THE RAILWAY REVOLUTION

George and Robert Stephenson

by

L. T. C. Rolt

St. Martin’s Press New York

1960

Ed. The following extract on the Rainhill trials is a portion of Chapter 8, The Battle for the Locomotive. J. McV, May 2008.

On the morning of Tuesday 6 October (1829), a few days after the date first proposed, crowds began to converge upon Rainhill from Liverpool, St. Helens, Warrington, Manchester and all the country round. A large stand had been erected beside the middle of the course, flags and bunting flew, the inevitable brass band played “pleasing and favourite airs" and the neighbouring Rail-Road Tavern was packed out. A stranger from afar who had neglected to read his newspapers might have thought he had come upon a race meeting and have looked in vain for parading horses and jockeys, until he saw that the course consisted of two lines of iron rails which stretched away, straight and level, for nearly a mile upon either hand. Or supposing this ignorant and puzzled stranger had asked for a ‘race card', he would have been given the following:

No. I Messrs. Braithwaite and Erickson of London, "The Novelty" Copper and Blue, Weight: 2 tons 15 cwt.

No. 2. Mr. Ackworth [sic] of Darlington, "The Sans Pareil" Green, Yellow and Black, Weight: 4 tons 8 cwt 2 qr.

No. 3. Mr. Robert Stephenson of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, "The Rocket” Yellow and Black, White Chimney, Weight: 4 tons 3 cwt.

No. 4. Mr. Brandreth of Liverpool, "The Cycloped" Weight: 3 tons, worked by a horse.

No. 5. Mr. Burstall of Edinburgh, "The Perseverance" Red Wheels, Weight: 2 tons 17 cwt.

Our stranger would then have realized that, along with the rest of the 10,000 spectators who jostled about him, he was to be privileged to witness a contest the like of which had never been seen before; a contest between new-fangled mechanical monsters the outcome of which might, in the words of the Liverpool Courier, "alter the whole system of our internal communications ... substituting an agency whose ultimate effects can scarcely be anticipated".

In the distance, to the east and to the west of the grandstand, white posts exactly 1-1/2 miles apart had been erected beside the line. These were known as the starting posts, although the course extended for an eighth of a mile beyond each of them to terminal points where fuel and water was available; also a blacksmith's shop and other repair facilities which the less fortunate competitors would put to good use before the Trials were over. There was also a weighbridge, for the judges did not propose to take for granted the weights declared by the competitors. The Trial, or the 'Ordeal' as they called it, which the three judges decided upon was that each locomotive in turn, hauling a train three times its own weight, should make a total of twenty runs to and fro over the 1-1/2-mile course, an interval being allowed after ten runs had been made. This would be equivalent to a journey from Liverpool to Manchester and back. The course would be taken 'flying', the distance beyond the posts being used for braking and getting up speed. On the east to west run the competitors would have to propel in front of them the wagons of stone which formed the test loads. Timekeepers with 'second watches' would be stationed at each post to record not only the time taken to cover the 1-1/2-mile course on each run but also the time between runs, so that any precious minutes lost by the competitor in making feverish repairs or adjustments at the terminal depots would be duly noted down. The time and fuel consumed in raising a fun head of steam from cold would also be recorded, likewise the fuel used and the water evaporated during the test runs.

Now for the competitors. Two of them need not be taken seriously. No. 4, Mr. Brandreth's Cycloped, was propelled by a horse trotting on a species of treadmill. This machine the judges studiously ignored as it was quite outside die terms of the competition, but as Brandreth was a member of the Board his whimsies had to be indulged and he was presumably allowed to trundle up and down with his machine and so provide some light entertainment during the intervals which, owing to various mechanical derangements, were considerable.

The road wagon which was bringing No. 5, Mr. Burstall's Perseverance, to the trials, overturned with dire results, and it was not, until the last day of the competition that the unfortunate owner was able to get it to the course. Having in the meantime seen his rivals perform, Burstall told the judges that he stood no chance and after making a short demonstration run the Perseverance was withdrawn.

It was not, commented Nicholas Wood briefly, 'adapted for die present celerity of Rail-road conveyance' having a boiler, which, to judge from Wood's description, was little more than a glorified domestic copper.

This meant that the honours lay between the first three competitors, and of these No. I, Braithwaite & Erickson's Novelty, was easily the favourite not only with the ignorant populace but also with that company of scientific gentlemen and engineers which, claimed the local press, was the largest ever assembled on one spot. The Novelty represented the London steam-carriage tradition applied to the rails. Two vertical cylinders drove the cranked leading axle. Provision was made for the rear axle to be coupled by chain drive, but this was not used on the Trials. It had a very curious boiler consisting of a vertical unit mounted right at the back from which a long horizontal element extended to the full length of the frame. This was in communication with the vertical portion of the boiler and contained a long flue-tube which, having passed back and forth twice through the element, emerged in a small exhaust pipe at the front end. A forced draught was applied to the furnace under the vertical part of the boiler by mechanical bellows, and this drove the hot gases through the sinuous flue-tube. The exhaust steam from the engine passed straight to atmosphere. The proud sponsors of the Novelty were actively supported by Charles Vignoles, who, doubtless hoped to see it run rings round the Rocket.

