Probably the most famous of Robert Stephenson’s many locomotives, the
_Rocket_, winner of the Rainhill Trials in October 1829, is represented
in the Museum collection by a nonoperable model (figure 63) that, with
its tender, is a little less than 1½ feet long. The model was
transferred to the Museum (USNM 244890) from the U. S. Department of the
Interior in 1906.
The original _Rocket_, the considerably altered remains of which now
appear on exhibition in the Science Museum at South Kensington, was
constructed by Stephenson at Newcastle-upon-Tyne to compete for the £500
prize offered by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The _Rocket_
turned out to be the only one of the five competing machines to finish
the trials. Its success was especially important because it showed
beyond doubt that steam locomotives were suitable for general railway
work, and also because they could attain speeds not previously known.
Running with a light load, it reached a speed of 29 miles an hour.
[Illustration: Figure 63.—Model of Stephenson _Rocket_, 1829.]
The locomotive weighed 3¼ tons empty and 4¼ tons in working order. It
had two inclined cylinders of 8-inch bore and 17-inch stroke and two
56½-inch-diameter driving wheels at the front. A tubular boiler
suggested by Henry Booth, the secretary and treasurer of the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway, is said to have contributed greatly to the
success of the _Rocket_ during the trials. It must not be forgotten,
however, that in America John Stevens had used successfully a tubular
boiler in his experimental locomotive in 1825.
The _Rocket_ was used on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway until
1836, and from then until 1844 on the Midgeholme Railway near Carlisle.
It was presented to the Science Museum in 1862, where it is now an
outstanding exhibit in the railroad collection.
J. G. H. Warren’s history of Robert Stephenson & Co., which contains
detailed and well illustrated accounts of the _Rocket_ and of the
Rainhill Trials, will interest those seeking further details on either
subject.