Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.
A common misconception is that Rocket was the first steam locomotive. In fact the first steam locomotive to run on tracks was built by Richard Trevithick 25 years earlier, but his designs were not developed beyond the experimental stage. Then followed the first commercially-successful twin-cylinder steam locomotives built by Matthew Murray in Holbeck for the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds, West Yorkshire. George Stephenson, as well as a number of other engineers, had built steam locomotives before. Rocket was in some ways an evolution, not a revolution.
Rocket's claim to fame is that it was the first 'modern' locomotive, introducing several innovations that have been used on almost every steam locomotive built since. There have been differences in opinion regarding who should be given the credit for designing Rocket. George Stephenson had designed several locomotives before but none as advanced as Rocket. At the time that Rocket was being designed and built at the Forth Banks Works, he was living in Liverpool overseeing the building of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. His son Robert had recently returned from a stint working in South America and resumed as managing director of Robert Stephenson and Company. He was in daily charge of designing and constructing the new locomotive. Although he was in frequent contact with his father in Liverpool and probably received advice from him, it is difficult not to give the majority of the credit for the design to Robert.
In 1862 Rocket was donated to the Patent Office Museum in London by the Thompsons of Milton Hall, near Brampton, in Cumbria. The locomotive is now exhibited at the Science Museum in London in much-modified form compared to its original state. Such are the changes in the engine from 1829 that The Engineer magazine, c.1884, concluded that "it seems to us indisputable that the Rocket of 1829 and 1830 were totally different engines".
Further details on the Rocket's design and history are available at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenson%27s_Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.
A common misconception is that Rocket was the first steam locomotive. In fact the first steam locomotive to run on tracks was built by Richard Trevithick 25 years earlier, but his designs were not developed beyond the experimental stage. Then followed the first commercially-successful twin-cylinder steam locomotives built by Matthew Murray in Holbeck for the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds, West Yorkshire. George Stephenson, as well as a number of other engineers, had built steam locomotives before. Rocket was in some ways an evolution, not a revolution.
Rocket's claim to fame is that it was the first 'modern' locomotive, introducing several innovations that have been used on almost every steam locomotive built since. There have been differences in opinion regarding who should be given the credit for designing Rocket. George Stephenson had designed several locomotives before but none as advanced as Rocket. At the time that Rocket was being designed and built at the Forth Banks Works, he was living in Liverpool overseeing the building of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. His son Robert had recently returned from a stint working in South America and resumed as managing director of Robert Stephenson and Company. He was in daily charge of designing and constructing the new locomotive. Although he was in frequent contact with his father in Liverpool and probably received advice from him, it is difficult not to give the majority of the credit for the design to Robert.
In 1862 Rocket was donated to the Patent Office Museum in London by the Thompsons of Milton Hall, near Brampton, in Cumbria. The locomotive is now exhibited at the Science Museum in London in much-modified form compared to its original state. Such are the changes in the engine from 1829 that The Engineer magazine, c.1884, concluded that "it seems to us indisputable that the Rocket of 1829 and 1830 were totally different engines".
Further details on the Rocket's design and history are available at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenson%27s_Rocket