steam locomotive

railway locomotive which generates its tractive power from a steam engine
Thing general Q171043
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Summary

steam locomotive ranks in the top 2% of general entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (11,995 views/month).[1]

Key Facts

  • Creator: Richard Trevithick[2]
  • Subclass of: locomotive[3], steam-powered rail vehicle[4], vehicle[5]
  • Has use: heritage railway[6]
  • Commons category: Steam locomotives[7]
  • Unicode character: 🚂[8]
  • Powered by: steam engine[9], steam turbine[10]
  • Has part(s): steam engine[11], steam boiler[12], train driver's cab[13], driving wheel[14], leading wheel[15], trailing wheel[16], railway coupler[17], cowcatcher[18], chimney[19], steam dome[20], aircraft canopy[21], train whistle[22], fuel bunker[23]
  • Time of discovery or invention: 1814[24]
  • Source of energy: coal[25], firewood[26], petroleum[27]
  • Topic's main category: Category:Steam locomotives[28]
  • Location of creation: Penydarren[29]
  • Described by source: Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia[30], Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary[31]
  • Topic has template: Template:Infobox steam locomotive[32]
  • Immediate cause of: smoke[33]
  • By-product: steam[34], heat[35], smoke[36], soot[37]
  • On focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4[38]

Body

Influence

Things named for steam locomotive include sl[39], a command[40], founded in 1987[41].

Why It Matters

steam locomotive has Wikipedia articles in 29 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[42] It is known by 81 alternative names across languages and contexts.[43]

Entities named for it include sl[39], a command[40], founded in 1987[41].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [2] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [38] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Inverse relationships (entities pointing at this one)

  1. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site

Inline context (facts about related entities)

  1. [40] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [41] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [42] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [43] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). steam locomotive. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/steam-locomotive
MLA “steam locomotive.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 18 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/steam-locomotive.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_steam-locomotive_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{steam locomotive}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/steam-locomotive}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-18}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): steam locomotive — https://4ort.xyz/entity/steam-locomotive (retrieved 2026-10-18)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/steam-locomotive · Last refreshed:

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 13w ago · Militum professio scriniarii · 2026-07-17 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Wikidata description → railway locomotive which generates its tractive power from a steam engine
    Immediate cause of → smoke
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Immediate cause of: steam"
  2. 18w ago · MariuszRokin · 2026-06-12 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Svkkl authority id → h0003653-parni-lokomotivy
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Svkkl authority id: h0003653-parni-lokomotivy, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/259599|batch #259599]]"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.