Model [Trevithick "Pen-y-Darren" Locomotive 1804]
Object detail
Accession number
1978.449.1
Description
Plastic model of Richard Trevithick's Locomotive 1804. Green with white toothed wheels. On one side can be seen four toothed wheels. On the base are two toothed wheels of equal size which interact with a larger toothed wheel which, in turn, interacts with a smaller toothed wheel. This small wheel has a red arm attached to its centre and a large crank which moves in conjunction with the main frame. On the other side are two green, non-toothed, wheels resting on the base . A large diameter red wheel with four green spokes is fixed to a crank which moves in conjunction with the opposite crank to drive the main pistons. The entire model sits on a wooden base and is enclosed on four sides by a glass case.
Brief History
Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) was a British engineer and inventor known as the ‘father of the locomotive.’ Born in Cornwall, he developed an early high-pressure steam engine in the late 1790s and built the first steam road carriage, trialled on Camborne Hill in Cornwall in 1801. Trevithick also built the first working railway steam locomotive in Wales in 1804, of which this is a model.
In 1804 Trevithick built a locomotive to run on an iron tramway connecting the Penydarren ironworks with the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal, South Wales, a distance of nearly 10 miles. The Pen-y-darran engine, as it is often referred to, made its first run on 21 February 1804, successfully hauling 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 men. The locomotive proved too heavy for the cast iron track however which fractured under its weight.
This is a plastic model of Trevithick's 1804 locomotive.
In 1804 Trevithick built a locomotive to run on an iron tramway connecting the Penydarren ironworks with the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal, South Wales, a distance of nearly 10 miles. The Pen-y-darran engine, as it is often referred to, made its first run on 21 February 1804, successfully hauling 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 men. The locomotive proved too heavy for the cast iron track however which fractured under its weight.
This is a plastic model of Trevithick's 1804 locomotive.
Marks
Trevithick Locomotive 1804 Embossed
Credit Line
Model [Trevithick "Pen-y-Darren" Locomotive 1804], 1978.449.1. The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
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