1829 Stephenson's Rocket — Handmade Metal Steam Locomotive Model

The locomotive that settled the argument about whether railways would work at all.

Handcrafted in iron and hand-painted yellow, with the tall chimney, angled cylinders, large driving wheels and separate tender of the machine that won the Rainhill Trials.

Details

• Handcrafted iron construction
• Metal wheels that roll
• Hand-painted yellow finish with applied detail
• Chimney, boiler, cylinder and tender detail
• Ready to display

The locomotive

In October 1829 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway held a competition to decide what should pull its trains — there was still serious debate about using stationary engines and cable haulage instead. Five entries ran at Rainhill. One was a horse walking on a treadmill.

Rocket, built by Robert Stephenson, was the only machine to complete the trials. It combined three ideas — a multi-tube boiler, a blastpipe exhaust and direct drive to the wheels — that together became the template for every steam locomotive built for the next 130 years. It reached 30 mph, which contemporaries found genuinely alarming.