Stephenson's Rocket

This photo will stick out like from my photostream like a sore thumb, ha! Definitely odd man out! This is a large, heavy, working model of the Stephenson's Rocket, 3 1/2" gauge, made by Hornby, and is absolutely beautiful. The engine and the tender measure 18" in length! It also comes with a very fancy carriage, which I guess I should also photograph. It has taken me so long to get it out of its box and photograph it (using Impressive Art effect), but I need to get it to my oldest daughter in the next little while. My Father, an exceptional photographer, was also a lover of steam trains, travelling all over England and Europe photographing them many years ago. When he died, he left a large collection of model trains (a curse for my Mother, lol, and also for my friends, Linda and Tony, who so generously went through everything when my Brother died!), including this real beauty. He also had a much smaller version, which I will keep for myself, but my oldest daughter inherited her Grandpa's love for steam engines and she was so eager to have this. So, my good friends in England sent these out to me when my Brother died, along with all the other personal things.

"Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in 1829 at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

It was built for, and won, the Rainhill Trials held by the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1829 to choose the best design to power the railway.

Though the Rocket was not the first steam locomotive, it was the first to bring together several innovations to produce the most advanced locomotive of its day.

It is the most famous example of an evolving design of locomotives by Stephenson that became the template for most steam engines in the following 150 years.

In 1862 Rocket was donated to the Patent Office Museum in London (now the Science Museum) by the Thompsons of Milton Hall, near Brampton. The locomotive still exists, in the Science Museum (London), in much modified form compared to its state at the Rainhill Trials."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenson's_Rocket

For anyone who is interested, this is a link to a YouTube video of one of these models in action. This was a test run for the Hornby live steam Stephenson's Rocket at the KMYCA track in Antwerp.

youtu.be/pQhOUbB7378

Ha, just HAD to share this YouTube video (thanks, Dave!). It never pays to tease a frog!

youtu.be/QzXM58qR1Es