If you’ve ever wanted to take a peek inside the massive archives at the National Railway Museum and view some of the priceless artefacts, May’s edition of The Railway Magazine is not to be missed.
Never normally open to the public, the museum has opened the doors to
its archives to help tell one of railways’ greatest stories, and an exclusive
DVD with May’s magazine will tell readers all about the Rainhill Trials.
Readers will be treated to an exclusive behind-the-scenes journey as the
magazine’s editorial team talks to experts from the museum and beyond to assess
the significance of world-famous engineers George and Robert Stephenson and how
they won trials, 190 years after their staging.
To mark the anniversary of the landmark event in 1829, The Railway
Magazine’s editor Chris Milner and deputy editor Gary Boyd-Hope explore the
legacy of the trials, the technologies of the competitors that took part, and
the stories of the men who built them.
“Rainhill was important 190 years ago, but its true significance and
legacy perhaps couldn’t have even been imagined at the time,” says Railway
Magazine editor Chris Milner. “There’s a line of technological development
which continues even today through the Bullet Train and HS2, and which can be
traced back to that event.
“The National Railway Museum’s artefacts are vital in helping us tell
the story, and although it has thousands of items on display every day, as we
realised when delving into the archives, that’s only the tip of the iceberg,
and there are thousands more stories which need to be told.”
From the original Rocket built by the Stephensons to Timothy Hackworth’s
Sans Pareil, their journey takes them from Manchester’s Science & Industry
Museum and the terminus of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, to the
National Railway Museum in York by way of Locomotion in Shildon and Rainhill
itself – now a largely anonymous village near St Helens, but a name which
resonates throughout history as being the staging point for an event which
shaped industrial development.
On the way they discover more about George and Robert Stephenson and the
development of Rocket from early railways historian Dr Michael Bailey, learn of
Hackworth’s engineering achievements from the NRM’s Anthony Coulls, and examine
some of the museum’s Rainhill-related archive treasures with head curator
Andrew McLean.
Filmed in March 2019, this unique programme has been specially produced for the readers of The Railway Magazine. To order a copy of the May issue, on sale May 1, please visit www.classicmagazines.co.uk/trmmay19
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