| GNR No. 1 class 4-2-2 | |
|---|---|
| Patrick Stirling's Single No. 544 with a rake of GNR six-wheeled coaches. This locomotive features a dome boiler, a later modification added by H.A. Ivatt. | |
| Power type | Steam |
| Designer | Patrick Stirling |
| Build date | 1870 |
| Configuration | 4-2-2 |
| Driver diameter | 8 ft 1 in (2.46 m) |
| Length | 50 ft 7 in (15.42 m) |
| Locomotive weight | 39 long tons (40 t) |
| Fuel type | Coal |
| Boiler pressure | 140 psi (970 kPa) |
| Cylinder size | 1 ft 6 in (0.46 m) |
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) No. 1 class Stirling Single is a class of steam locomotive designed for express passenger work. Designed by Patrick Stirling, they are characterised by a single pair of large driving wheels which led to the nickname "eight-footer". Originally the locomotive was designed to carry up to 26 passenger carriages at an average speed of 47 miles per hour."[1]
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On his arrival at GNR, Stirling set out to standardise the railway's rolling stock. He also borrowed a 'single-wheeler' from the Great Eastern Railway and, in 1868, designed two versions of 2-2-2 with 7 ft.1in driving wheels.
The outcome, in 1870 was a locomotive with 8 ft. 1in . drivers, designed specifically for high speed expresses between York and London. The norm in those days was inside cylinders. Not only were there frequent failures of the cranked axle shafts, with such large drivers, they would have set the boiler too high. He therefore used outside cylinders with a four wheeled bogie for lateral stability at the front end.
The GNR did not number its locomotives sequentially, instead using numbers freed up by withdrawing older locomotives. Thus the first of the class became GNR No. 1.
A total of 53 were built at Doncaster between 1870 and 1895, with some variation between, particularly improvements in boiler pressure.[2] They were able to haul 275 ton trains at an average of 50 mph, with a top speed, on lighter trains, of 85 mph, taking part in the 1895 Race to the North. GNR Stirling No 775 made the 82 miles to York in 1 hour 16 minutes. This means an average speed of 64.7 mph = 108 km/h
The first of the class, No 1 is the only engine to be preserved. It is exhibited at the National Railway Museum, York, UK.
The locomotive is in good mechanical condition, and was used recently to act as a star player in the National Railway Museum's stage-performance of The Railway Children play, in which it was seen to move into a stage set of a period station created in the redundant Waterloo International railway station.
The locomotive appeared to be in steam for its 'performances', however it was not, with fog machine generated smoke being used to portray escaping steam. In reality the locomotive was shunted into position during the performance using a Class 08 Diesel Shunter which remained out of sight of the main stage.
An 18" gauge model of No.1 was built in 1898, at the Regent Street Polytechnic, from a set of parts supplied by W. G. Bagnall. Amongst the students at Regent Street who worked on the model was Henry Greenly who later became a celebrated miniature locomotive builder and supplied locomotives for the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. The locomotive was initially sold to Mr.E.F.S. Notter the Great Northern Railway District Locomotive Superintendent at Kings Cross, who between 1910 and 1914 operated it at Alexander Park (London) and later kept it in King Cross 'Top Shed', the home of the full size Stirling Singles. In 1926 this locomotive was bought by the Fairbourne Miniature Railway and in 1936 it was sold to the Jaywick Miniature Railway,[3] which ran it until 1939. It then passed through the hands of a number of private owners until it was bought by the World of Country Life Museum at Sandy Bay, Exmouth, Devon, in 1986.
Bagnall had earlier, in 1893, supplied a similar model (works number 1425) to Lord Downshire of Easthampstead Park, Crowthorne Berkshire. This engine was later preserved by Mr Hoare in the Boys Reading Room at the Training Ship Mercury at Hamble. It was subsequently sold to a private owner in Southampton in 1946. Its current whereabouts is unknown.
Kitmaster produced an injection moulded plastic kit of the Stirling Single in the 1950s. David Boyle, founder of Dapol Model Railways, recalls seeing the moulds being destroyed in the early 1980s, leading him to purchase the tooling for and reissue the remaining Kitmaster kits.
Aster Hobby introduced Gauge1 live steam model in 1996.[4][5]
Bachmann produced an HO model of the character "Emily", based on a GNR Stirling 4-2-2, in their line of Thomas the Tank Engine trains sold in America.