Stephenson's Rocket - Replicas

Replicas

In 1923, Buster Keaton had a functioning replica built for the film, Our Hospitality. Two years later, the replica was used again in the Al St. John film, The Iron Mule, directed by Keaton's mentor, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The subsequent whereabouts of the replica are unknown. There are, however, at least two other replicas of Rocket in the USA,, both built by Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns in 1929, one is at the Henry Ford Museum in the Metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, the other at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.

The earliest full-size replica of Rocket seems to have been one depicted on a London & North Western Railway postcard (therefore pre-1923).

A cut-away static replica (see photo above) was built in 1935 and displayed for many years next to the original at London's Science Museum, and in 1979 a further, working replica Rocket was built by Locomotion Enterprises for the 150th anniversary celebrations. It has a shorter chimney than the original in order to the clear the bridge at Rainhill: the trackbed is deeper than in the 19th century, giving less headroom. Both of these replicas are now based at the National Railway Museum, York.