Exercise 53 Choose one or two of the suggested topics and make up a story based on the information from the text. Make a good oral presentation of your story.

· The main principles of railway traffic operation

· Types of trains and compiling a timetable

· Marshalling yard work

· Centralized traffic control

· Computers and high technologies in traffic operation

Exercise 54 Look through the text (5 min.) and complete the sentences below.

1. The history of steam traction began … a) in the early years of the 19^th century; b) at the very end of the 18^th century.

2. The working model of the very first steam loco appeared... a) in England; b) in the USA.

3. These early locomotives ran... a) on rails; b) on ordinary roads.

Supplementary text

RAILROADING BEGINS

(1) In the early years of the 19^th century the idea of using steam engines to draw freight and passenger trains interested many inventors. But the history of steam traction began much earlier when an English engineer, William Murdock, built a working model of a steam locomotive in 1784. It was a baby locomotive about a foot (30.5cm) high. It had three wheels and its boiler was heated by a spirit lamp.

(2) One day Murdock wanted to test his engine. He lighted the spirit lamp and soon the water began boiling. The engine ran fast along the street with loud roaring. Unfortunately, nothing came of Murdock’s invention because his little locomotive was thought of as the creation of the Devil.

(3) And this is how the first steam locomotive appeared in the USA. One day in 1804 the people of Philadelphia saw a roaring and fire-breathing monster running along the street, followed by shouting boys. It was really the first steam locomotive in America, although it did not run on rails. After its short journey on land the locomotive fell down into the river and disappeared in the water.

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