Leeds is almost in Scotland, isn't it?

[Sausage Surprise]

That's like saying Microsoft invented the internet because they designed an operating system that allowed you to use it.

Without a steam engine, you had no steam engine locomotive. Stephenson came up with a working design of that engine that llowed a certain performance. He was an engineer, taking the invention to practical limits, not the inventor of it.

You're arguing against yourself...a wheel is also a component of a locomotive - should we credit the caveman who discovered the wheel with inventing the railways as well.

[Sausage Surprise]

Dick Trevithick invented the steam locomotive, in South Wales. He was a Cornishman.

Then how come the first railway was from Stockton to Darlington and not Swansea to Dyfed.

[BoredBloke]

That's like saying Microsoft invented the internet because they designed an operating system that allowed you to use it.

Without a steam engine, you had no steam engine locomotive. Stephenson came up with a working design of that engine that llowed a certain performance. He was an engineer, taking the invention to practical limits, not the inventor of it.

But that is like saying that everything which was ultimately steam powered was invented by him because the engine powering was based on his engine - I'd say that there was still a lot of work involved in getting a huge static engine onto wheels and then working out how you get the thing to move forward. Credit where it is due - he invented the engine but he didn't produce the first locomotive.

[Incognito]

Why is it the English are always jealous of the Celtic nations sense of identity? Is it because you're the mongrels of Britain, you’ve not quite got a single identity more like an amalgamation of all the bastard tribes in Europe that realised the indigenous English were softer than a baby’s first turd.

I mean, if it wasn’t the Angles it was the Saxons or the Vikings then the Romans and the Normans, and even now it’s the Poles.

Jealousy is such a horrible trait.

[TheBigYinJames]

You're arguing against yourself...a wheel is also a component of a locomotive - should we credit the caveman who discovered the wheel with inventing the railways as well.

The engine is not just a component of a steam locomotive, it is the primary component, and it's a complex assembly which required innovation, unlike the wheel, which is a simple fixed compnent.

[bogeyman]

Then how come the first railway was from Stockton to Darlington and not Swansea to Dyfed.

Because it wasn't.

There were plenty of steam-hauled tramways before the S&D.

[ratewhore]

Why is it the English are always jealous of the Celtic nations sense of identity?

You'll find it's blind smugness, not jealousy...

[Sausage Surprise]

The engine is not just a component of a steam locomotive, it is the primary component, and it's a complex assembly which required innovation, unlike the wheel, which is a simple fixed compnent.

I'd say a wheel was pretty primary myself..

[TheBigYinJames]

I'd say a wheel was pretty primary myself..

You can build a steam engine locomotive without wheels (sled, monorail, hovercraft) but you can't build a steam engine locomotive without a steam engine.

[Diver]

The engine is not just a component of a steam locomotive, it is the primary component, and it's a complex assembly which required innovation, unlike the wheel, which is a simple fixed component.

Er! fixed?

sort of defeats the object