The world-famous locomotive, Rocket, is now on temporary display at Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham after travelling to the museum by road from its permanent home at the National Railway Museum in York on Wednesday, 1st March.
Rocket was designed by George and Robert Stephenson and was built in 1829 at Robert Stephenson and Co., in Newcastle, which was the world's first locomotive workshop and celebrates its bicentenary later this year.
The Liverpool & Manchester Railway held a competition at Rainhill, the “Rainhill Trials”, to find the best design of steam locomotive. Rocket entered the competition and won.
The move to Shildon allows Rocket to remain on public display while repair work is completed at the National Railway Museum's Station Hall, which is part of the museum's Vision 2025 development. Rocket will be displayed in the existing building at Locomotion next to Timothy Hackworth's Sans Pareil, Locomotion No. 1, and over 50 other rail vehicles that are already on display. This will be the first time that the three early locomotives have been on display together and will be on public display from today, Friday, 3rd March.
The delicate move from York was carried out by the museum's conservation team and specialist contractors, Constantine, which is the same team that moved Rocket to the National Railway Museum in 2019. Before the move to Shildon, Rocket's chimney was removed, and then the locomotive and chimney were packed carefully into a wooden crate before loading onto a lorry for the journey to Shildon.
On arrival at Shildon Rocket was slowly unloaded onto a special skate designed to spread the engine's load and minimise the chances of any damage, before moving into Locomotion. Movement into Locomotion took place while the museum was open to the public, and visitors who were lucky enough to be visiting there at the time got the chance to see Rocket from a safe distance as it arrived in its new home.
This is an exciting time for Locomotion as construction work is starting on its 2,000m2 ‘New Hall' that will house an additional 46 vehicles from the national collection., including carriages, wagons, and locomotives that will celebrate the North East's role in the development of the railways.
New Hall is part of Locomotion's Vision 2025 project which is also designed to conserve and restore the historic Shildon site. It is planned that New Hall will open this autumn. Further information about Locomotion's Vision 2025 project can be found online at www.locomotion.org.uk/about-us/our-future-vision-2025
Dr Sarah Price, Head of Locomotion, said: “We are delighted to welcome such a well-known locomotive to the museum, especially one with such strong connections to the North East. I am excited for our visitors to see Rocket here in Shildon and I'm sure it will become a star object for our visitors very quickly.”
Is this the real rocket? Or a replica?