George Stephenson

The Stephenson family home was within yards of the Wylam Waggonway, and George quickly developed an interest in machines. When he was 14 he joined his father at Dewley Colliery and in 1802 he became a colliery engineman, marrying Frances Henderson later that year.

In October 1803 the couple's only son Robert was born, but Frances suffered poor health and died of consumption in 1806.

When he was 27, George Stephenson became an engineman at Killingworth Colliery, north of Newcastle. In 1813, as William Hedley and Timothy Hackworth began to develop a locomotive at Wylam Colliery, Stephenson convinced his colliery manager, Nicholas Wood, to allow him to produce a steam-powered machine.

By 1814 he had produced a loco that could pull 30 tons up a hill at 4mph. The loco was called the Blutcher and, like other machines of the period, had two vertical cylinders let into the boiler from the pistons from which rods drove the gears.

On April 19, 1821 an Act of Parliament was passed that authorised a company owned by Darlington businessman Edward Pease to build a horse railway to link the West Durham collieries, Darlington and the River Tees at Stockton. Stephenson suggested to Pease that he should build a locomotive railway. He told him: "A horse on an iron road would draw ten tons for one ton on a common road." Pease was convinced when he visited Killingworth and saw the Blutcher in operation and appointed Stephenson chief engineer of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

In 1823 Edward Pease joined Michael Longdridge, George Stephenson and his son Robert Stephenson to form a company to make the locomotives. Robert Stephenson & Company, at Forth Street, Newcastle, became the world's first locomotive builder and the first railway locomotive, Locomotion, was finished in September 1825.

Work on the Stockton & Darlington Railway track began in 1822. George Stephenson used malleable iron rails carried on cast iron chairs laid on wooden blocks.

The Stockton & Darlington line was opened on September 27, 1825. Large crowds saw George Stephenson at the controls of the Locomotion as it pulled 36 wagons filled with sacks of coal and flour.

In 1826 Stephenson was appointed engineer and provider of locomotives for the Bolton & Leigh railway. He also was the chief engineer of the proposed Liverpool & Manchester Railway.

Stephenson and his son Robert later produced the Rocket, the locomotive that won the famous Rainhill Trials in 1829.

Stephenson also owned a farm where he experimented with stock breeding, new types of manure and animal food. He also developed a method of fattening chickens by shutting them in dark boxes after a heavy feed.

Rainhill Trials

RAILWAY locomotives were not short of detractors. Locomotion had made its debut on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first passenger line, in September 1825.

But many remained to be convinced.

Ten years after Locomotion stunned the world, engineer Thomas Tregold wrote that "the possibility of any general systems of conveying passengers at a velocity exceeding ten miles per hour is extremely improbable".

But George Stephenson, a mining engineer from Northumberland, had a different vision.

Stephenson was conducting experiments with steam traction at Killingworth and Hetton collieries and it was his engines which provided much of the power for the early trains on the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

In 1829, the directors of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Company were unsure whether to use locomotives or stationary engines on their rail line.

It was decided to hold a competition where the winning locomotive would be awarded £500 and one would be chosen to run on their railway.

What made the Liverpool and Manchester Railway so important was that it was the first rail link between two large communities. The line was vital for freight traffic taking imported cotton from America to the mills of Lancashire, and it provided a fast link for passengers at the world-beating speed, for 1830, of 30mph.

The competition began at Rainhill, in Lancashire, on October 6, 1829.

George and Robert Stephenson built the Rocket in Newcastle, specifically for the Rainhill Trials.

Eight conditions were laid down, including that the cost of the loco had to be less than £550. To qualify for the first prize the locomotive had to reach speeds of 10mph.

On the first day more than 10,000 people turned up to watch.

The locomotives had to run 20 times up and down the track at Rainhill which made the distance roughly equivalent to a return trip between Liverpool and Manchester.

Ten locomotives were originally entered for the competition but only five turned up: the Rocket, Sans Pareil, Novelty, Cycloped and Perseverance.

Cycloped was powered by a horse walking on a drive belt. It reached speeds of 5mph, but after the horse fell through the floor of the Cycloped it was withdrawn.

Perseverance was damaged on the way to the Rainhill Trials when the wagon carrying it overturned.

At first there were doubts whether Sans Pareil would compete as the judges claimed it was overweight. However, it was eventually agreed to let its inventor, Timothy Hackworth, show what his locomotive could do.

The Sans Pareil carried out eight trips and reached a top speed of just over 16 mph. But then the locomotive suffered a cracked cylinder. Ironically, the cylinder had been cast by the company owned by his rival, Robert Stephenson.

But, despite its failure to win the competition, the owners of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway decided to buy Sans Pareil to use on their line.

The Novelty, weighing only 2 tons 3 cwt, was much smaller than the other entries. It was also the quickest and reached speeds of 28mph. But it suffered burst steam-tight joints and had to be retired.

On the third day the final entry, Stephenson's Rocket, covered 35 miles in 3 hours 12 minutes.

Hauling 13 tons of loaded wagons, the Rocket averaged over 12mph. On one trip it reached 25mph and on a locomotive-only run, 29mph.

After studying all the evidence, the three judges, John Rastrick, Nicholas Wood and John Kennedy, awarded the £500 first prize to the Rocket.

The contract to produce locomotives for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway went to the Robert Stephenson Company at Newcastle.