Railways predate the invention of the steam engine, they were
horse drawn in mines & the like. Stockton & Darlington is
the first railaway in UK 1825 I thinks. Swindon, between Bristol
& London on the Great Western Railway, ranks alongside Crewe
& Doncaster & York as a major railway centre. 1840 is the
dates of the line fron Paddington to Swindon & on to Cheltenham
& Gloucester & subsequently to Bristol (1841)