Trevithick London Demonstration ('Steam Circus')

The 'Steam Circus' was a public demonstration mounted by Richard Trevithick in the summer of 1808 on a circular track laid temporarily on a vacant site near the present Euston Square (then known as Torrington Square), London. Trevithick's locomotive 'Catch Me Who Can', built by Hazledine & Rastrick of Bridgnorth (the same firm that would later build the Stourbridge Lion), hauled an open carriage carrying paying passengers around a circle of about 100 ft (30 m) diameter.

Trevithick charged a shilling for a ride and tried to interest London engineers and investors in the practical commercial possibilities of steam railway transport, three decades before George Stephenson would do the same on the Liverpool & Manchester. The track was lightly built and one of its rails broke under the locomotive, ending the demonstration after a few weeks. It was Trevithick's last serious British attempt to commercialise locomotive railways.