In 1825, the steam engine Locomotion
became the first engine to haul passenger carriages on a public railway. The engine
was built by the Robert Stephenson Company under a contact with the Stockton
& Darlington Railway to be run on the S&DR’s 25-mile track in
North-East England. It weighed 7.5 tons (about 6.6 metric tons) and
could manage a top speed, downhill, of 15 mph (24 kph.) Unfortunately, in 1828
the boiler exploded killing the driver.
A replica of the engine was
built in 1837 using some of the original parts and compatible parts from other
engines. This engine was used as a static display by the S&DR and is
currently on display at the National Railway Museum in York, England.
This model is based largely on
the 1937 replica. Because of the complexity of the mechanical components on top
of the boiler, it was difficult to understand from photos how it all fit
together. Until, that is, I stumbled on a 200-page report by railway historians
Michael R. Bailey MBE, DPhil, MA and Peter H. Davidson MA (Cantab.). titled Locomotion
No. 1, An Assessment of its History and Modifications Through
Archaeological and Archival Study. This document turned out to be a
treasure trove of explanations, diagrams and detailed photos of the whole
engine.
#Locomotion_No_1 #S&DR #steam_engine
#railway #history #Blender 4.1 #Cycles
