Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Richard Trevithick had little education but many engineering feats to his credit.... In 1801, he produced a prototype locomotive, the world's first self-propelled vehicle to carry passengers. It overturned on rough roads, but he made another version. His crowning achievement was the first railway locomotive, unveiled on February 21, 1804.… However, there was no commercial interest in Trevithick's invention, and he was reduced to giving novelty rides in London." [1001 Days]