The Competitors were supposed to undergo their Ordeal in number order, and when the judges arrived on the scene they found that the Novelty had already been showing her paces before an admiring crowd. in her royal blue livery with boiler, water tank and cylinders all clad in highly polished copper sheeting she certainly made a brave sight. The apparent absence of moving parts also deeply impressed the spectators, only the tops of the cylinders being visible. "The great lightness of this engine", wrote a rapturous reporter to the Mechanics' Magazine, "its compactness, and its beautiful workmanship, excited universal admiration; a sentiment speedily changed into perfect wonder, by its truly marvelous performance.... Almost at once it darted off at the amazing velocity of twenty eight miles an hour, and it actually did one mile in the incredibly short space of one minute and 53 seconds!"

Alas, pride had its speedy fall. A sudden dull explosion followed by a belch of smoke, flame and sparks from the nether regions of the Novelty brought consternation to the faces of Messrs. Braithwaite and Vignoles and a halt to their triumphal progress. A blowback from the furnace had burst the leather of the mechanical bellows. With No. 1 thus temporarily out of the running the judges then turned their attention to the next on the list only to find a very hot and disgruntled Timothy Hackworth struggling with a leaking boiler on the SansPareil. He, like Braithwaite, begged for time in which to get his engine prepared, so, as the day was by now well advanced and it was raining heavily, the Judges ordered the Stephensons to present the Rocket for trial next morning and declared the proceedings closed.

The Rocket had also been demonstrated but was not popular with the crowd, who considered it cumbersome and 'unmechanical' by comparison with the Novelty, a verdict which was to some extent influenced by the fact that, with characteristic caution, the Stephensons made no attempt on this first appearance to vie with the speed of their glittering rival but conserved the powers of their steed for the trial proper.

On the morning of 8 October the Rocket was weighed in the presence of the judges. This must have been an anxious moment for Robert Stephenson, but though the engine scaled 4T 5cwt -2 cwt more than he had declared – it was well within the permitted maximum for a four-wheeled engine. Steam was then raised to 50 lb. from cold in 57 minutes using 142 1b. of coke, and two wagons loaded with stone were coupled up to make a train weight with the tender (which was considered part of the load) of 12 tons 15 cwt. The two timekeepers, with their watches at the ready, then took up their stations, Rastrick at Post No. I at the western end of the course from which the first run was made, and Wood at the other.

It is nowhere positively stated who actually drove the Rocket on this famous occasion. Robert M'Cree of Killingworth was her regular driver, but the evidence suggests that George Stephenson himself drove her in the Trials accompanied by Robert and possibly employing M'Cree as fireman. The locomotive performed perfectly. The first eastbound run was covered in 6m. 15s. and speed continued around that figure until the last three runs when George Stephenson began to open up, finishing with a time of 4m. 12s. on the tenth eastward run. In between journeys the Stephensons put in some Smart 'pitwork': 35 gallons of water were bucketted into the tender water butt in three minutes, while oiling round and 'greasing the pistons' occupied another three minutes. The Judges were completely mystified by the fact that the westbound times were invariably slower than the eastbound. Possibly George Stephenson drove more cautiously when he was propelling the loaded wagons in front of him, but it also seems likely that Robert Stephenson had not entirely succeeded in curing the defect he had mentioned to Booth when the engine was first tried at Killingworth and that in backward gear the valve events were not quite correct.

Having successfully completed the first half of the 'ordeal', a quarter of an hour was spent weighing-on a further supply of coke and filling the water butt. The Judges noted that all this time steam was blowing off from the safety valves. This could not have improved the overall consumption figures, but Robert Stephenson was obviously more concerned to avoid the mistake he had made on the Killingworth trial of letting the coke fire get too low. At all costs they must not get short of steam.

The second half of die trial went as smoothly and uneventfully as the first. As he approached the western post for the last time with success in sight, George Stephenson glanced quickly up at the long mercurial gauge beside the chimney, saw that steam pressure held steady at the 50 lb. mark and gave the Rocket full regulator. His long battle for the locomotive was almost won; now he would show the doubters and the mockers, those clever gentry from London who now clustered in the grand stand with their fine ladies, what new power he commanded. Flying a white pennant of steam from her tall chinmey the Rocket thundered past the grandstand and away to the eastward post. Nicholas Wood looked at his watch; time: 3m. 44s., equal to a speed of a little over 29 miles an hour. "We wish", wrote the judges in their report on the Trials, "to call the particular attention of the directors to the remarkable short time in which the last Eastward trip of one and a half mile was performed. . . as demonstrating in a very eminent degree the practicability of attaining a very high velocity even with a load of considerable weight attached to the engine."

