View source for Cycloped

{{Short description|Early locomotive powered by a horse}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox locomotive
|  name=''Cycloped''
|  image = Cycloped horse-powered locomotive.jpg
|  caption = Contemporary drawing of ''Cycloped''
|  powertype=Horse
|  builder=[[Thomas Shaw Brandreth]] of [[Liverpool]]
<!--| poweroutput=1 [[horsepower]] -->
}}
'''''Cycloped''''' was an early horse-powered [[locomotive]], built by [[Thomas Shaw Brandreth]] of [[Liverpool]], which competed unsuccessfully in the [[Rainhill trials]] of October 1829.
==The Rainhill trials==
{{main|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 continually 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 an impractical idea and because of its failure to generate enough speed to equal its competitors&mdash;Burstall's [[Perseverance (Rainhill Trials)|''Perseverance'']], Braithwaite's [[Novelty (locomotive)|''Novelty'']], Hackworth's ''[[Sans Pareil]]'' and [[Stephenson's Rocket|Stephenson's ''Rocket'']]&mdash;it ultimately lost the competition in the trials.<ref>"The Rainhill Locomotive Trials of 1829" by C F Dendy Marshall, published in the Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 1929 Vol 9.</ref> Stephenson's ''Rocket'' eventually won the trials, maintaining an average speed of {{convert|13.8|mph|abbr=on}} for a modest consumption of [[coal]] and [[water]].
== Dandy wagons ==
{{main|Dandy waggon}}
Horses had been used to pull wagons on coal and mineral tramways and [[plateway]]s for some years before this. Many of these tramways and plateways were arranged so that the line ran downhill from the mine to a river or coastal port. Loaded trains would descend under the power of gravity, with horses used to haul the empty trains back uphill.
Early examples with just one or two wagons together were pulled downhill by the horse, the horse also acting as brakes.{{cn|date=September 2018}} Once improved mechanical brakes were available, longer trains of wagons could be controlled during their descent. The horses were carried downhill in a special [[dandy waggon|dandy wagon]], usually attached to the end of the run of loaded wagons. These dandy wagons were simple unpowered wagons, often with no more adaptation for horses than special doors to load and unload the animals.
== Other horse locomotives ==
[[File:WP Flying Dutchman 2.jpg|thumb|''[[Flying Dutchman (horse-powered locomotive)|Flying Dutchman]]'' of the [[South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company]], 1829]]
Horse locomotives were only used for a brief period between the development of passenger-carrying public railways and the provision of viable steam locomotives. Other horse-powered locomotives include the ''[[Flying Dutchman (horse-powered locomotive)|Flying Dutchman]]'' of the [[South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company]], used briefly in 1830, and the ''[[Impulsoria]]'', exhibited at the [[Great Exhibition]] in 1851.
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Rainhill Trials locomotives]]
[[Category:Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotives]]
[[Category:Individual locomotives of Great Britain]]