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 (8 ft 1 in) driving wheels which led to the nickname "eight-footer". Originally the locomotive was designed to haul up to 26 passenger carriages at an average speed of . They could reach speeds of up to 85 mph (137 km/h).

Development

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 a arrangement with driving wheels.

The outcome in 1870 was a locomotive with driving wheels with outside cylinders, designed specifically for high-speed expresses between York and London. The British norm at the time were inside cylinders. However, not only were there frequent failures of the cranked axle shafts, with such large driving wheels they would have set the boiler too high. Stirling therefore used outside cylinders, with a four-wheeled bogie for lateral stability at the front end. According to Hamilton Ellis's description, entitled 'Pat Stirling's masterpiece,' the design was a version of a 2-2-2 built by Stirling for the Glasgow and South Western Railway, "considerably enlarged, and provided with a leading bogie."

A total of 53 were built at Doncaster Works between 1870 and 1895, often being built in 'pairs' rather than batches. Stirling modified the class as each member was built, adding details and adjusting features on almost every individual locomotive. As a result, there was hardly any standardisation; "whilst each pair were often identical, other members of the class were merely ‘sister' engines, as in many cases changes were instituted between the building of each successive pair."

1870 Series

The prototype engine, No. 1, was built in 1870 but proved to be a poor steamer that suffered from numerous teething troubles, including troublesome balanced slide valves, a blast pipe that was too high, and a firebox that was too small. Within a few weeks, the blast pipe would be adjusted and made standard for the rest of the class, but it would take another 7 years for its firebox to be enlarged. Other No. 1-specific details included 11 splasher slots instead of 10, slide rods with a fishbelly shape, and a special, X-shaped bogie frame.

The next two locomotives were No. 8, built around December 1870, and No. 33, built on 15 March 1871. Learning from No. 1, they featured a boiler with more boiler tubes and a longer wheelbase to carry a larger firebox. Stirling also incorporated experimental water midfeathers in the fireboxes instead of a conventional brick arch, but these do not seem to have been successful and were removed some time later. Although it does not seem like this was officially used by the GNR, Bird’s system was most likely based on the labels of the drawers that Doncaster Works kept their drawings for each GNR engine in. His classification has been used in other sources, but it does not appear to have been used officially by the GNR. A major flaw in Bird’s work is that he classified Nos. 662-671 as G, claiming they were the same design as the original 1870 Series with boilers. However, Nos. 662-671 were actually the first locomotives to be built with the 1880 Series' bigger boiler and should be given the G2 classification. Whether this is a mistake on Bird’s part or Doncaster Works’ is unknown.

Finally, The Great Northern Railway Society has sorted each of the Stirling Single designs on their website by their respective number series. The 1870 Series is labelled the No. 1 Series, the 1880 Series the 662 Series, and the 1894 Series the 1003 Class.

The GNR did not number its locomotives sequentially, instead using numbers freed up by withdrawing older locomotives. Thus the 1870 series was numbered GNR Nos. 1, 8, 33, 2, 3, 5, 7, 22, 48, 34, 47, 53, 62, 221, 94, 69, 98, 544-549, 60, 550, 93, 95; the 1880 series 662-671, 771-778, and 1001-2; and 1894 series 1003-8.

Performance

These locomotives were able to haul trains at an average of , with a top speed on lighter trains of . When taking part in the 1895 Race to the North, GNR Stirling No. 775 made the from Grantham to York in 1 hour 16 minutes. This translates to an average speed of .

Members of the 1894 series were originally built weighing but following two high-speed derailments in 1895/6 the weight was reduced by 1% to .

Accidents and incidents

  • On 21 January 1876, rebuilt Sturrock 2-2-2 No. 269 hauling the southbound Special Scotch Express rear-ended a coal train at Abbots Ripton after a signal, weighed down by snow, failed to warn that the line was blocked. Another express hauled by Stirling 4-2-2 No. 48, travelling in the opposite direction, soon collided with the wreckage. 13 people were killed.
  • On 23 December 1876, a Nottingham-bound express train hauled by locomotive No. 8 overshot signals at danger due to slippery rails from the weather and a long descent after Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, causing it to collide with goods wagons during a shunting manoeuvre at Arlesey, Bedfordshire. Five people were killed.
  • On 10 November 1895, an overnight Scottish express hauled by locomotive No. 1006 derailed at St Neots when it encountered a broken rail. One person was killed. The accident report by Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate commented on the abnormally heavy axle loading of the locomotive, which was nearly 20 tons on the driving axle.
  • On 7 March 1896, a passenger train hauled by locomotive No. 1003 was derailed at Little Bytham, Lincolnshire, due to the premature removal of a speed restriction after track renewal. Two people were killed.

Withdrawal and preservation

With the arrival of the Ivatt Atlantics after 1898, the class started being displaced from the most prestigious express services, and withdrawals of the 1870 series began in 1899. The last examples of the class were in use on secondary services until 1916.

thumb|Preserved No. 1 in 2003

The first of the class, No. 1, is the only engine to be preserved. It was withdrawn in 1907 and partially dismantled, but a decision was made to restore it for exhibition in 1909. While attempts were made to cosmetically restore it as closely as possible to its original 1870 condition—re-opening the splasher slots, removing the dummy rear sandbox, etc.—the larger boiler and frames expose No. 1 as still being in its rebuilt 1880s Series form. A hybrid Stirling tender from Doncaster carriage shunter Hawthorn 0-4-2 No. 112A was attached to the locomotive. was found near Peterborough, being used as a sludge carrier. It was moved to York by 2009 and was restored in 2014. Traded for the old Stirling hybrid tender, which is now stored at Locomotion, Shildon, No. 1 has since carried No. 1002's restored tender.

Today, No. 1 is exhibited at the National Railway Museum, York.

Modelling

An 18-inch minimum 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, 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.

Nuremberg toymaker Georges Carette's range included a 2.5 inch-gauge model of Stirling Single 776, in around 1900. It was marketed in the UK by Bassett-Lowke, appearing in their 1904 catalogue.

An unpowered 5-inch gauge model of a Stirling Single locomotive, engineered by Dennis Hefford, is on display at the entrance to Arch Two of Brighton Toy and Model Museum.

A 1/12 scale model of No. 93, built by 'R Jackson' around 1888, is displayed at Worthing Museum and Art Gallery.

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.

In April 2015, Rapido Trains announced that a forthcoming OO gauge model would be exclusively available from Locomotion Models.

In fiction

  • Emily from Thomas & Friends is based on this class.

Notes

References

  • Herring, P., (2000) Classic British Steam Locomotives Leicester: Abbeydale Press
  • Stirling Single No 1 at the National Railway Museum
  • Photo of GNR No. 544 taken around 1900