The use of rails, or other types of guides, for roads dates to antiquity, when the Greeks and Romans carved trails in stone streets to guide cart wheels. By the third century b.c. this system of sunken guide ways was used in some parts of China. The first raised rail roads were likely used in mining and quarrying industries during the sixteenth century. These early rails were made of wood, which wore and rotted quickly. Over the years engineers tried to protect the wooden rails with various materials, such as layers of hardwood and later metals. Finally, in 1738, the first wholly iron rails were introduced in Britain. Still the power source used on these rail roads was a team of horses. A number of inventors, including James Watt and John Stevens (1749-1838) and his son Robert (1787-1856), aided in the development of steam...