Stirling Number 1

The Great Northern Railway was the southern partner in the triple alliance operating the East Coast Route between London and Scotland, and with its secondary main lines in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and the East Midlands was one of the most important trunk routes in Britain.

From 1850 until the Grouping four engineers, Sturrock, Stirling, Ivatt and Gresley, were responsible for the entire G.N.R. locomotive stock, and this gave a continuity of notable designs seldom seen on any railway.

Patrick Stirling reigned at Doncaster from 1866 to 1895, and in 1870 there appeared the first of his famous ' eight-footer ' 4-2-2s, express passenger engines with two 18in x 28in cylinders and vast single driving wheels 8ft 1inch in diameter.

Thirty-seven of these outstanding locomotives were built, followed by ten more during the period 1884-93 and a further six with larger cylinders in 1895.

In the 1880s the Stirling 'singles' became famous for their speed, when the G.N.R. was running the fastest trains in Britain, and in 1895 during the 'Race to Aberdeen' two of them, Nos. 668 and 775, made the fastest northbound runs ever achieved, setting a record which stood until 1916.

By the end of the First World War trains had grown too heavy for such relatively small locomotives and all except No. 1 had been withdrawn.

For many years No. 1 was preserved, first at King's Cross then in the railway museum at York, but in 1938 it reappeared to haul a replica of the ' Flying Scotsman' train of 1870 on a number of special excursions. This most famous of all Stirling's engines is now once again on view in York's National Railway Museum.