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First Locomotive Run on Rails

Name: First Locomotive Run on Rails
Start: 1804-02-21
Location: Merthyr Tramroad

When: 21 February 1804
Where: Merthyr Tramroad
Part of: Trevithick's Penydarren locomotive runs on rails

Trevithick's locomotive hauled 10 tons of iron and passengers from Penydarren to Abercynon on 21 February 1804, winning a bet and marking the first railway journey.

The locomotive, built at Penydarren, traversed the Merthyr Tramroad. It carried 10 tons of iron, five wagons, and 70 men over 9.75 miles in 4 hours and 5 minutes. This event is recognized as the world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey.

Sources

Merthyr Tydfil Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-04
Richard Trevithick Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
Merthyr Tramroad Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-19

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.