Locomotives For The Liverpool Manchester Railway example essay topic
419 words
he Liverpool & Manchester railway was planned to transport materials between Liverpool, the busiest port in northern England and Manchester, the capital of the textile industry. It was going to extend for 31 miles over marshlands and rock features of northern England. There was a long delay in the construction because the railway caused threats to the Bridgewater Canal that was making tremendous profit transporting cargo between Manchester and Liverpool. Finally, permission was granted for George Stephenson to begin construction of the Liverpool and Manchester railway. However, The company was uncertain of what locomotive design to use so On October 6, 1829, they held a exhibition at Rian hill, between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester to choose the locomotive for the railway. Only three locomotives turned up for the competition, Timothy Hackworth's, "Sans Pareil", Robert Stephenson's "Rocket" plus John Ericcson's "Novelty". Each locomotive had to be lighter than six tons and run at ten miles per hour hauling a load three times its weight up and down a mountainous track twenty times! Sans Pereil's cylinder cracked after a few successful runs. Novelty was the lightest and fastest of the locomotives, the favorite to win the competition among the spectators, however its boiler broke down and forfeited from the competition. This left Rocket, built by George and Robert Stephenson, to win the competition and the contract for building more locomotives for the Liverpool Manchester railway. An opening ceremony for the completed Liverpool - Manchester railway was held on September 15, 1830. There was an immense gathering to see the procession of eight locomotives owned by the company including Rocket and Sans Pereil, even the Duke of Wellington and the Prime Minister of England was present.
The railway was a great success and within one year, it transported 445,047 passengers. It proved to the world that the locomotive was supreme once and for all over the horse-wagons. There were three classes of carriages. Third class carriages had no coverings; passengers were compressed in an open-air wagon. Second class had no coverings as well, but were less compressed.
Carriages were covered and offered comfortable seating. Although the railroad system seemed perfect, there were setbacks. Break downs and delays were frequent, the railroad system offered the fastest and reliable transportation and cargo. Over the next twenty-five years, England had six thousand and one hundred miles of railroad tracks, which linked major cities.
