From Steam to Subways

Trains over the years

The first locomotives burned wood or coal, which were carried right behind the engine in a tender. The steam moved metal rods connected to the metal wheels that moved the train along iron rails. A worker shovelled fuel into a firebox which heated water in a boiler to make steam.

The locomotive at the front provides the power to pull the train.

By the 1950s, most Canadian railways had replaced their coal-burning steam engines with ones that burned diesel oil.

Rolling stock is the term for train cars other than the locomotive.