A Collection of Railway Medals

Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1830, a white metal medal by T. Halliday, train steaming across viaduct in rural landscape, rev. arched entrance to Liverpool station within steep cuttings, 48mm (BHM 1458; E 1223; Moyaux 4; cf. Swan 44). About extremely fine (£50-70)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Railway Medals.

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The engine on the viaduct is clearly the Rocket, with its top-hatted driver, tender, three passenger carriages and two others. In the centre carriage there are two ladies seated under parasols. The reverse shows the viaduct over the Sankey Canal valley. The actual opening on 15 September was not at all the tranquillity depicted on the medal, with the MP William Huskisson run over in front of the Duke of Wellington, and Stephenson establishing a record speed of over 36 miles an hour when taking the dying man to Eccles