(Children’s) Travelling through Time: Trains

The advantage of telling the history of something that is still going strong is that its purpose and relevance are more likely to be obvious to children: it is a case of how we got where we are today sometimes being easier to comprehend than events, attitudes or things quite outside our own experience. Trains very much exemplify that: they still rely, for the most part, on nineteenth century foundations, and much of their basic working remains unchanged, although they now operate with new motive powers and the designs are obviously more modern. But basically Stephenson’s Rocket and the Magrail...