How it works
These train trivia questions and answers follow the railway in four rounds, from boats hauled over a Greek isthmus to high-speed lines, with the people and the dates behind each step.
Read the full guide
Locomotive trivia questions
The age of steam and Electric and diesel hold the locomotive trivia questions: Puffing Billy and Locomotion, the first diesel of 1912, the switchers that came first, and the converter that put three-phase motors under one wire.
Trivia questions on trains, before and after the engine
Trackways, wagonways and iron rails covers the centuries before steam, when coal rode on wooden and then iron rails. Track words, metros and high speed has ties, gauge and turnouts, and what a line in a tunnel is called. No railway company is an answer.
Tips
- A model railway club will want Electric and diesel; families do best on the last round.
Questions and answers
What are some easy train trivia questions?
By which other name are sleepers known? What is the distance between the two rails called? What is a rapid transit line in a tunnel called? The answers are ties, the rail gauge, and a subway, tube, metro or underground.
When did the first public steam railway open?
In 1825, in northeast England. George Stephenson built the locomotive Locomotion for it, and it was the first public steam railway in the world.
What is the oldest railway still working?
Possibly the Reisszug, a funicular at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. A description of it was written in 1515, and the line still runs in updated form.
How were the answers checked?
Each was read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article Rail transport, which every question links. Railway companies, spending figures and accidents are not asked.