World's Oldest Surviving Locomotive Reaches its 200th Birthday

"Puffing Billy", the world's oldest surviving railway steam locomotive, reaches 200 this year. Both it and its sister "Wylam Dilly" survive, albeit not in original form, and many visitors to London's Science Museum pass by the exhibit in search of more spectacular things to see with hardly a second thought towards the object itself and its significance. The locomotive, a cornerstone of the Industrial Revolution, surely warrants a greater profile in its 200th year of existence.

At least two replicas exist, one of them nominally in working order, though it would be a brave soul that boarded it for a journey along the rails for fear of getting caught up in the mechanism!