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.
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.
Baldwin Locomotive Old Ironsides, 1832
The locomotive Old Ironsides is represented in the Museum’s collection by a nonoperable model ([figure 64]) that, with its tender, is 3 feet long. The model (USNM 180114) was given to the Museum in 1889 by Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co., who were then proprietors of the Baldwin Locomotive Works.
