Ahoi Explorer. Welcome along. Let's search through the solar system. My name's Dan. It's a brand new

Fun Kid Science Midweekly. This is your go-to podcast for all the greatest science information in the

universe. Seriously? Bring you brilliant facts. We chat to great geniuses

and we answer your questions every single week. This is a midweekly, so it's a question

special. If you have anything sciencey that you want answered on the podcast, make sure you

leave it as a voice note for me on the free FunKids app and at FunKidsLife.com.

I'll do all the digging. I'll become a science detective and we'll search out your answer.

First question this week from Alina.

Hello, Dan. I'm Alina. I'm eight years old and I want to know why steam trains move so slow.

Alina, why are steam trains slow? Well, it's strange, isn't it? Because they're not slow, slow.

Slow is a snail. Snails go at 0.03 miles an hour. But still, the fastest steam train set a record of

126 miles an hour. That was an LNER class A4-4-6-8 mallard. It did that in 1938, almost 100 years ago.

The record still stands. But I take your point, Elena, it is slowing compared to other trains.

Like a Maglev train in Japan with magnetic levitation, they can reach speeds of 375 miles an hour.

So steam trains, they are slower because they make power by boiling water. That makes steam, that pushes the

pistons, which turns the wheel. It's not an efficient way to do it for a lot of reasons,

compared to modern diesel engines and electric motors. It's quite a strange, old-fashioned way

of making energy, which is why we don't do it a lot anymore. Also, steam trains are

heavy. Boilers, water tanks, fireboxes, more weight means slower acceleration. Steam trains need

someone to shovel coal too. A human has only got so much energy to do something so tiring. I have

been in a footplate at the

front of a train right next to someone in the overalls, coal all over their face, sweating as they

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