On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:58:31 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Jules wrote:
On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:55:11 -0700, Andy Dingley wrote:
The first coal-fired steam locomotive was Stephenson's Rocket, the
crucial innovation being the use of a blastpipe to encourage draught
on the fire.

What did Trevithick's efforts use, then? I did did some googling but
couldn't find any mention of the actual heat source used.

wood or coal of course.

Yes, that's what I suspected - and particularly as his early efforts
seemed attached to the coal mining industry, it would seem like a good
possibility for use as the fuel source. I'm sure the engines weren't
particularly good due to the boiler design - I was just surprised that the
later Rocket was perhaps claimed to be the first coal-fired loco.

I think Stephenson largely brought several existing inventions together in
one package, rather than providing much innovation of his own. But then
carving a spot in history often does seem to be more of a PR exercise than
anything...