The main source of energy used in for the purpose of transport in the 18th and early 19th century was produced with thanks to the Steam Engine.
The steam engine is a heat engine in which a furnace is used to boil water and produce steam. This steam then expands to force a piston up and down in a cylinder, therefore proving mechanical energy. As the piston rod is forced upwards it drives a flywheel with the help of a balanced beam. The linear motion of the piston is converted into rotary motion by the flywheel which does a half-rotaion as the piston is forced upwards and when the steam is condensed again the revolution is completed. Voila!
The first steam engine made was intended to be used to pump water out of mines and was invented in 1698 by Captain Savery. James Watt invented the single-acting steam engine in 1769 which was the first steam engine to use a separate condenser (as the one in the picture above). As an inventor, the great James Watt developed the double-acting steam engine, the governer and the crank and crosshead mechanism... But that's another story!
This sort of steam engine played a major part in the industrial revolution during the mid-18th and early 19th century as a means of transportation. The very first workable steam-powered locomotive was patented by George Stephenson in 1815.
Probably Stephensons greatest known invention is his "Rocket" (see below).
As you can see from the diagram the "Rocket" was powered by a piston which moves up and down to rotate a flywheel which drives the locomotive. This genius method for mass movement was used throughout the 19th Century and could carry its passengers up to a speed of 36mph (WOW!) on the new Liverpool-Manchester line and also was responsible for the boom in the development of railway networks across Europe in the mid-1800's.
So, the chemistry...
Move on.