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The Rainhill Trials were a competition held in 1829 to determine the best locomotive for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

Notable Locomotives

The following locomotives have their own separate pages:

Novelty

Novelty is an vertical-boilered tank engine who competed in the Rainhill Trials.

Technical Details

Real-Life History

Novelty was an early steam engine built by John Ericsson and John Braithwaite. With the engine's unique design, Novelty is now regarded as the very first tank engine. Novelty was lighter and considerably faster than the other engines in the competition, with the exception of Stephenson's Rocket/Stephen. Even so, Novelty broke down first during the trials.

Two replicas exist today, one using parts from the original locomotive, which is currently preserved at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England.

Livery

Novelty is painted brown with a blue running board, bufferbeams, and wheels. Novelty has black pipes and inner workings.

Appearances

Thomas & Friends

Specials

Annuals

Trivia

  • In Stephen's flashback in King of the Railway, Novelty bears several differences from the real engine:
    • The boiler and chimney are much taller than those of the real engine.
    • The middle section of the boiler is square rather than round in order to fit the face.
    • The coal bunker is much wider at the bottom.
  • Novelty's Thomas & Friends model reuses various components from other CGI models in the series:
    • He reuses Stephen's driving wheels, albeit with the rivets removed.
      • A side orthographic of Novelty's model shown in the background appears to include rivets on the wheels, however these are not present on the model seen in the final animation.
    • He reuses Toby's face.

Gallery

Sans Pareil

This article is about the standard gauge engine. You may be looking for the minimum gauge engine.

Sans Pareil is green tender engine who competed in the Rainhill Trials.

Technical Details

Real-Life History

Sans Pareil is an early steam engine built by Timothy Hackworth and William Hedley. Sans Pareil - along with Novelty - broke down during the trial run, thus allowing Stephenson's Rocket to win. The original locomotive is on static display at the Shildon Locomotion Museum, and a working replica is preserved at the National Railway Museum.

Livery

Sans Pareil is painted green with yellow lining and wheels. Sans Pareil also has a black funnel, water barrel, and running board.

Appearances

Thomas & Friends

Specials

Annuals

Trivia

  • Sans Pareil is French for 'peerless' or 'without equal'.
  • In Stephen's flashback in King of the Railway, Sans Pareil bears several differences from the real engine:
    • The driver operates from the rear of the engine in the flashback, standing beside the funnel, rather than on the front as was the case with the prototype. This was most likely done to accommodate a face on Sans Pareil without the driver obstructing the engine's view.
    • In Stephen's flashback, Sans Pareil was not shown with siderods, incorrectly appearing to be a 0-2-2, whereas the real engine was a 0-4-0.
  • According to historic documents, Sans Pareil was intended to push its tender, with the driver standing at the "rear" of the vehicle. In the BBC history which deals with Stephenson's first railway, the replica Sans Pareil is driven in this manner.
  • Sans Pareil's Thomas & Friends model reuses various components from other CGI models in the series:
    • Stephen's driving wheels, cylinders, motion, and tender water barrel.
    • The body, wheels, axleboxes and buffers from a 7-plank wagon, albeit the body is heavily modified to look more like a tender.
    • He reuses Charlie's face.

Gallery

Perseverance

Perseverance was a vertical-boilered tank engine who took part in the Rainhill Trials.

Technical Details

Real-Life History

Perseverance was an early steam locomotive that took part in the Rainhill Trials, built by John Reed Hill of London and Timothy Burstall of Leith. It was damaged on the way to the trials and Timothy Burstall spent the first five days trying to repair the engine. It ran on the sixth and final day of the trials but only achieved a speed of 6 miles per hour.

Appearances

Thomas & Friends

Annuals

Trivia

  • The name of the locomotive was taken from "Persevere", Leith's town motto.

Cycloped

Cycloped was an early horse-powered locomotive which took part in the Rainhill Trials.

Technical Details

Real-Life History

Cycloped was built by Thomas Shaw Brandreth of Liverpool, and was the only entry in the Rainhill Trials that did not rely on steam power. Instead, it utilised a treadmill that was kept continually moving by a horse mounted on top.

Brandeth and some people believed that that gave the Cycloped an unfair advantage, But the Cycloped was a primitive idea and because of its failure to generate enough speed to equal its competitors, it ultimately lost in the trials.

Appearances

Thomas & Friends

Annuals

External Links

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