The Golden Age of Steam

,,,started here:


Kettle boiling.


Locomotive made by Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian (1801), the first successful steam locomotive.


Stephenson's Rocket, 1829, the winner of the Rainhill trials.


Rocket, as preserved in the Science Museum, London.

...and some might say it ended with toy steam trains as the playthings of high-profile musicians:


Ros Stewart's model of Grand Central Station in the 1940's.


Frank Sinatra with part of his train set.


Pete Waterman's model railway.

Walschaerts valve gear in a steam locomotive. In this animation, the red colour represents live steam entering the cylinder, blue represents expanded (spent) steam being exhausted from the cylinder. Note that the cylinder receives two steam injections during each full rotation; the same occurs in the cylinder on the other side of the engine.

A steam locomotive with the boiler and firebox exposed.

Typical self-cleaning smokebox design.

Pressure gauges on Blackmore Vale. The right-hand one shows boiler pressure, the one on the left steam chest pressure.

Water gauge. Here the water in the boiler is at the "top nut", higher than the normal maximum working level.


The conventional means of watering a locomotive was by refilling its tender or tank, from trackside water towers or standpipes.

“Wakefield” brand displacement lubricator mounted on a locomotive boiler backplate. Through the right-hand sight glass a drip of oil (travelling upwards through water) can be seen.

Big-end bearing (with connecting rod and coupling rod) of Blackmoor Vale showing pierced cork stoppers to oil reservoirs.

The Gov. Stanford, a 4-4-0 (in Whyte notation) locomotive typical of 19th century American practice.

The main components of a steam locomotive.

Drawing of a Great Western Railway King Class locomotive.

Aftermath of a boiler exlosion on a railway locomotive, c 1850.

The Austria, the first steam locomotive in...er...Austria.

Steam Locomotive B-5112 in Ambarawa Railway Museum - Indonesia.

The 200th steam locomotive built by Clyde Engineering (TF 1164) from the Powerhouse Museum collection.

Reading and Northern Railroad number 425 being readied in Pennsylvania, U.S.A., for the daily tourist train in 1993.

Er 774 38 0-10-0 on Steam Special Train in Moscow 11 July 2010.

Northwestern Steel and Wire locomotive number 80, July 1964.

British industrial steam in the 1970s: a Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn 0-4-0ST shunting coal wagons at Agecroft Power Station, north of Manchester, in 1976.

Great Western Railway No. 6833 Calcot Grange, a 4-6-0 Grange class steam locomotive, at Bristol Temple Meads station, Bristol, England. Note the Belpaire (square-topped) firebox.

Preserved Great Western Railway locomotive Bradley Manor, with two oil lamps signifying an express passenger service, and between them a high-intensity electric lamp, added to comply with modern safety standards for mainline running.

Preserved British Railways Standard Class 7MT 4-6-2 70013 Oliver Cromwell on the North Norfolk Railway heritage line on 11 March 2010.

South Africa Class 26 The Red Devil.

Steam-cleaning the running gear of an "H" class locomotive, Chicago and North Western Railway, 1943.