John Urpeth Rastrick - Summary

John Urpeth Rastrick was born in Morpeth, Northumberland on 26th January, 1780, son of John and Mary (nee Urpeth) Rastrick. He was educated in local schools. Rastrick's father was an engineer and his son was apprenticed to him in 1795. In order to gain wider experience, about 1802 Rastrick began work at Ketley Iron Works in Shropshire, under William Reynolds.

Around 1807 he moved to Bridgnorth, also in Shropshire and formed a partnership with John Hazeldine. Hazeldine's foundry had built many of the Cornish engineer, Richard Trevithick's locomotives and the two men worked together, including constructing the "Catch-me-who-can". This was a locomotive which ran on a circular track in the area of what is now North Gower Street in central London.

During his time with Hazeldine, Rastrick oversaw the building of what is now the 'old' Chepstow Bridge, opened in 1816. However, the work caused him to be away from Hazeldine's for long periods, resulting in a dispute, and, around 1817, Rastrick leaving the partnership, intending to work independently. However, work does not seem to be as readily available as he had hoped.

In 1810, Rastrick had married Sarah Jervis of Stourbridge, and when Rastrick left Hazeldine's, the family moved to West Bromwich. In 1819 Rastrick and James Foster, an established ironmaster in Stourbridge, signed a partnership. In 1820 Sarah and their children moved to Stourbridge. Foster, Rastrick & Co's manufactured a variety of machinery, including steam engines that were sent to the West Indies, as well as small items such as bedsteads, and "Rails for Rail Roads".

This last is significant because in 1822, Rastrick had been appointed chief engineer for a horse-drawn railway running from Stratford-upon-Avon to Moreton-in- the-Marsh in Gloucestershire. He was involved with the Liverpool & Manchester Railway from the parliamentary enquiry in 1824, to being a judge at the Rainhill trials in 1829, won, as is well-known, by Stephenson's Rocket.

Foster, Rastrick & Co manufactured the first locomotive to run on rails in the US, the Stourbridge Lion. It was ordered by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company and delivered in 1829. Several trial runs were made, but the rails were not strong enough for the weight of the locomotive.

As Foster, Rastrick & Co, Rastrick was involved with the construction of a colliery railway, this time steam-hauled, at Shutt End, north of Stourbridge. The line opened in 1829. At about the same time as Stourbridge Lion was built - it is not clear which locomotive was completed first - the company built a locomotive for the Shutt End Railway. Called Agenoria, it has a funnel 14 ft 4 in high, taking it 20ft above rail level. However, Rastrick's increasing involvement with railways again took him away from the company and Foster, Rastrick & Co was dissolved in 1831.

In the succeeding years Rastrick was involved in many proposals for railways, not all of them coming to fruition. These included the Kenyon & Leigh, Dublin & Kingstown, Manchester to Crewe, the Grand Junction Railway (Birmingham & Liverpool), Manchester & Cheshire Junction Railway. However, his major achievement was as engineer for the London & Brighton Railway.

Several routes were suggested for a railway from London to Brighton, some taking a circuitous route to avoid hills. The route Rastrick built was direct and included tunnels and viaducts. The longest tunnels are Merstham, Balcombe and Clayton and there is an impressive viaduct over the River Ouse, north of Haywards Heath. The line opened in 1840.

When, a few years later, extensions were built to Lewes and Hastings, and Shoreham to Portsmouth, Rastrick was again appointed engineer, and was responsible for a 28 arch viaduct over Preston Road in Brighton.

In 1847 he retired to Chertsey in Surrey. He died there in 1856 and was buried in an imposing tomb in Brighton. It is possible to see the cemetery, although not Rastrick's tomb, from Brighton Station.

Given the number of schemes Rastrick was involved in, it seems surprising that he is not better known as a railway engineer. But he chose to keep his work secret - he wrote his notes in cipher so they could not be read by anyone else. There are no known portraits or photographs of him. Yet was a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers, the Society of Arts, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

However his work is still in evidence. His locomotive, Agenoria, is now at the National Railway Museum in York. Many of his papers are in the University of London Library at Senate House in central London. On a more personal level - I used to live next to the London & Brighton Railway.

Note:
This page currently owes a lot to one publication - "Stourbridge and its Historic Locomotives", Edited by Paul Collins. published by Dudley Leisure Services, 1989 - it was written quickly as part of an experiment in finding appropriate links on the internet.p I intend to revise it as I add to my Rastrick pages.

© Carolyn Bedwell, 2002-6

Page compiled by carolyn
Last updated 11th September, 2007.