The two rear wheels were about one-half the diameter of the
drivers. The tender, also fourwheeled, was a simple affair, the
water being carried in a large cask.
After a successful trial trip, the "Rocket," which weighed but
four and a half tons, was sent by wagon across England to
Carlisle, and thence to Liverpool. It was one of four steam
engines entered in the competition which attracted wide
attention. Among the entries was the "Novelty," the production of
that talented Swede, John Ericsson, who afterwards, in America,
built the iron-clad "Monitor." The "Novelty" showed fine bursts
of speed, but failed in point of endurance. The "Perseverance"
and "Sanspareil" developed radical defects, but the "Rocket,"
driven by George Stephenson's own hand was prepared for every
turn of the competition, and surpassed all in power, speed, and
general serviceability. To its makers the prize was
unhesitatingly awarded, whereupon the hardy engineer amazed every
beholder by letting out the last link and dashing past the
grandstand at the rate of more than thirty miles an hour. The
forced draft, which had made the Killingworth freight engines so
successful, coupled with the tubular boiler, formed a combination
which won the battle for the locomotive once for all, and made
the name of George Stephenson a household word.
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