GNR Stirling Single

Patrick Stirling became Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Northern Railway in 1866, succeeding Archibald Sturrock. The GNR's East Coast expresses out of King's Cross to York and beyond were among the heaviest in the country, and Stirling believed that for fast running on relatively easy gradients a single-driver, with all the available adhesion concentrated on a single very large driving wheel, would be more efficient than a coupled engine. The improved adhesion provided by Wakefield-pattern steam sanders from the late 1860s onwards made single-drivers practical at much higher loads than had previously been possible.

The first Stirling Single, No. 1, emerged from Doncaster Works (the GNR's "Plant") in 1870. With its 8 ft 1 in single driving wheel, outside cylinders inclined at a slight angle, slender boiler and high-pitched cab, the engine was an immediate visual sensation. It was also a competent express performer, capable of sustained running at 60 mph and willing to handle the seven- and eight-coach expresses of the day on schedule.

Stirling produced six successive variants of the design between 1870 and 1895, with progressive boiler enlargements and detail variations. The early engines (1870–1881) had the smallest boilers; the middle batch (1881–1888) introduced enlarged fireboxes; the final 1895 batch (built just before Stirling's death in office in November 1895) had the largest boilers ever fitted, although still saturated. Total construction reached 53 engines.

The class was the principal GNR express type for nearly thirty years, working both day expresses out of King's Cross and the Anglo-Scottish East Coast services. The introduction of larger and more powerful Atlantics under Stirling's successor Henry Ivatt from 1898 made the singles obsolete, and most were withdrawn by 1910. Two examples lasted until 1916 and 1923 respectively, and No. 1 itself was preserved on withdrawal in 1907.

The Stirling Singles worked the principal GNR East Coast expresses through the late Victorian period, including the Flying Scotsman service (then a daytime express, not the named train of later fame). They participated in the celebrated Race to the North in August 1895, when the East Coast and West Coast routes competed on Anglo-Scottish overnight expresses; the GNR's Stirling Singles handled the southern leg from King's Cross to Grantham at average speeds approaching 60 mph, contributing to a record overnight run of 6 hours 19 minutes between London and Aberdeen on 22 August 1895.

By the late 1890s the Singles were being asked to handle loads beyond their comfortable capability. The class's relatively modest tractive effort and single-driver configuration could just about manage twelve-coach expresses on the level, but the East Coast traffic was rising and the GNR's routes north of York were challenging. Ivatt succeeded Stirling on the latter's sudden death in 1895 and immediately began work on the larger Atlantic that became the C1 Class from 1898 onwards.

Withdrawal of the Stirling Singles followed swiftly. The first withdrawal was 1899, only four years after Stirling's death. The bulk of the class was withdrawn between 1903 and 1910 as the Atlantics took over the principal expresses. Only two Stirling Singles survived to the 1923 Grouping and both were withdrawn during 1923, the last in regular service was No. 668, withdrawn in 1916, and a single late survivor that lingered until 1923 in works shunting service.

One example was preserved: the prototype, No. 1, withdrawn from regular service in 1907 and retained by the GNR. The engine was steamed in 1938 to participate in the centenary celebrations of London King's Cross station, working a special train to Stevenage. After post-war storage and restoration, it transferred to the National Railway Museum at York where it remains a centrepiece of the National Collection.

The class is one of the most distinctive British locomotive outlines of all time, a single-driver 4-2-2 express engine with 8 ft 1 in driving wheels (among the largest ever fitted to a British locomotive), outside cylinders inclined at a slight angle to the horizontal, a slender domeless boiler in plain GNR Apple Green livery, and a high-pitched cab with side windows. The Singles were famously beautiful in their proportions, the contrast between the small leading bogie and trailing wheels and the very large single driver giving them a powerful sense of motion even when stationary. The brass beading around the splasher and the polished safety-valve casing on the dome-less boiler made them prominent photographic subjects throughout the late Victorian period.

No. 1, the prototype, completed at Doncaster in 1870. The first 8 ft Single. Withdrawn from regular service in 1907 and preserved by the GNR as part of the company's heritage collection. After 1923 the engine passed to the LNER and from 1948 to British Railways and the National Collection. Currently displayed at the National Railway Museum, York. Steamed in preservation in 1938 to participate in the centenary celebrations of London King's Cross station.

No. 668, the last Stirling Single in regular GNR service, withdrawn in 1916 after a particularly long working life of 22 years.

No. 775, the last Single built, completed at Doncaster in 1895 with the largest of the six successive boiler designs. Worked the East Coast expresses through to withdrawal in 1909.

No. 547, the celebrated "Race to the North" engine of August 1895. Worked the GNR's southern leg of the Anglo-Scottish racing services from King's Cross to Grantham at average speeds approaching 60 mph.

GNR era (1870–1922): the entire class was concentrated on the East Coast expresses out of King's Cross. The largest contingents were at King's Cross (Top Shed), Doncaster, and York shed (the latter for the East Coast Joint working with the NER). Smaller numbers were at Peterborough, Grantham and Newark. Few Stirling Singles ever worked off the East Coast Joint route, although withdrawn examples were occasionally borrowed for special workings on Lincolnshire branches.

LNER era (1923): only two Stirling Singles survived to the 1923 Grouping; the rest had been withdrawn under the GNR. Both surviving engines were withdrawn during 1923 and the class was extinct on the LNER before the company was a year old.

GNR (1870–1922): Great Northern Apple Green with elaborate black-and-cream lining, polished brass safety-valve casing on the dome-less boiler, copper-capped chimney, and the GNR coat of arms on the leading splasher. The painting standard was exceptionally high, Doncaster Top Shed was widely admired for the quality of its passenger locomotive finish.

Preservation (No. 1, 1925–present): the surviving prototype has been maintained throughout in GNR Apple Green livery, restored to a high standard at York. Brief experimental finishes for film and television have been applied and removed over the years.