Local Life - St Helens - April 2019

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railway for the transportation of passengers and
freight between remote cities,’ she tells me. ‘It will
bring back to life the excitement and anticipation
of the previously untested and revolutionary
engineering ideas.’
Preparations for Rocket’s anniversary celebrations
are well underway – including the return of a replica
Rocket to the area for the weekend. While the real
engine is on display at the Science and Industry
Museum in Manchester until September, a to-scale
replica on loan from the National Railway Museum
in York will bring Stephenson’s engineering back
to life in the village. The colourful Rainhill Rocket
will head a costumed parade through Rainhill from
1pm-2pm on the Sunday, complete with a marching
band, floats and other vintage locomotives. A new
heritage plaque is also set to be unveiled at Rainhill
Station. Rainhill Gala will provide a fitting finale to
the weekend on Monday 27th.
The weekend is filled with opportunities to learn
more about Rainhill’s heritage. Exhibitions of railway
memorabilia, vintage locomotives and related
photography displays will take place around the
village and at St. Ann’s Centre on View Road, while
costumed actors will perform vignettes of events
significant to the
development of
Rainhill, as well as
offering guided
tours around the
village.
ghost train. Despite warnings from the stationmaster,
the group stay the night in the waiting room – until
ghostly apparitions begin to materialise. The Ghost
Train departs at 7:30pm at Rainhill Village Hall each
night, and tickets for the performance are available
from the Post Office and the Village Hall, or on 01744
813429.
Gillian hopes these immersive glimpses into
Rainhill’s railway heritage will evoke ‘a sense of the
danger, excitement and mystery surrounding the
first people to travel in a “horseless carriage”’. Indeed,
the Trials would have been seen as a sort of sciencefiction;
190 years ago spectators covered 1.5 miles
of track to get a glimpse of the steam engine to a
‘racecourse atmosphere’, with a band playing and
plenty of opportunities to bet on the winner.
Heritage events aren’t the only things to get your
teeth stuck into. Rainhill boasts a full calendar of
family fun across the sunny month of May: and you
don’t want to miss out.
For details of all activities, visit the Rainhill Rocket
190 website at www.Rocket190.org.uk or see the
Facebook page @rainhill190.
From Thursday,
May 16 until
Saturday, May 18,
a performance of
Arnold Ridley’s
‘Ghost Train’ by
Rainhill Garrick
Society. The play
tells the story of six
passengers stranded
at a small Cornish
wayside station,
which is rumoured
to be haunted by a