When were the railways built in England and Wales?

Answer 1

Public passenger railways:

1804 - world's first steam locomotive, Pen-y-Darren, built by the engineer Richard

Trevithick, who is credited with developing high-pressure steam-engines, although primarily for mine pumping & haulage*. The locomotive proved itself on the existing 9.5 mile long Penydarren to Abercynon (south Wales) mine railway, hauling a total of about 25tons of itself and its train of laden wagons + a large number of passengers perched on the loads. Sadly he was not interested in fame & fortune, returned to developing mine engines, and left developing the railways to the Stephensons.

Stockton - Darlington 1825

Liverpool - Manchester (1830): the world's first main intercity public passenger & freight line.

London (Paddington Station) - Bristol completed 1841 - though the whole route was completed & opened in stages from Paddington.

However railways go back long before these, as horse-drawn &/or gravity assisted tramways serving quarries & mines.

*Main Steam-engine Developers - Newcomen's mine pumping-engine (18C) used atmospheric pressure above a partial vacuum in the cylinder. James Watt identified & corrected the primary reason for Newcomen's engine's very low efficiency, and with businessman Matthew Boulton developed the basic machine further into a successful prime-mover for cotton-mills' & other factories' machinery. Trevithick invented the locomotive. The Stephensons developed the railways more than the locomotives.

Answer 2

Approximately from 1800 to 1900.

Answer 3

In the nineteenth century.