The Rocket was built by Robert Stephenson to compete in the Rainhill trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1829. Having proved to be the victor of the trials it continued to work succeddfully on the line until 1836. The remains of the original 'ROCKET' are housed in the Scince Museum, South Kensington.

The (Y12-4) 1829 Stephensons Rocket was introduced in 1987. The Tender uses no plastic parts which makes for a heavy model.

Livery: (Tampo)
'ROCKET' in black on both boiler sides.
Black enhancement to spokes and hubs on driving wheels, engine, panel sides and water barrel straps to tender.

Variations/Rarities: The Rocket was painted yellow with black chassis and a white chimney. Although it was quite a detailed model only the brightwork on the engine and the cylinders was made from plastic so although the rocket may have been a small model it was a weighty model too.
The name and the body lining to the wheels and tender was applied by black tampo printing and the pipework, dome and safety valve was gold plated plastic.

As there was just one production run, there are no known variations of the Rocket.

The Stephensons Rocket was released as a limited edition with a production of only 60,000 but released again later in the Matchbox Collectibles range.

Interesting Notes: In the mid 1980s Matchbox planned to introduce a range of trains and locomotives to the range, however this model and the locomotive used as the load on the Y16-5 Scammell were the only two that made it into production.

Scale: 1:64

1829 Stephensons Rocket

It came packed in a Limited Edition 'O-type' box

Matchbox Collectibles YAS01-M; 1829 Stephensons Rocket