The Rainhill Trials: The Greatest Contest of Industrial Britain and the Birth of Commercial Rail. Christopher McGowan. Little, Brown. [pounds sterling]16.99. xiii + 380 pages. ISBN 0-316-72480-7. Prof. McGowan is concerned with the competition on 6 October 1829 near the lancashire village of Rainhill.
At stake was a [pounds sterling]500 prize for an improved 'locomotive engine' that would meet the requirements of the new Liverpool to Manchester line established by the Stockton & Darlington Railway. One of the entrants was Robert Stephenson's Rocket. At stake was the future of railway transport that was in turn to be a major player in the creation of modern Britain. Prof. McGowan uses the trials as a basis for a general discussion for the advent of railway transport. In under thirty years Britain would have over 8,000 miles of rail, 2,416 stations and 300,000 passengers a day: a revolution had occurred and the one event that stayed in people's minds as the epitome of these changes was the Rainhill Trials.
