Rainhill Trials
STUART JORDAN at the competition to run the first inter-city trains.
The Rainhill Trials were an important moment in railway history. Held in October 1829, the objective of the trials was to work out what would be the best method of motive power for the nearly completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway, soon to become the world’s first inter-city railway.
Five locomotives were entered into the trial, including one of the most famous locomotives of all – Stephenson’s Rocket. The trial was organised because Stephenson believed that steam locomotives would be better than the original idea of using stationary engines and cables to move the trains. Rather than just accept Stephenson’s advocacy of steam locomotives, the directors decided to hold a competition to test his theory.
The trials were set up on a mile-long length of track at Rainhill in Lancashire (now Merseyside). A prize of £500 was offered to the engineer whose locomotive impressed the judges the most. There were a surprising number of rules set out for each entrant:
- Each locomotive should have to pull a load three times its weight.
- The tender will be included in this weight.
- Any locomotives without a tender that carry their own fuel were allowed a proportionate deduction in load weight.
- The engine, with carriages attached, will run up to the starting post and once boiler pressure is up to fifty pounds per square inch the journey will start.
- Each engine will run for one mile and three quarters each way, including one-eighth of a mile each end to speed up and slow down. Therefore the locomotives will travel a mile and a half each way at full speed.
- Each engine will make ten trips, which means they will travel 35 miles, 30 miles at full speed. The average speed should not be lower than 10mph. This will be the same length as the journey from Liverpool to Manchester.
- Once the locomotive has completed this, it will be refuelled and will carry out another ten trips to simulate the trip back to Liverpool.
- Exact timings will be made, including set-up time.
There were ten locomotives officially entered into the trials, but only five took part on the day.
A horse-powered locomotive called ‘Cycloped’, built by Thomas Shaw Brandreth
A tank locomotive (the world’s first) called ‘Novelty’, built by Ericsson and Braithwaite
A vertical boilered locomotive called ‘Perseverance’, built by Timothy Burstall
’Rocket’, built by George and Robert Stephenson
’Sans Pareil’, built by Timothy Hackworth
When the trials began, over 10,000 people arrived to spectate. There were even bands providing musical accompaniment. The trials were carried out over the course of six days.
Cycloped dropped out first, with the horse damaging the drivebelt beyond repair. Unfortunately for Burstall, Perseverance was damaged on the way to the competition and also had to drop out. Although repaired, the locomotive could not run fast enough to keep above the required average speed of 10mph.
Sans Pareil, despite being overweight, completed the trials but cracked a cylinder soon after. The crowd favourite, Novelty, reached speeds of 28mph before a boiler pipe was damaged. The damage was not fixed sufficiently enough for the engine to complete the trial.
That just left Rocket. It was the only locomotive to complete the trials, with an average speed of 12mph and a top speed of 30mph with a 13 ton load. The Stephensons had won the prize money, and the contract to build locomotives for the L&M.