Why were the trials at Rainhill ?
To decide how best to get passengers and freight along the Liverpool and Manchester railway track engineers James Walker and John Urpeth Rastrick suggested a trial at Rainhill near St Helens on the route because it had a straight, level section of track and a slope.
On 1 May 1829 a contest was advertised in the Liverpool Mercury:
“To engineers and iron founders
The directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway hereby offer a premium of £500 (over and above the cost price) for a locomotive engine which shall be a decided improvement on any hitherto constructed, subject to certain Stipulations and Conditions, a copy of which may be had at the Railway Office, or will be forwarded. As may be directed, on application for the same, if by letter or post paid.
HENRY BOOTH Treasurer Railway Office, 25 April 1829”
The main conditions of the trial at Rainhill were that:
- Locomotives should consume their own smoke
- The price of the engine should not be over £500
- Boiler pressure was not to exceed 50lbs per sq. in.
- Two safety valves were needed, one of which had to be “completely out of control of the engine man”
- The engine and boiler must be supported on springs and rest on six wheels
- The locomotive must be ready for trial at the Liverpool end of the railway no later than 1 October 1829. The railway company would provide the water and fuel for the test runs free of charge
At current values the £500 prize would be worth over £26,000. | 
