The Stephensons' Rocket

a history of a pioneering locomotive

Plot

In 1999, Michael Bailey and John Glithero undertook a major survey of the original Rocket, involving an examination of all its components and detailed research into the documentation relating to its history. This book is based on their findings. It describes Rocket, its main components and the way in which they worked. Setting the locomotive in its historical context, the book emphasises the importance of the father-and-son engineers, George and Robert Stephenson. It also tells of the fame that Rocket achieved in 1829 and its brief career at the very beginning of the railway era.