Summary

Cycloped was an early horse-powered locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

, built by Thomas Shaw Brandreth

Thomas Shaw Brandreth

Thomas Shaw Brandreth, FRS was an English mathematician, inventor and classicist.-Early life and education:Brandreth was the son of a Cheshire physician, Joseph Brandreth. He studied at Eton and received a BA from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1810 as Second Wrangler, second Smith's Prizeman, and...

 of Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, which competed unsuccessfully in the Rainhill Trials

Rainhill Trials

The Rainhill Trials were an important competition in the early days of steam locomotive railways, run in October 1829 in Rainhill, Lancashire for the nearly completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway....

 of October 1829.

The Rainhill Trials

The 'Cycloped' was the only entry in the trials that did not rely on steam power, instead utilising a treadmill that was kept perpetually moving by a horse mounted on top.

Brandreth was one of the directors of the railway and some people believed that that gave the 'Cycloped' an unfair advantage. But the 'Cycloped' was a primitive idea and because of its failure to generate enough speed to equal its competitors - Burstall's Perseverance

Perseverance (steam locomotive)

Perseverance was an early steam locomotive that took part in the Rainhill Trials. Built by Timothy Burstall, Perseverance was damaged on the way to the trials and Burstall spent the first five days trying to repair his locomotive. It ran on the sixth and final day of the trials but only achieved...

, Braithwaite's Novelty

Novelty (locomotive)

Novelty was an early steam locomotive built by John Ericsson and John Braithwaite to take part in the Rainhill Trials in 1829.It was an 0-2-2WT locomotive and is now regarded as the very first tank engine. It had a unique design of boiler and a number of other novel design features...

, Hackworth's Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil is a steam locomotive built by Timothy Hackworth which took part in the 1829 Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, held to select a builder of locomotives...

 and Stephenson's Rocket

Stephenson's Rocket

Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.- Design innovations :...

- the 'Cycloped' ultimately lost the competition in the trials. Stephenson's Rocket eventually won the trials, maintaining an average speed of 13.8 mph for a modest consumption of coal and water.