Puffing Billy is an early steam locomotive built around 1813 by engineer William Hedley for use hauling coal wagons at Wylam Colliery in northern England, among the very first generation of steam locomotives built anywhere. It is the oldest surviving steam locomotive in the world, preserved today rather than remaining in service, and its design, using a simple boiler and cylinders driving the wheels through connecting rods, helped prove that a locomotive's weight could be carried on smooth rails without the toothed rack system some contemporaries believed necessary for adequate traction.
Facts
SignificanceThe world's oldest surviving steam locomotive 1 Manufacturer or BuilderWilliam Hedley, Jonathan Forster and Timothy Hackworth 1 Sources
1. Puffing Billy (locomotive), Wikipedia
Infobox, Type and origin, Build date
Build date: 1814
Infobox, Type and origin, Builder
Builder: William Hedley, Jonathan Forster and Timothy Hackworth
Opening paragraph
Puffing Billy is the world's oldest surviving steam locomotive
In Group: British Pioneer Steam Locomotives, Lead sentence
Puffing Billy is the world's oldest surviving steam locomotive, constructed in 1813-1814 by William Hedley, enginewright Jonathan Forster and blacksmith Timothy Hackworth for Christopher Blackett, the owner of Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne, in the United Kingdom.
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