The Liverpool & Manchester (L & M) Railway opened the first ‘InterCity’ railway in the world one hundred and ninety years ago in 1830. The previous year the Railway held a competition to decide on the best locomotives to use. Famously this was won by Rocket, designed and built by Robert Stephenson at his works in Newcastle.
To commemorate 150 years since the opening of the L & M Railway, forty years ago during the Spring Bank Holiday, British Railways London Midland Region held a cavalcade of locomotives old and new at Rainhill. The locomotives had travelled from all over the country, many under their own power, with the cavalcade assembled at nearby Bold Colliery.
Thirty-six locomotives, the Advanced Passenger Train, a High Speed Train and a steam breakdown crane, took part. The National Railway Museum was very well represented with twelve steam locomotives, together with the Manchester, Sheffield & Wath EM1 electric loco, appearing from the National Collection.
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Philip Benham