Cycloped

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 24th October 2011 by Liam Physick

One of the images donated to Metal by Eric Shenton. This drawing shows the design of the Cycloped, one of the failed entrants in the Rainhill Trials. Built by the Liverpool engineer Thomas Shaw Brandreth, one of the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as you can see, it was powered by a horse walking on a drive belt - it was thus the only entrant not to use steam power. As a result, it could not generate the same power as the other four locomotives - its top speed was five miles per hour - and was probably not even a serious attempt, since, not being powered by steam, it did not meet the criteria. It was the first locomotive to drop out of the competition, as a result of an accident which caused the horse to fall through the floor of the engine!

Tagged under: liverpool and manchester railway, eric shenton, rainhill trials, cycloped, thomas shaw brandreth

Categorised under: Landmarks, Landscapes & Locomotives