Locomotive

Locomotive a vehicle used to haul trains. Cornishman Richard Trevithick built the first steam locomotive in 1804 for the tramway at pen-y-darran in South Wales. But not until George Stephenson designed Rocket (1829) was the locomotive a reliable machine. From then on the railways developed rapidly worldwide. Today steam locomotive have been superseded practically everywhere by electric and diesel locomotives.

Electric locomotives may pick up their power from a live third rail alongside the track or, via a pantograph, from an overhead power line.
Diesel Locomotives are powered by diesel engines, and one of three types of power transmission is most common. Gas-turbine locomotives are now coming into more widespread use. They include the fast French Turbo trains a Grande Vitesse (TGVs).