Catch Me Who Can

It was in 1808 that the acclaimed Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick, had his third locomotive, the 'Catch Me Who Can,' built by John Urpeth Rastrick at Hazeldine Foundry in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Trevethick was a leading exponent of high pressure steam, or ‘strong steam' as he called it and this new locomotive was to embody many of the design principles in which he believed.

Weighing just eight tons, the engine was taken in July 1808 to Bloomsbury in London where, running upon a circle of track its demonstration became popularly known as the 'steam circus'. Here, hidden from the public gaze by a tall circular wooden fence, Londoners could, for the charge of one shilling ride behind the locomotive in a converted carriage at heady speeds of anything up to twelve miles an hour. The fragile cast iron rails eventually broke under the weight of the train and the project was disbanded.

It remains to this day however as the first recorded occasion upon which fare paying passengers had been hauled behind any sort of locomotive and the 'Catch Me Who Can' had secured its place in history.

Whilst only fragments of old buildings survive on the Hazeldine site in Low Town, Bridgnorth, the importance of these events is still recognised by the town and the 'Trevithick 200' group was formed to commemorate this historic occasion.

On the 19th and 20th July 2008, the group celebrated this bicentenary by holding a gala weekend at Severn Park, a site adjacent to the spt where the locomotive was actually built. A full size working replica of Trevithick's engine is currently under construction in the Severn Valley Railway's workshops at Bridgnorth and it was in steam (although not completed) at the event.

In the web pages listed on the left are accounts of the construction of the model, info about the full size replica, the history and pictures from the Trevithick 200 event.