Robert Stephenson - Overview, In fiction

Civil engineer, born in Willington Quay, Northumberland, NE England, UK, the son of George Stephenson. He studied at Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh, assisted his father in surveying the Stockton and Darlington Railway, worked as a mining engineer in Colombia, then managed his father's locomotive engine-works at Newcastle. In collaboration with his father, he designed the famous engine the Rocket for the Rainhill Trials of 1829. He attained independent fame through his tubular design for the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait in North Wales (1846–9), and for bridges at Conwy, Newcastle upon Tyne, Montreal (Canada), and elsewhere. He became an MP in 1847.

Robert Stephenson FRS (October 16, 1803–October 12, 1859) was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed railway and locomotive engineer;

Overview

After a private education at the Bruce Academy in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, an apprenticeship to Nicolas Wood, the manager of Killingworth Colliery, and a period at the University of Edinburgh, Robert went to work with his father on his railway projects, the first being the Stockton and Darlington.

Robert did a good deal of the work for the Rainhill Trials-winning Rocket; following its success, the company built further locomotives for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and other newly-established railways, including the Leicester and Swannington Railway.

In 1833 Robert was given the post of Chief Engineer for the London and Birmingham Railway, the first main-line railway to enter London, and the initial section of the West Coast Main Line.

He constructed a number of well-known bridges, including the High Level Bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the wrought-iron box-section Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait, the Conwy railway bridge between Llandudno Junction and Conwy, Arnside Viaduct in Cumbria, the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed and a joint road and rail bridge in 1850 over the River Nene at Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire.

One of Stephenson's few failures was his design of the Dee bridge, which collapsed under a train.

Despite being rivals, Stephenson shared a friendship with Isambard Kingdom Brunel and they would often help each other on various projects.

The Stephenson Railway Museum in North Shields is named after George and Robert Stephenson.

In fiction

Stephenson appears as a character in the anime film Steamboy, in that world having apparently lived until 1866. In the English dub of the film his character also speaks with a rather posh stereotypical English accent and not the northern tones Stephenson used.