Spent half a day at the Science Museum and photographed just about everything.
Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built by George and Robert Stephenson in 1829.
A common misconception is that Rocket was the first steam locomotive. In fact the first steam locomotive to run on tracks was built by Richard Trevithick 25 years earlier, but was not financially successful. George Stephenson, as well as a number of other engineers, had built steam locomotives before. Rocket was in some ways an evolution, not a revolution.
It still exists, in the Science Museum, London, in much modified form compared to its state at the Rainhill Trials. The cylinders were altered to the horizontal position, compared to the slanted arrangement as new, and the locomotive was given a proper smokebox. Such are the changes in the engine from 1829 that The Engineer magazine, circa 1884, concluded that it seems to us indisputable that the Rocket of 1829 and 1830 were totally different engines.
See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenson's_rocket
Published at ukguide.org/best/story.php?title=Science_Museum__London_S....
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