Role Playing The Rainhill Trials

Date: 10th May 2024 @ 2:46pm

In our history lesson today, which is all about "The Railway Revolution",  we acted out the story of the Rainhill Trials.

We had found out that in 1829, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was almost finished. The owners of the railway could not decide if they should use stationary steam engines or locomotives, so they held a competition to see if anyone could make a good enough steam locomotive! Six competitors entered, each hoping to win the £500 prize ( a lot of money in those days!)   and the chance to make steam locomotives for the new railway. One of them was Robert Stephenson with his locomotive, ‘The Rocket’. We worked in teams to decide what was happening and who would act eact part. Then we presented our role play to our friends - it was lots of fun!

In the end, Stephenson’s Rocket won the trials. It was the only locomotive that actually finished - all of the others broke down!