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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 first of a two-parter on Rainhill, I introduce the engines that competed, and the men behind those engines:
- Thomas Brandreth’s Cycloped
- Timothy Burstall’s Perseverance
- Braithwaite and Ericsson’s Novelty
- Timothy Hackworth’s Sans Pareil
- the Stephensons and Booth’s Rocket
Show notes
- Coming soon
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
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:
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.
Images
Rocket
This Episode’s Trivia Question
Whose 0-6-0 Dreadnought was intended for the Rainhill Trials but wasn’t complete in time?
Edward Bury. Dreadnought wasn’t ready for Rainhill, and when Bury tried to sell it to the L&MR later, it was apparently too heavy for the line.
* We use affiliate links to help support the podcast. If you buy through these links then you pay exactly the same price, and we earn a (very!) small commission.
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