Christmas Eve 1801 and Maybe The First Successful Car In The World . The Puffing Devil - The First Road Locomotive !

Well it is nearly Christmas Eve as I write this !
Here we see a replica of the Puffing Devil originally built by Richard Trevithick in 1801. Trevithick was a pioneer in the development of steam power in Cornwall and often at loggerheads with Watt ( Watt held up the Industrial Revolution with his restrictive patents for a quarter of a century ! ). This replica was built for the bi-centenary by the Trevithick Society. It was on Christmas Eve 1801 that this self propelled steam powered vehicle went up Camborne Hill and thus became the world's first successful car so to speak. It ran again a few days later but as the roads were not at all good in those days - it fell on it's side ! It was righted and left in the stables of a nearby inn where the operators took it upon themselves to partake fine roast goose and proper drinks ( I think I got that the right way round ) . Trouble is no-one had tended the boiler so an overheating and massive explosion took place and everything combustible was burnt completely. Typical Captain Dick ( his nickname ) unphased by the loss of this world changing invention he was already working on his next invention. Trevithick went on to develop the first railway locomotive and we all know what that has led to !!
The picture was taken some when in the late 90s ,I guess , when we attended a seminar on Richard Trevithick at the Kew Bridge Steam Pumping Station Museum. By the by , the seminar was chaired by Prof. Heinz Woolfe who you may have seen back in the day on television with his science shows.

Firstly the song sang by the Holman Climax Male Voice Choir
youtu.be/CgfGLArq_J0
The song describes the Puffing Devil going up Camborne Hill , going down because it looked as if the machine was going backwards ( something to do with the water in the boiler and which way it sloped because of the incline ) . The osses ( horses ) stood still as they were not needed for the first time ever as the locomotive traveled under it's own power . And the white stockings she wore was the steam as it billowed around the locomotive as it went along .

Secondly some footage of the Puffing Devil at the annual Trevithick Day celebrations at Camborne.
youtu.be/2EvQPrkwe0o

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / London / Brentford Dock (show map)

Taken on: February 8, 2014

Sets appears in: • history • Kernow more » • Something to think about • Cornish Mining « less

Groups appears in: • History is All Around Us • Science, Technology, History more » • PLANET EARTH BACK IN THE DAY • Cornwall, UK • I love Britain! • New Ipernity Survivors • ♣My Hat's Off to You!! • THE IMAGINATIVE CAMERA • Impressive captures - world wide • Images including a geotag or location • CAFE TIME FOR FRIENDS • Machines world wide • #1 Images that caught my eye • Ipernity Survivors • The Little Pond • Sight and Sound • Cornwall & West Devon Mining Archaeology • Transport Galore • INDUSTRY WORLD • flickrailroad • Chimney, world wide « less

Stats: 2,071 views / 10 comments

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder