Boffins at Bradford University are trying to find out whether railway pioneer Robert Stephenson died from a drugs habit.

They have joined forces with the National Railway Museum in a quest to unravel the last few months of life of the engineering genius whose steam locomotive, the Rocket, started the rail revolution.

Using a lock of his hair from the York museum's collection, university bioarchaeologists and forensic scientists hope to discover whether the pioneer, who was born 200 years ago today, was using narcotics when he died aged 55.

They will work with scientists at Oxford University's Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre to try to recover a DNA profile from the sample and collaborate with experts in the field of drug analysis in hair.

Professor Howell Edwards, Bradford University's director of research and professor of molecular spectroscopy, said: "Preliminary results show that the sample of hair is quite exceptional in quality and should reveal some interesting results, though it is too soon to predict accurately what they will be at this early stage. Hair fibres can tell us so much about a person, their daily life and, in some cases, what may have contributed to their death.

"This sample is at least 144 years old, which may mean some information has been eroded by time. The prospect of using our cutting-edge technology to help scholars learn more about one of the founding fathers of the industrial revolution is very exciting."

Using state-of-the art forensic equipment, experts will uncover details of Stephenson's diet, health and environment as well as a chemical analysis of the hair. Similar techniques were famously associated with the discovery of arsenic in the hair of Napoleon Bonaparte and could reveal whether Stephenson had taken drugs at the time of his death on October 12, 1859.

Helen Ashby, the railway museum's head of knowledge and collections, said: "Much like his hard-working contemporaries, Brunel and Locke, Steph-enson died at a relatively early age and is known to have suffered what we now call 'burn-out' or 'executive stress'. Historical commentators also remark on his reliance on stimulants and narcotics to escape the pressures of his busy commercial and political life."

During the mid-19th century, opium and opium related-drugs were very widely available and commonly used, as well as a dangerous drug based on mercury called calomel.

The railway museum singled out the University of Bradford as a leading centre in this field of research. "We were referred to the university because it has done a lot of work on Egyptian mummies and has experts in gleaming information from ancient samples. The sample is quite young compared to what they usually deal with but it is specialised information," said a spokesman.

Robert Stephenson was the only son of railway engineer George Stephen-son. In 1823 he joined his father and Edward Pease to form the Robert Stephenson & Company, at Forth Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which was the world's first locomotive builder. To gain further experience, Stephenson went to Colombia in South America in 1824 where he worked at gold and silver mines.

After three years in South America, he was recalled to England and began work on the Rocket locomotive which steamed to victory in the 1829 Rainhill Trials to find the best means of hauling a train on the new Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830.

Stephenson then built the first railway line into London, the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits to Anglesey, and a host of railways around the world.

He became Conservative MP for Whitby in the 1847 General Election although he usually only contributed to debates on engineering.

He never enjoyed good health and early in 1859 he was advised to retire. He took a yachting cruise but when he arrived in Norway his condition deteriorated and he was rushed back to England where he died.