Cornish engineer who built the first railway locomotive
George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson
Engineers who built the Rocket and the Liverpool & Manchester Railway
John Blenkinsop
Designed an early commercial rack locomotive in 1812
Plate 059
1804
Wales and northern England
No photograph is shown for this exhibition. The museum displays an image only where it can show the object honestly.
About this date
Richard Trevithick ran a steam locomotive at Penydarren, Wales on 21 February 1804. George and Robert Stephenson’s Rocket won the Rainhill Trials in October 1829.
About credit
Trevithick’s locomotive worked but broke the cast-iron rails. The Stephensons developed a practical, commercially successful railway.
Chapter II
The world before
Life before the Steam Locomotive
People and goods moved at the pace of horses and canal boats.
II
The human achievement
How it came about
The Liverpool & Manchester Railway opened on 15 September 1830, running steam trains on a timetable with passengers and freight. The Rocket reached about 30 miles per hour in tests. Within two decades, Britain had thousands of miles of track.
III
Understanding the invention
How it works
The Steam Locomotive, explained in two steps.
01
Step 01 of 02
High-pressure steam
Boiling water makes steam under pressure, pushing pistons connected to the wheels.
High-pressure steam
Multiple tubes
IV
The transformation
What changed for humanity
Time
Railways forced towns to adopt standard time.
Cities and trade
Goods and people moved cheaply, so cities could grow beyond their local food supply.
Railways cut journey times dramatically, linked industry and markets, and reshaped cities and national economies.
V
Before and after
Life before and after The Steam Locomotive
Before
A day by road or canal.
After
About two hours by rail.
On larger screens, drag the divider (or use the arrow keys) to give more room to the world before or after.
Internal combustion eventually took over many roles.
VII
Human stories
The people and the moments
An accident on opening day
At the Liverpool & Manchester Railway’s opening, the MP William Huskisson was struck by the Rocket and died that day, one of the first widely reported railway fatalities.
Where accounts differ, this museum follows the documented record and says so.
