26500, NER ES1

One of two steeplecab Bo-Bo electrics ordered by the North Eastern Railway in 1902 for the steeply graded Newcastle Quayside branch. British Thomson-Houston supplied the electrical equipment and sub-contracted the mechanical parts to Brush of Loughborough. The pair were designed from the outset to work from both third rail and overhead wire, because the branch used conductor rail in its tunnels and overhead line elsewhere.

They worked the Quayside until an 0-6-0 diesel replaced them on 29 February 1964, and were withdrawn from stock that September. No. 26500 was stored at Rugby before entering preservation in 1968; her sister, No. 26501, had been sold for scrap in April 1966. She is part of the National Collection and is displayed at Locomotion in Shildon.

Location, livery and status confirmed from published sources in August 2026; subject to verification.