John Urpeth Rastrick
Trevithick's
'Catch-Me-Who-Can' (1808)
| John Urpeth Rastrick contents |
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John Urpeth Rastrick |
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In 1808 Richard Trevithick ran a locomotive on a circular track near the present site of Euston Station. It was called Catch Me Who Can, named by Mrs Guilmard, sister of Trevithick's friend, Davies Giddy (later Davies Gilbert) (1767-1839). The locomotive was constructed at the Hazeldine works, Bridgnorth, supervised by John Urpeth Rastrick. The public could ride in an open coach for one shilling. However, there were problems with the track which was not strong enough for the locomotive. Apart from the drawing of the locomotive on the ticket, there are no contemporary pictures of Catch Me Who Can. Also most of the written accounts are recollections only recorded down many years later. In a letter to Giddy, Trevithick wrote of the problems with the track. He was laying rails on timber on soft ground with an engine weighing about 8 tons. Note: the Mumbles Railway was carrying fee-paying passengers before Catch Me Who Can, but it was horse drawn. |
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| Catch Me Who Can replica, Bridgnorth, 2008 | Catch Me Who Can and Coalbrookdale replicas, Bridgnorth, 2008 |
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1949 plaque in Bridge Street, Bridgnorth. The text reads: TO THE MEMORY
NEAR THIS SPOT IN HAZELDINE'S FOUNDRY
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 | 2008 plaque at Bridgnorth on the site of Hazledine's Foundry. |
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Close up of text on 2008 plaque at Bridgnorth. It reads: ON THIS SITE STOOD
THIS PLAQUE WAS ERECTED BY THE BRIDGNORTH CIVIC SOCIETY,
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 | The commemorative plaque reads:- CLOSE TO THIS PLACE
ERECTED BY
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Trevithick 200 - Catch Me Who Can replica at Bridgnorth.
Burton, Anthony, Richard Trevithick, Giant of Steam, London: Aurum Press, 2002. ISBN 1-85410-878-6
Dickinson, H.W. and Titley, Arthur, Richard Trevithick the Engineer and the Man, Trevithick Centenary Memorial Volume, Cambridge: University Press, 1934.
Tonkin, S. Morley, Trevithick, Rastrick and the Hazledine Foundry, Bridgnorth, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, xxvi, 1947-49, pp171-183.
Trevithick, Francis, C.E., Life of Richard Trevithick with an Account of his Inventions, E & FN Spon, 1872.
© Carolyn Bedwell, 2002-8
| John Urpeth Rastrick contents |
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compiled by carolyn
Last
updated 21st July, 2008.