George Stephenson (Wylam, Northumberland, 1781 – Chesterfield, 1848), a self-taught engineer and son of a Newcomen engine operator, builds with his son Robert the Rocket locomotive, winner of the Rainhill Trials (October 1829) with a top speed of 47 km/h. The Rocket incorporates Henry Booth's multi-tube boiler — which multiplies the heat-exchange surface — and exhausts spent steam up the chimney to draw the fire, achieving unprecedented power and efficiency. Victory at Rainhill leads to the commission for the Liverpool-Manchester line (1830), the world's first intercity passenger railway. Stephenson did not invent the locomotive (Trevithick, 1804) but made it reliable, powerful, and fast enough to transform transport.