Trevithick's steam circus on which the locomotive Catch Me Who Can ran

Catch Me Who Can was the third steam railway locomotive created by Richard Trevithick, (after those at Penydarren ironworks and Wylam colliery). Built in 1808 by Rastrick and Hazledine at their foundry in Bridgnorth, England. It was demonstrated to the public at a "steam circus" organized by Trevithick on a circular track in Bloomsbury, just south of the present-day Euston Square tube station in London.

The locomotive reached a top speed of 12 mph (19 km/h). It proved too heavy, however, for the relatively brittle cast-iron rails then in use and Trevithick closed his exhibition after a broken rail caused a derailment.

A replica is under construction by the Trevithick 200 charity at the Severn Valley Railway workshops, close to the site where the original locomotive was built. It is now sufficiently complete, as of March 2010, to turn over when set up on blocks, but not yet to move itself along.^[1]

[edit] See also

History of rail transport in Great Britain to 1830

[edit] External links

• 1808 - Trevithick's 'Catch me who can' (Incorrectly gives site as Torrington Square instead of UCL Chadwick Building)
• 'Catch-Me-Who-Can', 1808 (Incorrectly gives site as Euston Square instead of UCL Chadwick Building)
• Trevithick's circle - Prof. Nick Tyler UCL
• Cruchley's Plan 1827 site of Trevithick's 1808 steam circus, now underneath the UCL Chadwick Building.
• Richard Trevithick (Spartcus schoolnet) (Incorrectly gives site as Euston Square instead of UCL Chadwick Building)
• Richard Trevithick : Cornwall's Pioneer of Steam (Incorrectly gives site as Euston Square instead of UCL Chadwick Building)
• The 'Catch Me Who Can' replica
• www.steamcircus.info - Compilation of research on the exact location of Steam Circus and some new ideas

[edit] References

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