The Liverpool and Manchester Railway by J. Whatman, 1831.
But the idea of cable haulage was not altogether abandoned.
If they did not explode, the public thought, they would fill the countryside with noxious fumes.
To decide, the directors declareda competitionfor ‘Engineers and Iron Founders’ to present their best solution.
The site chosen for the trials was the village of Rainhill, situated about 14 km east of Liverpool.
Out of these only three were in serious competition.
One entrant calledCyclopedwas an absurd contraption with a horse walking endlessly over a treadmill to generate power.
Before exhaustion had killed the horse, it fell through the wooden platform and was disqualified.
After suffering multiple failures,Noveltywas withdrawn from the trial.
The Rainhill trial ran for six days, and had a huge impact on the public.
Between ten to fifteen thousand spectators came to watch the competition.
Newspapers followed progress at the trials, describing in detail the astonishing achievements of the engines.
The fate of the locomotive was hanging by a thread.
Stephenson’s Rocket at the Science Museum, London.
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