Full Steam Ahead - Episode 1

Peter Ginn, Ruth Goodman and Alex Langladas explore the history of the British Railway system in this series!  This first episode highlights the roots of British Railways.  This is an excellent series to use in the classroom because it highlights the impact railroads had on Britain, perhaps even the world.  I showed an episode of the series to a US History class to see if they could glean ideas from the series for how the railroads would have an impact in America.

Questions and Answers for the first episode are now available.

For use in the classroom, just highlight, copy and paste into a word document.  This series is available on YouTube.

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Episode 1

1. What two areas did the railroads have their biggest impact?
   
2. What other purpose did straw serve?
   
3. What was the first railroad engine?
   
4. What else did the railroads use to transport goods?
   
5. How many carts can the steam engines carry uphill?
   
6. What were the four sizes of slate?  What was the newly invented slate size?
   
7. What prevented the train from slipping?
   
8.  Prices on what fell by a 1/3?
   
9.  What chore became a way of life?
   
10.  How many miles did the team go down hill?
    

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Episode Answers

1. What two areas did the railroads have their biggest impact? - Domestic/Home life and industry
   
2. What other purpose did straw serve? - Thatched roofs
   
3. What was the first railroad engine? - Horses
   
4. What else did the railroads use to transport goods? - Gravity
   
5. How many carts can the steam engines carry uphill? - Over 100
   
6. What were the four sizes of slate?  What was the newly invented slate size? - Empress, Duchess, Countess, Lady, Parlor maid
   
7. What prevented the train from slipping? - Sand
   
8.  Prices on what fell by a 1/3? - Coal
   
9.  What chore became a way of life? - Laundry
   
10.  How many miles did the team go down hill? - 14 miles