For the 60 miles the Rocket had averaged just under 14 miles an hour, nearly four miles an hour better than the speed stipulated. Water had been evaporated at the rate of 114 gallons per hour and 217 lb. of coke per hour had been burnt. It was a triumph for the Stephensons. By more than fulfilling all the conditions of the competition with consummate ease, they had at last most convincingly clinched their case for the locomotive. But they had not yet won the contest. Many spectators announced that they were not at all impressed by the performance of the Rocket and predicted that it would very soon be eclipsed by that of the Novelty. So strongly was the Novelty favoured, indeed, that even the Stephensons' supporters were alarmed, but George is alleged to have remarked to one doubter in his broadest Doric: "Eh mon, we needn't fear yon thing, her's got nae goots." Events proved him right.

At the conclusion of this day's experiment [wrote the Judges in their report] Mr. Hackworth requested he might be allowed a further time and declared he could not get his engine ready to start this week.

Messrs. Braithwaite & Erickson's Engine appeared to us not likely to be ready before Monday & it was agreed with a Friend of Mr. Braithwaite's (he not being present himself) that they should enter upon the trial of their Engine on Monday morning.

On Friday morning, however, Mr. Braithwaite waited upon us at Liverpool in company with his friend and declared that his engine would be all complete and perfectly ready for entering upon the task on Saturday morning, and insisted that his Engine should be put upon trial on that Day although we did every thing in our power to induce him to defer the trial until the Monday, being well aware that several joints were to be made which it would be almost impossible to get done in time to allow of their setting....

This shows a most commendable desire on the part of the Judges to ensure fair play, but the impatient Braithwaite did not heed their good advice. on the Saturday the Novelty only managed one easterly run before the joints on the pipe from the feed pump to the boiler failed, "the water flying about in all directions". So that put a speedy end to the day's proceedings and it was not until the following Tuesday that they were officially resumed again, when Timothy Hackworth at last presented his Sans Pareil to the judges for trial. The time taken to raise steam could not be checked because he had already been working the engine during the night and the boiler was hot. The engine was then weighed and found to scale 4T 15cwt: 2qr, 7cwt above the weight he had declared and 5cwt over the stipulated maximum for a four-wheeled engine. For the unfortunate Hackworth, who had been working night and day to get the Sans Pareil into shape, this must have been a bitter blow, for it excluded him from the contest. However, the sympathetic judges determined to let him run and to leave it to the directors to decide the issue. They also appear to have obligingly ignored the fact that the Sans Pareil was completely unsprung. Hackworth had adopted his usual practice of mounting his cylinders vertically and this, combined with a direct drive by short connecting rods, prohibited the use of springs on the driving axle. He had also remained faithful to the return-flue boiler, his only modification being to extend the furnace end of the flue beyond the boiler proper in the form of a semi-circular water-jacketed canopy over the grate.

Having had her load attached, the Sans Pareil set off briskly and it was at once evident from the lumps of red-hot coke that shot from her chimney in true Shildon fashion that her designer's ideas on the blast pipe had undergone no modification. The time for this first run was 5m 9s, but it was never bettered. On the eighth eastbound journey, while his driver, 'Tammy Grey', manned the regulator, Hackworth could be seen fighting desperately to keep a reluctant boiler feed pump working. Five more runs along the course and there would be time to attend to it properly before the next half of the test began but alas for poor Timothy, it was not to be. The Sans Pareil was just in front of the grandstand on its return journey when it suddenly disappeared from view in a great cloud of steam. The lead fusible plug above the fire had melted owing to lack of water in the boiler, the most humiliating mishap that can befall an engineman, and the Sans Pareil had to be pushed by a crowd of willing hands down to the blacksmith's shop at the end of the course. So ended the challenge of the Stephensons' most formidable rival. The Sans Pareil had averaged 14 miles an hour for the 22-1/2 miles traveled with a load of 19 tons but, as we should expect, the consumption of coke had been fantastic, no less than 6921b per hour as against the Rocket's 2171b.

On the following day, Wednesday 14 October, the Novelty made its final bid for the horours, What happened may be summed up in the words of the judges' Report.

The Engine returning westwards the second trip, the joints of the Boiler gave way, as indeed they might naturally be expected to do from being then so recently made, which put an effectual stop to the Experiment, so that the Engine and Train were obliged to be run up by hand. Mr. Erickson then declared to us that he would now withdraw his Engine from all further competition so far as regarded the Premium.

