Invicta (locomotive)

Invicta was an early steam locomotive built in 1829 at the Forth Street works of Robert Stephenson and Company in Newcastle upon Tyne, the twentieth engine the firm completed and the one that followed Rocket. It was ordered by the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, which it served from the inaugural train of 30 May 1830, and it shares Rocket's inclined outside cylinders, though here they sit at the front and drive the rear wheels with coupling rods to the front pair. The engine was weak on the steep Church Street incline, so stationary engines took over the haulage and Invicta was withdrawn in 1839. It was kept under cover, passed to the South Eastern Railway and became the first locomotive in the world to be preserved. It later stood in Canterbury for decades and now has a museum home at Whitstable.