The Stephensons' Rocket: A History of a Pioneering Locomotive

by BAILEY MICHAEL R.

• ISBN13: 9781900747493
• ISBN10: 1900747499
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: Amazon.Com

Summary

The Rocket steam locomotive is the best-known icon of early railway history. The original is in the collections of the Science Museum, London. A full-size replica of Rocket as it appeared at the Rainhill Trials of 1829 is on display at the National Railway Museum, York, and other full-size replicas are in museums in the United States. In 1999, Bailey and Glithero undertook a major survey of the original Rocket, involving an examination of all its components and detailed research into the documentation relating to its history. This book is based on their findings. It describes Rocket, its main components and the way in which they worked. Setting the locomotive in its historical context, the book emphasizes the importance of the father-and-son engineers, George and Robert Stephenson. It also tells of the fame that Rocket achieved in 1829 and its brief career at the very beginning of the railway era.

Table of Contents

Bibliography	4	(1)
Foreword	5	(1)
Glossary	6	(3)
Introduction	9	(4)
How Rocket worked	13	(20)
Rocket's place in locomotive development	33	(8)
The Rainhill Trials	41	(8)
Rocket's service on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway	49	(8)
Rocket after 1836: colliery workhorse and museum exhibit	57	(7)
Index	64