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George Cruikshank (1792-1878) produced this etching for a publication called George Cruikshank's Table-Book in May 1845. It depicts three phases of a railway share issue; the locomotive boiler initiallly blowing out lots of bubbles as the issue is launched and investors cheer, the bolier slowing down as the share price adjusts itself and then the bolier bursting and exploding as the price collapses and the investors are shown being blown up.

Cruikshank was a prolific caricature artist who produced several illustrations in Table-Book on the contemporary mania for railway speculation and the unhappy consequences which could ensue. He personifies the boiler so its features make the narrative clear and references well known events such as the South Sea Bubble banking speculation in the early eighteenth century to make his point about contemporary greed.