On This Day – March 25th

Carrying its first fare-paying passengers on 25th March 1807, the Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the world's first passenger railway service.

There was no road link between Swansea and Oystermouth at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the original purpose of the railway was to transport coal, iron ore and limestone.

Operations began using horse-drawn vehicles. As constructed, the line ran from the Brewery Bank adjacent to the Swansea Canal in Swansea, around the wide sweep of Swansea Bay to a terminus at Castle Hill (near the present-day Clements Quarry) in the tiny isolated fishing village of Oystermouth (known as Mumbles). There was also a branch from Blackpill which ran up the Clyne valley for nearly a mile to Ynys Gate which was intended to promote the development of the valley's coal reserves.

It later moved from horse power to steam locomotion, and finally converted to electric trams, before closing in January 1960, in favour of motor buses.

The front end of car no. 7 was saved for preservation at Swansea Museum; it was initially restored in the early 1970s by members of the Railway Club of Wales and is now on display in the Tram Shed alongside the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea's Maritime Quarter.

Today's question is this:

A train leaves its station at 6:00pm travelling at 80mph. Three hours later, on a parallel track, a second train leaves the station travelling at 100 mph. At what time will the second train catch up with the first?

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