Stephenson's Rocket

Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam-powered railroad locomotive, built by George and Robert Stephenson in 1829.

A common misconception is that the 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 was not financially successful. 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.

Pioneer of the modern steam locomotive, Stephenson's famous " Rocket " was built in 1829, and in October of the same year at Rainhill, near Liverpool, it rewarded the hopes of its builders by moving a load of three times its own weight of 4 tons at an average speed of 13.8mph, and running light at a maximum speed of 29mph.

Compared with the performance of the modern giants illustrated in this website, these figures seem insignificant, but at that time they were a remarkable revelation of the possibilities of steam traction.

It was designed and built to compete in the Rainhill Trials, a competition to select the locomotive type for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in October 1829. All the other competitors broke down so a true result is a bit hard to tell; however the winning Rocket did fulfill the key requirement of the contest that a full simulated 90km round trip under load be completed with satisfactory fuel consumption. The builders of the Rocket had already built about 50 engines, and presumably were fairly good at doing this.

At the official opening of the railway almost a year later on September 15, 1830 the first run of the Rocket was marred by the first railway casualty in history, with the accidental death of William Huskisson.

Stephenson's Rocket still exists and resides at the Science Museum, London in much modified form compared to its state at the Rainhill Trials. The cylinders were altered to the horizontal position, compared to the slanted arrangement as new, and the locomotive was given a proper smokebox.

Rocket Pictures

The images on this page are of a replica, currently residing in York Railway Museum (UK), that was built in 1934 for the Science Museum (London) using authentic materials in accordance with how it would have been made in 1829.