(The following story by Nicola Fifield appeared on the York Press website on October 13, 2009.)
YORK — A legendary train engineer was remembered at York’s National Railway Museum as visitors marked the 150th anniversary of his death by learning more about his life.
Yesterday, museum staff put on a series of free tours dedicated to Robert Stephenson, giving rail enthusiasts the chance to find out more about some of his greatest achievements.
As the son of the so-called “father of the railways”, George Stephenson, Robert is often overlooked by his father’s successes.
But Tim Procter, the National Railway Museum’s (NRM) curator of archive and library collections, said Robert had just as great an impact on the history of the tracks, although the symbols of his fame were less obvious.
He said many of the achievements popularly credited to his father, such as the design of Rocket – the world’s first modern steam locomotive – were actually the joint efforts of father and son.
“There are lots of relics and memorabilia celebrating George Stephenson, and the NRM has a real treasure trove including his vice,” he said. “The only real relic we have of Robert is a lock of his hair, but the real evidence of his glittering career lies in documents and illustrations – for example, in the Search Engine library and archive we have Robert’s only surviving diary, from 1834.” Later in the year, the Stephenson Society will be putting on a Stephenson exhibition at the National Railway Museum, which will include two locomotives – the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway B1 Class Gladstone and the Class 87 – displayed together with “Orion”, an historic model locomotive.
This exhibition will run from December 10 to January 5.