The Rainhill Trials were an important competition run in October 1829, to test George Stephenson's argument that locomotives would provide the best motive power for the nearly-completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Five locomotives were entered, running along a 1 mile length of level track at Rainhill, in Lancashire. Stephenson's Rocket was the only locomotive to complete the trials, was declared the winner; the directors of the L&MR accepted that locomotives should operate services on their new line, George and Robert Stephenson were given the contract to produce locomotives for the railway. The directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway had intended to use stationary steam engines to haul trains along the railway using cables, they had appointed George Stephenson as their engineer of the line in 1826, he advocated for the use of steam locomotives instead. As the railway was approaching completion, the directors decided to hold a competition to decide whether locomotives could be used to pull the trains.

A prize of £500 was offered to the winner of the trials. Three notable engineers were selected as judges: John Urpeth Rastrick, a locomotive engineer of Stourbridge, Nicholas Wood, a mining engineer from Killingworth with considerable locomotive design experience, John Kennedy, a Manchester cotton spinner and a major proponent of the railway; the L&MR company set the rules for the trials. The rules went through several revisions; the water in the boiler shall be cold, there shall be no fuel in the fireplace. As much fuel shall be weighed, as much water shall be measured and delivered into the Tender Carriage, as the owner of the Engine may consider sufficient for the supply of the Engine for a journey of thirty-five miles; the fire in the boiler shall be lighted, the quantity of fuel consumed for getting up the steam shall be determined, the time noted." "The Tender Carriage, with the fuel and water, shall be considered to be, taken as a part of the load assigned to the Engine." "Those engines which carry their own fuel and water, shall be allowed a proportionate deduction from their load, according to the weight of the Engine."

"The Engine, with the carriages attached to it, shall be run by hand up to the Starting Post, as soon as the steam is got up to fifty pounds per square inch, the engine shall set out upon its journey." "The distance the Engine shall perform each trip shall be one mile and three quarters each way, including one-eighth of a mile at each end for getting up the speed and for stopping the train. "The Engines shall make ten trips. "As soon as the Engine has performed this task, there shall be a fresh supply of fuel and water delivered to her. "The time of performing every trip shall be noted, as well as the time occupied in getting ready to set out on the second journey.""The gauge of the railway to be 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in." Ten locomotives were entered for the trials, but on the day the competition began — 6 October 1829 — only five locomotives were available to run: Cycloped, a horse-powered locomotive built by Thomas Shaw Brandreth. Novelty, the world's first tank locomotive, built by John Braithwaite.

Perseverance, a vertical boilered locomotive, built by Timothy Burstall. Rocket, designed by George and Robert Stephenson. Sans Pareil, built by Timothy Hackworth; the length of the L&MR that ran past Rainhill village was straight and level for over 1 mile, was chosen as the site for the Trials. The locomotives were to run at Kenrick's Cross, on the mile east from the Manchester side of Rainhill Bridge. Two or three locomotives ran each day, several tests for each locomotive were performed over the course of six days. Between 10,000 and 15,000 people turned up to watch the trials and bands provided musical entertainment on both days. Cycloped was the first to drop out of the competition, it used a horse walking on a drive belt for power and was withdrawn after an accident caused the horse to burst through the floor of the engine. The next locomotive to retire was Perseverance, damaged in transit to the competition. Burstall spent the first five days of the trails repairing his locomotive, though it ran on the sixth day, it failed to reach the required 10 miles per hour speed and was withdrawn from the trial.

It was granted a £25 consolation prize. Sans Pareil nearly completed the trials, though at first there was some doubt as to whether it would be allowed to compete as it was 300 pounds overweight. However, it did complete eight trips before cracking a cylinder. Despite the failure it was purc

Gwilym Haydn Jones is a British Conservative politician who served as Under Secretary of State in the Welsh Office. Gwilym Jones was born in Chiswick, London, on 20 September 1947 and moved to Cardiff in 1960, he worked as a insurance broker. When he was 21 he was elected to Cardiff City Council, is believed to be its youngest member, he became deputy acting leader of the Conservative group on the council. At the 1983 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Cardiff North, he retained his seat until the 1997 election. Between 1994 and 1997 he served as Under Secretary of State in the Welsh Office. Jones is active in freemasonry, his daughter, was elected in 2019 to serve Brecon and Radnorshire after beating Liberal Democrat incumbent Jane Dodds, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats since 2017. Fay therefore became the first Conservative woman to represent her constituency and one of the first three female Welsh Conservatives elected to Parliament

The Evansville metropolitan area is the 160th largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States. The primary city is Evansville, the third largest city in Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana as well as the hub for Southwestern Indiana. Other Indiana cities include Boonville, Mount Vernon, Oakland City, Princeton. Large towns in Indiana include Chandler, Fort Branch, Newburgh. Cities in Kentucky include Henderson, Dixon and Robards and covers an area of 2,367 sq mi, it is the primary metropolitan area in the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky Tri-State Area. It was designated the Evansville, standard metropolitan area and was formed by the United States Census Bureau in 1950, consisting of Vanderburgh County, Indiana; as surrounding counties saw an increase in their population densities and the number of residents employed within Vanderburgh County, they met Census criteria to be added to the MSA. Four Indiana counties and two Kentucky counties are now a part of this MSA; because it includes counties in both Indiana and Kentucky, the Evansville metropolitan area is sometimes referred to as "Kentuckiana".

The entire region is referred to as the Tri-State because of Illinois bordering Posey County less than 20 miles west of Evansville and to distinguish it from the Louisville metropolitan area. Deaconess Health System, Evansville St. Vincent Southwest, Evansville Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana Gibson County Alcoa Warrick County SABIC GE Plastics Posey County Vectren, Operates three power plants in the area in Posey and Warrick Counties. Duke Energy Indiana, Operates a power plant in Gibson County. ¹ County was not a part of Evansville MSA at the time of this Census and the county's population is not included in MSA total. Southwestern Indiana Owensboro metropolitan area Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area U. S. Census Bureau State & County QuickFacts U. S. Census Bureau population estimates at the Library of Congress Web Archives Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas at the Wayback Machine About Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas Historical Metropolitan Area Definitions at the Wayback Machine