Engraving, hand coloured, long strip on wooden spool, for use in a miniature moving panorama. An early memento of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, c. 1831-1835, comprising of three sections: (1) goods train hauled by 'Sans Pareil' and passenger train hauled by 'Rocket'; (2) view of line over Chat Moss; (3) view of Sankey Viaduct. Strip 68mm x 1355mm. NRM holds another version of the same print but with the wooden cylindrical enclosure intact and with differences in the hand colouring; this version was acquired by Clapham Transport Museum in 1961 and is held by NRM but not yet accessioned.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the first steam-powered inter-city railway in the world. This very long print demonstrates the enormous cultural impact it had. The print was used in a miniature moving panorama, a type of handheld optical toy popular in the nineteenth century. When operating the panorama, the user’s eyes moved across the print from right to left, creating the suggestion of movement. The railway was a particularly suitable subject for moving panoramas because both moved horizontally.

Panoramas came in many sizes, and large-scale moving panoramas were also popular. These were much like the modern experience of going to the cinema: audiences sat facing a screen upon which images would scroll past. Again the railway proved a popular subject – in 1831 a moving panorama depicting the Liverpool & Manchester Railway came to York’s Theatre Royal. Shortening the railway’s travel time from two hours to just fifteen minutes, the panorama nonetheless made sure to include the route’s major landmarks, such as Chat Moss and the Sankey Viaduct. These, the most notable engineering achievements of the railway, are likewise represented in this miniature moving panorama.

The two locomotives shown on the right side of the print are Rocket and Sans Pareil. Having competed at the Rainhill Trials of 1829, they both operated on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Moving panoramas were immensely popular in the nineteenth century yet surviving examples of them about railway travel are now rare.

The panorama’s depiction of the railway is largely an amalgamation of several earlier works by Charles Blacker Vignoles (Mechanics' Magazine, no. 325, 31 October 1829), Isaac Shaw (see SMG object number 1896-135/2), and Thomas Talbot Bury (see SMG object numbers 1900-2/4, 1900-2/5 and 1900-2/7).