Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson was born on the 16th of October 1803 at Willington Quay, east of Newcastle upon Tyne. His father George worked as a brakesman on a stationary winding engine while his mother Frances Henderson labored as a servant in the lodging house where they met. The family lived in an upper room of a cottage after marriage. George cleaned and mended clocks and repaired shoes in his spare time to support them. When Robert turned eleven years old, his father sent him to the Percy Street Academy in Newcastle for formal education. He borrowed books from the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society for both himself and his father to read together. In the evenings he worked with his father on designs for steam engines. They made a sundial together in 1816 which still stands above the cottage door today.
Rainhill hosted five locomotives between the 6th and the 9th of October 1829 for trials that would decide the future of rail transport. Ten thousand to fifteen thousand people gathered to watch the event unfold under the English sky. The Rocket designed by Robert Stephenson covered thirty-five miles in three hours and twelve minutes during its first run. It took a fifteen-minute break to replenish coke and water supplies before completing another twenty-eight miles in two hours and fifty-seven minutes. The highest speed reached exceeded thirty miles per hour. Novelty built by John Ericsson failed when a joint broke again on the following day. Sans Pareil burnt fuel at more than three times the rate of Rocket before her boiler ran dry. The Rocket was declared the winner after running back and forth across the course on the 8th of October.
The Chester and Holyhead Railway received permission in 1845 to build an iron bridge crossing the River Dee just outside Chester. Completed in September 1846 it was inspected by Major-General Paisley on the 20th of October. On the 24th of May 1847 the bridge gave way under a passenger train causing five people to die. The locomotive and driver made it across but the tender and carriages fell into the river. Robert had been prepared to admit liability but was persuaded to present a defence that the cast-iron girder could only have fractured because the tender had derailed from a broken wheel. A verdict of accidental death was returned after expert witnesses supported his case. He never used long cast-iron girders again following this disaster.
The Britannia Bridge
crosses the Menai Strait from Wales to Anglesey with four tubes large enough for trains to pass through. The first tube floated into position in March 1848 and lifted the following month allowing a single line railway to open on the 1st of May. The second tube was lifted into place that October while Brunel stood with Robert supporting his friend. The positioning of the first of the four tubes for the Britannia Bridge occurred in June 1849 when both Brunel and Locke were present. A single line opened to public traffic through these tubes on the 18th of March 1850. The High Level Bridge crosses the Tyne at Newcastle and was formally opened by Queen Victoria in September 1849. It stands thirty feet high
and is made from cast-iron bows held taut by horizontal wrought-iron strings.
By 1850 Robert had been involved in a third of England's railway system yet prematurely aged and fell ill with chronic nephritis known as Bright's Disease. He commissioned a hundred-ton yacht named Titania in 1850 to defend himself from unwelcome visitors at his home on Gloucester Square. Finding no unwanted guests when aboard he referred to her as the house that has no knocker. When he went aboard he seemed to grow younger and behaved like an excited schoolboy. The first Titania missed the 1851 Royal Squadron Cup race which America won but lost to America in a private race days later. A second yacht also named Titania measuring one hundred eighty-four tons was built in 1853 after the first was destroyed by fire in 1852.
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Common questions
When was Robert Stephenson born and where did he grow up?
Robert Stephenson was born on the 16th of October 1803 at Willington Quay east of Newcastle upon Tyne. He grew up in an upper room of a cottage after his parents married.
What happened during the Rainhill Trials for Robert Stephenson in 1829?
The Rocket designed by Robert Stephenson won the trials held between the 6th and the 9th of October 1829. It covered thirty-five miles in three hours and twelve minutes before taking a fifteen-minute break to replenish supplies.
Why did the Chester and Holyhead Railway bridge collapse in 1847?
The bridge gave way under a passenger train on the 24th of May 1847 causing five people to die when the tender and carriages fell into the river. Robert Stephenson argued that the cast-iron girder fractured because the tender had derailed from a broken wheel.
How many tubes does the Britannia Bridge have and when did it open?
The Britannia Bridge crosses the Menai Strait with four tubes large enough for trains to pass through. A single line opened to public traffic through these tubes on the 18th of March 1850.
What health condition caused Robert Stephenson's premature aging and death?
Robert Stephenson suffered from chronic nephritis known as Bright's Disease which led to his premature aging by 1850. He commissioned a hundred-ton yacht named Titania in 1850 to defend himself from unwelcome visitors at his home on Gloucester Square.