ways, using people and horse power, but the steam locomotive was to revolutionize travel. No longer was man dependent on moving at his own speed or that of a horse.

The history of the locomotive is long and complicated, and from the small locomotive designed by Trevithick grew some of the most powerful objects to move on land. Taking us through the last two hundred years, David Ross tells not just the story of the steam engine but also of its effects on mankind. From small beginnings, the railway locomotive was responsible for the speed of industrialisation in many countries, for commuting, for tourism, for industrial progress in all fields and for making the people of the world a transient workforce. Without it, the world would be a different place.

David Ross is a well-known author of railway and Scottish-interest titles. He is currently writing a history of the Highland Railway for Tempus Publishing.

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• Table of Contents

Table of Contents