Rainhill 1980
The Rainhill Trials were instigated by the railway company to confirm the capability of steam engines for rail traction. Six engines took part: Robert Stephenson's Rocket, (see here for a lovely Java/ Flash animation of it! Timothy Burstall's Perseverance, Brathwaite & Ericsson's Novelty, Timothy Hackworth's Sans Pareil and Thomas Brandreth's Cycloped; of which only the Rocket met all of the company's strict criteria, and thus won the prize! The Trials are obviously part of the National Curriculum, and a search via Altavista, or any other search engine, will find hundreds of hits!

 Little apart from the original 'Skew' bridge survives from the 1829 site of the famous Rainhill Trials, although this does not put off the thousands of visitors who have come to vist what is still a railway Mecca! Even more than usual turned up in 1979-80, and Rainhill had prepared for them, as is shown by the following photos taken in 1980!

Welcome from Rainhill Traders

 Quite near the station, a welcome from Rainhill Traders.

Road side mural

 A road side mural of the Rainhill Trials.

The Rainhill Exhibition

 My wife and Andrew in the Rainhill Trials exhibition.

Rocket model in exhibition

 Rocket model in a reconstruction of the Rainhill trials in the exhibition.

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