Timothy Hackworth then requested a second run, but this was refused. "Having considered", said the judges, "the enormous consumption of fuel ... and the general construction of his Engine we found that we could not recommend it to the Directors' consideration as a perfect Engine & therefore as it was also overweight we did not think it necessary to expend further time in experimenting upon it. Mr. Hackworth then disputed the accuracy of the Weighing Machine, but as it has been since proved to be correct, this remonstrance in that head may be considered as fully answered." Having thus disposed of the Sans Pareil the judges concluded by saying that 'Mr. Stephenson's engine' had alone fulfilled all die terms of the competition and was the best engine to be exhibited at Rainhill.

There is no doubt that the unlucky Hackworth was sorely disgruntled by his defeat and various allegations were, or have since been, made by his supporters, including that of deliberate sabotage by the Stephensons. It was said that the excessive coke consumption was due to the failure of a cylinder casting (cast by Robert Stephenson & Co. for Hackworth!) which cracked across the valve ports, causing live steam to blow straight up the chimney. Hackworth's biographer, Robert Young, stated categorically that this was the reason for the failure of the Sans Pareil , but there is no shred of evidence for this whatever. It is inconceivable that Hackworth would not mention such a failure to the judges, even supposing they had failed to notice it, which is highly improbable. it is equally improbable that the judges, in their scrupulously fair report, would fail to mention such a major disaster as a cracked cylinder. As for the high fuel consumption, Nicholas Wood, at least, had no doubts on this score, stating afterwards that the Sans Pareil threw most of its fire up the chimney because of the powerful blast. The engine could never have performed as it did with only one effective cylinder. Hackworth's supporters also sourly implied that with the Chief Engineer and the Treasurer of the railway Company both concerned in the Rocket, only one result could be expected.

Whatever may have been alleged at the time or since, we, with the whole perspective of these past events before us, can say without hesitation that the great issue was fairly contested and fairly won by a locomotive which was far superior to any rival. The Rocket and the Sans Pareil are still to be seen in the Science Museum, where the superiority of the former both in design and workmanship is obvious. The fact was that Hackworth's design, though it had proved satisfactory for the slow-speed haulage of coal, was already obsolete and quite incapable of the high-speed performance which, as the Stephensons had realized, the Liverpool & Manchester Railway would demand. As for the Novelty, it was virtually a steam carriage on rails and, though spectacular when running light, as George Stephenson so shrewdly put it, it lacked guts. Its supporters declared that its failures were due only to hasty construction and bad workmanship, but they were proved wrong when the William IV and the Queen Adelaide, which Braithwaite & Erickson subsequently built for the railway on the same lines, proved equally unreliable and lacking in power.

Many and varied were the accounts written by eye-witnesses of the historic encounter, but by far the most graphic and entertaining was that given by John Dixon in a letter to his brother James at Darlington. It makes an appropriate postscript to this chapter.

Dear James,

We have finished the grand experiment on the Engines and G.S. or R.S. has come off triumphant and of course will take hold of the £500 so liberally offered by the Company: none of the others being able to come near them. The Rocket is by far the best Engine I have ever seen for Blood and Bone united....

Timothy has been very sadly out of temper ever since he came for he has been grobbing on day and night and nothing our men did for him was right, we could not please him with the Tender or anything; he openly accused all G.S.'s people of conspiring to hinder him of which I do believe them innocent, however he got many trials but never got half of his 70 miles done without stopping. He burns nearly double the quantity of coke that the Rocket does and mumbles and roars and rolls about like an Empty Beer Butt on a rough Pavement and moreover weighs above 4-1/2 Tons consequently should have had six wheels and as for being on Springs I must confess I cannot find them out.... She is very ugly and the Boiler runs out very much, he had to feed her with more Meal and Malt Sprouts than would fatten a pig....

Dixon then goes on to describe the Novelty, "all covered with Copper like a new Tea Urn all which tended to give her a very Parlour like appearance", and deals with her failures. Then:

Burstall from Edinbro upset his in bringing from L'pool to Rainhill and spent a week in pretending to Remedy the injuries whereas he altered and amended some part every day till he was last of all to start and a sorrowful start it was; full 6 miles an hour creaking away like an old Wickerwork pair of Panniers on a cantering Cuddy Ass. Vox Populi was in favour of London from appearances but we showed them the way to do it for Messrs. Rastrig [sic] & Walker in their report as to Fixed and permt. Engines stated that the whole power of the Loco. Engines would be absorbed in taking their own bodies up the Rainhill Incline 1 in 96 consequently they could take no load. Now the first thing old George did was to bring a Coach with about 20 people up at a gallop and every day since has run up and down to let them see what they could do up such an ascent and has taken 40 folks up at 20 miles an hour.

After such a demonstration as this, a more striking display of the powers of the Rocket than the Rainhill 'Ordeal' itself, there could be no more talk of horses or fixed haulage engines. The battle for the locomotive had been most decisively won and it was as an exclusively locomotive-worked railway that the Liverpool & Manchester went forward to completion.