Blists Hill, Ironbridge, Trevithick first steam loco

At Blists Hill victorian village, Ironbridge, there is a working replica of the first operational steam loco designed by Richard Trevithick in 1804, predating Stephensons 'Rocket' by some 25 yrs. Sadly it was very heavy and not reliable enough for its initial backers to continue with. Trevithick then continued to work on steam engines for the mines.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Blists Hill
• Ironbridge
• Trevithick
• First steam loco

[CaptBubble]

Brilliant. The main problem with this and Trevithick's other early steam locos was that the cast iron rails were too brittle and weak to take the weight. In 1802 he made the road going Puffing Devil, then 2 years later the London Steam Carriage, both of which have been replicated and are on You Tube. Trevithick's locos were built to haul coal not passengers. Must go to Blist Hill and Camborne sometime!

[cjb12121]

@CaptBubble

if you go to Blists Hill you will enjoy lots of toys. Also go down the road to Ironbridge, to see the very first built iron bridge. The whole area is one great living museum.

[grizzleybearz282004]

A ONE MAN SHOW DID THAY EVER HAVE ANY PASSENGER CARS TO HOOK ON OR NO

[cjb12121]

@grizzleybearz282004

not sure.

Apparently this loco was too heavy to run over the first wooden bridges. Remember this was the very first and engineers such as Brunel had not yet designed iron bridges to take such machines. The Rocket was the first true passenger train. This was the equivalent of the first aircraft or spacecraft.

The story is fascinating.. Google it.

[grizzleybearz282004]

@cjb12121 well i think it a great pice to see of the past on our history how life was and what it took to make somthing like this great video i think i may have seen something like this on a class trip years ago sometime in the early 1990s???

[cjb12121]

@grizzleybearz282004

thanks for your comments. Blists Hill is a very interesting place to visit and experience the village life of the times.

We can all learn a lot from history... we all take things too much for granted.

[METALLICARULES11]

it had a top speed of about eight kilometers a hour but this was pretty fast back then

[McLarenMercedes]

@cjb12121

Hm, most bridges Brunel designed were not made out of iron. The Maidenhead Railway Bridge was made out of brick. Also, most bridges and viaducts on the GWR were made partly out of timber. Those in Devon in particular.

The Brunel designed viaduct in Ivybridge is an example. Only the high pillars (104 feet) were masonry, whereas the bridge/viaduct itself was timber. It carried the heavy trains from 1848 to 1892, and was replaced by the current brick viaduct.

No iron bridge.

[speedstick77]

Cheers to the UK for preserving this marvelous heritage. We stand in awe, Sirs!

[eltfell]

This was genesis... to all them TGVs, ICEs, Shinkansens and Acelas.

[CaptBubble]

Cheers, Ironbridge is already high up on my list!