On this day: Stephenson’s Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials

On 8 October 1829, the Rocket locomotive won the Rainhill Trials. The machine was built by Stephenson, and it was with this victory that the Rocket entered the history of early locomotive building.

In the day's chronicle, this event occupies one line in the section of events from 1601 to 1900: in 1829, Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials. The entry names the year, the participant and the result, and adds nothing more to them.

The material reports neither the locomotive's characteristics, nor the circumstances of the run, nor how the trials themselves proceeded. That is why the note contains no figures or descriptions that the source does not confirm, and any details would require separate verification.

Even such a short line matters for the history of technology. It records the date, the name and the result, leaving everything else about the Rocket and Rainhill outside the entry.

Image: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK CC BY 2.0 · License

Translation editor: Ловушкин А.