Timothy Hackworth - Sans Pareil and The Rainhill Trials

Sans Pareil and The Rainhill Trials

In 1829 the Liverpool and Manchester, the world's first "Inter-City" railway, was under construction. There was a large potential for both passenger and goods traffic. However, all locomotives built to date, including those for the Stockton and Darlington, had been intended for slow freight, with any passenger service handled by single horse-drawn coaches. It was therefore clear that any future locomotives would have to be more versatile. Matters were further complicated by the news about the problems being encountered on the Stockton and Darlington, which gave rise to considerable controversy as to the sort of motive power to be preferred. George Stephenson, the line's civil engineer, was unsurprisingly firmly in favour of steam traction and asked for a report from Timothy Hackworth, who confirmed that he was having difficulties but was optimistic about overcoming them. In order to settle upon a locomotive type the directors set up a competition. The trials were held at Rainhill, and there were three serious contestants. Hackworth, with his own very limited resources, entered the 0-4-0 locomotive, Sans Pareil. This locomotive was deemed officially overweight, but nevertheless was allowed to undergo the “ordeal”. Unfortunately faulty cylinder casting led to steam leaks and premature abandonment of the course.

As is well known, Stephenson’s Rocket was the outright winner as the only locomotive that stayed the course whilst fully complying with the rules. In the event, none of the contestants really answered the railway’s requirements. Hackworth stayed on after the event, repairing the Sans Pareil and was able to show that it more than met requirements. On the strength of this, the L&M management did purchase the locomotive, subsequently reselling it at a loss to the Bolton & Leigh Railway where it worked until 1844. As Ahrons points out, the vertical cylinders would have given rise to considerable hammer-blow at speed and made it unsuited to passenger service on the track of that time in the long term. Nevertheless, it was a formidable contender, largely due to the carefully designed and tuned blastpipe.

However, the Rainhill trials may be seen as a milestone event, as during the eight days it lasted there were considerable modifications carried out on the three main contestants in which Hackworth participated tirelessly and displayed absolute impartiality. From that date on, locomotive design and performance went forward by leaps and bounds.