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The Rainhill Trials weren’t what most people think …

As far as the directors of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway were concerned, the Rainhill Trials wasn’t a competition between locomotives … it was a test to prove that any locomotives were a viable option. 

In the second of a two-parter on Rainhill, we look at the trials themselves – how each engine fared – and some of the controversies and accusations of conspiracy that followed. 

Going into the trial there were 5 entries:

• Thomas Brandreth’s Cycloped
• Timothy Burstall’s Perseverance 
• John Braithwaite and John Ericsson’s Novelty
• Timothy Hackworth’s Sans Pareil
• George Stephenson, Robert Stephenson and Henry Booth’s Rocket 

But what happened next? Listen and find out…

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Show notes

• [1:14] Last week’s trivia answer!
• [1:35] The date is set and the engines are prepared
• [6:27] The Trials
• [7:00] Special Constables
• [8:59] Novelty: the ‘people’s favourite’
• [13:32] Sans Pareil’s boiler issues
• [16:38] Day 2
• [17:08] Day 3 – Rocket’s test
• [18:53] Hackworth vs Braithwaite’s attitude to repairs
• [20:18] Novelty’s second test
• [21:28] Sans Pareil’s test
• [24:04] The last day
• [24:54] Novelty’s last test
• [26:55] Burstall withdraws
• [27:20] The results
• [28:51] Controversy
• [29:55] Conflicting accounts of Novelty’s failure
• [31:48] Disputes with Hackworth’s supporters
• [35:20] Controversy reignited 
• [36:33] Conclusion
• [37:22] This episode’s trivia question

• LInk to Facebook

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Research and Reading List

These are some of the books and websites I used for research for this episode. Many are free resources on the internet, some you can buy for yourself … if you do fancy any of them, then buying them through these links is a great way to support the show at no extra cost to you ^*.

A practical treatise on rail-roads, and interior communication in general – N. Wood, 1838 – this is the second edition that contains Wood’s account of Rainhill

The Life of John Ericsson – W. Conant Church, 1906

Timothy Hackworth and the locomotive – Robert Young, 1923

Walker’s Report to the Directors of the L&MR, Robert Stephenson’s response, and Henry Booth’s Account of the L&MR – this book was published as a combination of all three of these documents for a US audience in 1831

The Rainhill Trials – C. McGowan, 2004 – The link here is currently showing as out of stock, but it’s a nicely readable summary if you can find a copy

rainhilltrials.co.uk – Great website from the organisers of the 1979 150th Anniversary Celebrations

Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers: 1500-1830 v. 1 – edited by A. Skempton, 2002 – another that seems to be out of print but if you can find a copy at your local library it’s a really useful reference

https://joanhackworthweircollection.blogspot.com and https://johnwesleyhackworth.blogspot.com – a cracking pair of blogs by Trev Teasdel containing fascinating information from the Hackworth family

And last but very definitely not least … Here is a set of phenomenal 3D models by Geoffrey Birse, who kindly gave permission to link to them here:

Rocket

Novelty

Sans Pareil

Not my usual type of source material (which tends to be books (dusty, old ones at that) and academic papers), but if a picture speaks a thousand words, then a movable 3D model probably clocks in even higher! Check them out.

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Images

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