I recently had a chance to visit and photograph Henry Ford's replica of Stephenson's Rocket. It's a beautiful piece (a work of art, really) that was constructed in 1929 using the original methods from 1829. I noticed that most visitors didn't give it a second look (most gravitate to to the Allegheny - C&O 1601 - which is certainly understandable given its impressive size and appearance).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jterry618/ ... 053709057/

Give an example of the methods from 1829.

1. No steel was used - only wrought iron.

2. The axles were hand-forged - built up from small pieces of wrought iron that were heated and hammered into a solid mass.

3. The tubes in the boiler were hand made from strips of iron, rather than using pre-made tubes.

4. Copper was used for the firebox, formed and shaped by hand. All riveting was done by hand.

5. Copper piping was made from sheet copper, brazed over a charcoal fire. No commercially-made copper piping was allowed to be used.

6. Authentic period paint was used, made using the original formulas.

Wondered if anyone could help me. Regarding the engineering drawings for either the original Stephensons Rocket (1829) or the replica's built in 1929. I have searched the internet but cannot find any engineering drawings i.e the actual drawings used for either the 1829 or 1929 Rockets. Some 30 years ago I was looking to rebuild a small single cylinder steam engine and during my research I recall working with approx 30 pages of engineering drawings for the 1929 Rocket. I recall that they were basically copies of the originals so the detail was amazing and the handwriting looked like Victorian script.... way too complex and detailed for my needs. Each individual crank, tube, wheel, boiler etc were all drawn to scale and had dimensions. Now I'm once again trying to locate any copies of those drawings which I recall were labelled E137 and T137. Does anyone know a museum or website that shows these engineering drawings?
Thanks.

Not everything is on the internet. Have you considered contacting the Science Museum in London (which has the original 1827 Rocket) or the National Railway Museum in York? Both museums have extensive archival collections and I'm sure they would be happy to help you.