1825年在英国修建的斯多克顿——达林顿铁路是世界上最早的一条铁路。 1864年,一个名叫杜兰德的英国商人,在北京宣武门外修建了一条一里长的小铁路,这是在我国出现的最早的一条铁路。当时,蒸汽机车挂着车厢轰隆轰隆地驶来驶去,杜兰德企图用这条铁路作为广告,引诱清朝统治者答应外国侵略者在华修筑铁路的要求。但当时的清朝统治者并不加以赏识,反而用“观者骇怪”为理由,勒令把这条铁路拆掉了。1876年,英商怡和洋行投资修建了一条从上海到吴淞的窄轨铁路(轨距762毫米),这是我国最早的一条建成后曾正式办理客货运业务的铁路。但不久也被清政府 The Stockton-Darlington Railway built in England in 1825 was the first railway in the world. In 1864, a British businessman named Durand set up a one-mile-long railway outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing, the earliest railway in our country. At that time, the steam locomotive hung in a dying cabin, and Durand attempted to use the railway as an advertisement to lure the rulers of the Qing dynasty into agreeing to the requirements of foreign invaders to build railways in China. However, the Qing rulers of the time did not appreciate it. On the ground of “spectator surprise,” they ordered that the railway be demolished. In 1876, British businessman Jardine Matheson invested in a narrow gauge railway (gauge 762 mm) from Shanghai to Wusong, which was the earliest railway in China that formally handled the passenger and cargo business once it was completed. But soon was also the Qing government