Episode 1 of 2
Rainhill Trials
- When
- 6-14 October 1829
- Where
- Rainhill
The competition ran from 6 to 14 October 1829 to test locomotive efficiency for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Ten locomotives were officially entered, but only five were available to run on the first day. The trials aimed to prove that improved locomotives would be more efficient than stationary steam engines.
Sources
- Rainhill trials Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.