Novelty

Year (first built)	1829
Wheel arrangement (Whyte)	0-2-2 (two unflanged carrying wheels at the front, with single driving wheel pair at the rear)
Power type	Steam
Railway / Company	Liverpool & Manchester Railway
Manufacturer / Builder	Braithwaite & Ericsson
Designer	John Ericsson, John Braithwaite
Boiler pressure	Approximately 3.4 bar (50 psi)
Cylinders	Twin vertical cylinders, 6 in diameter × 12 in stroke, mounted between the front wheels and driving the rear single pair through a complex system of bell-cranks, vertical rods, and connecting rods.
Tractive effort	Demonstrated capability at Rainhill: very limited compared with Rocket and Sans Pareil, the engine was light and fast rather than designed for heavy haulage.
Max speed	Approximately 45 km/h (28 mph) at Rainhill, the highest speed recorded by any engine at the trials, though only briefly before mechanical failures stopped it.
Purpose / Type	Built specifically to compete in the Rainhill Trials of October 1829. After Rainhill, the engine worked the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway (later part of the L&MR) until 1834.

Novelty was John Braithwaite and John Ericsson's 1829 locomotive, the lightest and fastest engine to compete in the Rainhill Trials of October 1829, but eliminated by repeated mechanical failures despite popular acclaim. Novelty represented a radically different approach to locomotive design from the Stephenson-Hackworth tradition: a vertical fire-tube boiler with forced draught, a light-built running gear chosen for high speed rather than heavy haulage, and a striking outline that made the engine an immediate crowd favourite at Rainhill.

Braithwaite was a London-based engineer specialising in steam fire engines and other portable steam plant; the Swedish-American engineer Ericsson would later become famous for the USS Monitor of the American Civil War. The Novelty design drew from contemporary stationary and portable steam-engine practice rather than colliery-locomotive practice. The vertical fire-tube boiler was mounted at the rear of the engine, with bellows-driven forced draught feeding the firebox. The engine had a 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, two carrying wheels at the front and a single pair of driving wheels at the rear, connected by a complex system of bell-cranks and rods.

Novelty briefly reached 28 mph during the Rainhill Trials, the highest speed of any engine at the trials. The engine's graceful outline drew enthusiastic press coverage. However, the mechanical complexity proved its undoing: the bellows feeding the forced-draught boiler failed; joint failures in the boiler and feed water system stopped the engine repeatedly. Novelty was unable to complete the full sequence of test runs required and was eliminated. The judges awarded the prize to Rocket.

Novelty did not win but had attracted commercial interest. The engine was sold to the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway, where it worked until 1834. The engine's mechanical reliability did not improve with subsequent service, and it was scrapped in approximately 1834–1835. No original component is known to survive. A non-working full-size replica was built in 1980 for the 150th anniversary of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway and is currently displayed at the Liverpool Museum.

Design and development

The Rainhill Trials of October 1829 attracted entries from competing schools of locomotive design. While Rocket (the Stephenson family's entry) and Sans Pareil (Hackworth's) followed established colliery-locomotive practice, the entries from John Braithwaite and the Swedish-American engineer John Ericsson took a radically different approach.

Braithwaite was a London-based engineer specialising in steam fire engines and other portable steam plant; Ericsson would later become famous for the USS Monitor of the American Civil War. Their Novelty design used a vertical fire-tube boiler with forced-draught, a configuration drawn from contemporary stationary and portable steam-engine practice rather than colliery-locomotive practice. The engine was built lightweight for high speed rather than for heavy haulage.

Service and withdrawals

Novelty entered the Rainhill Trials in October 1829 and was an immediate crowd favourite. The engine's light, fast, vertical-boiler design made a striking contrast with the heavyweight Hackworth and Stephenson entries. Novelty briefly reached 28 mph during the trials, the highest speed of any engine at Rainhill, and the engine's graceful outline drew enthusiastic press coverage.

However, Novelty's mechanical complexity proved its undoing. The bellows feeding the forced-draught boiler failed during the trials. Joint failures in the boiler and feed water system stopped the engine repeatedly. The engine was unable to complete the full sequence of test runs required by the trial conditions and was eliminated. The judges awarded the prize to Rocket.

Novelty did not win but had attracted commercial interest. The engine was sold to the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway (a colliery line that later became part of the L&MR network), where it worked until 1834. The engine's mechanical reliability did not improve with subsequent service, and it was scrapped at some point in the mid-1830s.

Identification features

A radically different appearance from the Stephenson-Hackworth engines. The vertical fire-tube boiler is mounted at the rear of the engine, looking like a small upright steam engine. The bellows-driven forced-draught arrangement is visible at the rear. The single pair of driving wheels (at the rear) and two carrying wheels (at the front) give the engine a much lighter outline than the heavy-built Hackworth or Stephenson designs. The whole engine is approximately 9 ft long.