Rocket Locomotive

Steam locomotive, remains of Robert Stephenson's 0-2-2 locomotive 'Rocket', designed by Robert Stephenson and made by Robert Stephenson & Co., Newcastle upon Tyne, England, 1829. The Rocket, designed by Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), was the clear winner in the locomotive trials held at Rainhill in 1829 to decide the motive power for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. It represented a substantial technical advance over previous designs,bringing together in one machine such developments as the multi-tube boiler and the blast-pipe. The speed of progress, however, meant that the Rocket was substantially rebuilt within 18 months and laid aside within 10 years. It was preserved in 1862 incomplete and semi-derelict but it had set the pattern for the future and remains the most significant of all early railway locomotives.