Catch Me Who Can

Catch Me Who Can was the fourth and last steam railway locomotive created by the inventor and mining engineer Richard Trevithick. It was an evolution of three earlier locomotives which had been built for Coalbrookdale, Penydarren ironworks and Wylam colliery. Demonstration runs began in July 1808, and Catch Me Who Can was the first locomotive in the world to haul fare-paying passengers.

Catch Me Who Can was constructed during 1808 by the engineers John Urpeth Rastrick and John Hazledine at their foundry in Bridgnorth, England. It was demonstrated to the public at Trevithick's "Steam Circus", a circular track in Bloomsbury, just south of the present-day Euston Square tube station, in London. Members of the public could pay to ride in carriages pulled by Catch Me Who Can around this track. During these demonstration runs, the locomotive reached a reported speed of between 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) and 15 miles per hour (24 km/h).^[1]

The circus closed following a derailment caused by one of the rails breaking underneath the locomotive. While the advantages and applications of steam locomotives had been demonstrated, the venture was a financial failure that played a significant part in Trevithick's bankruptcy in 1809.^[1]