Power Classification	7P
Introduced	1922 – 1925, rebuilt 1927 – 1948
Designer	Gresley
Company	GNR and LNER
Weight – Loco	96t 5cwt
Tender	57t 18cwt
Driving Wheels	6ft 8ins
Boiler Pressure	220psi superheated
Cylinders	Three – 19in x 26in
Tractive Effort	32,910lbf
Valve Gear	Walschaert with derived motion (piston valve)

Gresley was an advocate of having larger locomotives that had ample capacity for the tasks for which they were designed. He argued that the additional construction costs were offset by long term operating economies.

In 1922 Greseley put the first of his three-cylinder pacific locomotives to work on the Great Northern Railway (GNR). Apart from the solitary GWR engine the Great Bear they were the first pacifics to be built in the UK. They were designed to haul the fastest and heaviest trains on the LNER.

The first two engines appeared from Doncaster works as GNR locomotives 1470 and 1471 (later 4470 and 4471 and then BR 60113 and 60102) and they were originally classified as A1 engines. They were a logical development from the GNR Atlantics, but nevertheless caused a sensation and great interest when they arrived.

	Ivatt GNR Large Atlantic introduced in 1902 and later replaced by A3 locomotives
	A3 introduced by Gresley in 1922

They were excellent locomotives and they rode magnificently. They had large cabs and for the first time in British locomotive history the enginemen were provided with padded seats.

Gresley’s pacifics had three cylinders all driving on the second coupled axle. They had two outside sets of Walschaert valve gear with the centre valve gear in front of the cylinders. This led to the one achilles heel of all Greysley’s pacifics, which was the problem they experienced with the middle valve over-running, causing middle big-end failures.

Fifty more A1 pacifics were built by the LNER in 1923-1925 (60103-60112 and 60044-60083). The early A1 Pacifics were a match for the performances demanded of them in the early 1920s. They were certainly able to take loads single-handed that were beyond the capacity of their Atlantic predecessors as was shown in a test run made by 1471 when it took a 20-coach train weighing 600 tons over the 105 miles from London to Grantham at an average speed of 51.8 miles per hour. However, this was at the cost of heavy coal consumption, and general performance was well below the ultimate potential of the design.

In 1925 4474 (later 60105 Victor Wild) was tested against GWR castle class 4078 Pendennis Castle. The Castle proved to be a superior engine and this led to all of the A1’s being rebuilt with long-travel, long-lap valves which improved their performance. These changes were made after trials were undertaken on 4477 (60108) Gay Crusader and then 2555 (60056) Centenary in 1926 which convinced Gresley that the resulting improvements should be incorporated in all of the A1 locomotives. The man behind these changes was Spencer who was Gresleys assistant for locomotives.

By incorporating the Great Western-inspired valve modifications, the economies in coal and water consumption achieved were such that the 180 psi pacifics could undertake long-distance non-stop runs that were previously impossible. The engines were fitted with corridor tenders and regularly worked the long non-stop schedules at high speed. The corridor tender was necessary as the non-stop journey time for the 393 miles between Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverly which was scheduled to be covered in 8¼ hours. The corridor was 18in wide and 5 feet long and had a circular window at each end. The coal capacity of the new tenders was increased from 8 tons to 9 tons and weighed nearly 62½ tons when fully loaded.

The first and most spectacular outcome occurred in May 1928, when the Pacifics were called upon daily to work the Flying Scotsman train non-stop over the 393 miles between London and Edinburgh. Initially three A1s and two A3s took turns on this service. The inaugural service north was hauled by 4472 Flying Scotsman and the south bound service by 2580 (60081) Shotover. The average scheduled speed for the train was 47½ mph. At this time the LMSR were running non-stop the 299 miles from London to Carlisle in 5 hour 55 min which equates to an average speed of over 50mph. By ten years later the average speed on the LNER between Kings Cross and Edinburgh had risen to 56 mph.

On 30^th November trial runs were made between London and Leeds and back to London. The outward consisted of a four coach train and covered the 185.8 miles from Kings Cross to Leeds in 151 minutes 6 seconds at an average speed of nearly 74mph. On the return journey the load was increased to six coaches weighing 208 tons. Records show that the train hauled by 4472 Flying Scotsman attained speed of 100mph for 600 yards just outside Little Bytham in Lincolnshire whilst descending Stoke Bank. C J Allen who was travelling on the train quoted a top speed of 98mph in his log compared with the 100mph recorded on the dynamometer car. Bryan Benn, writing in Steam Railway magazine, notes that the chart suddenly jumped to 100mph and then jumped back down into the 90s as if the recording pen had been jolted. He concludes that in his view Flying Scotsman ran very well but only achieved a speed of 98mph.

There are a number of claims of achieving 100mph on American railroads in 1934 but there are no detailed records of the tiles involved.

On a later trial run to Newcastle upon Tyne and back in March 1935, A3 class locomotive 2750 (60096) Papyrus achieved four world records for steam traction-

• A distance of 12.3 miles run at 100.6 mph.
• An aggregate of 500 miles in one day run at an average speed of 72.7 mph with a 217 ton train.
• An aggregate of 300 miles in one day’s round trip at an average speed of 80 mph.
• A maximum speed of 108 mph.

This run, like the earlier Flying Scotsman trial, was timed by C J Allen who timed Papyrus descend Stoke Bank. His timings show the speed achieved as it passed Little Bytham as 106mph and subsequently a top speed of 108mph. soon afterwards and was still doing 102mph through Essendine. The 3.6 miles between Little Bytham and Essendine was covered in 2 minutes and 3 seconds which gives an average speed of 105.3mph. There is no doubt that 100mph was achieved on this trip but the locomotive involved (60096 Papyrus) was withdrawn from service in September 1963 and cut up in

In 1927 4480 (later 60111 Enterprise) was rebuilt with a larger superheater, the boiler pressure was raised from 180psi to 220psi, and it was converted to left hand drive. This was the first A3 locomotive, and (together with 2573 (60074 Harvester), 2578 (60079 Bayardo) and 2580 (60081 Shotover) when they were rebuilt) was originally classified A3/1. 2544 was similarly rebuilt with the cylinders reduced from 20˝ to 18¼ ˝ diameter and was originally reclassified A3/2. In 1928 twenty-seven new A3’s were built with 19˝ diameter cylinders and these were classified A3/3. Later all engines were rebuilt with 19˝ cylinders and were known as A3.

In 1945 the original engine was completely rebuilt by Thompson to form the A1 class prototype. The surviving A1 locomotives were then reclassified A10. Only one A10 came into BR stock (60068) and it was converted to an A3 class in December 1948.

In 1951 K J Cooke was moved by Riddles from Swindon to take charge of the Eastern and north eastern as regional Mechanical Engineer. Whilst the erecting shops at Doncaster were capable of constructing the largest and most powerful locomotives the facilities were such that the frame alignment was not as exacting as at Swindon or even Crewe. To compensate for this the greater clearance had to be allowed in the working parts. At Swindon Cook had been used to using the Zeiss optical system for lining up frames, cylinders and main axle bearings and he introduced a similar system at Doncaster. This was then used on the pacific locomotives when they were overhauled and this resulted in improved working of the engines.

	A10 introduced in 1922
	A3 introduced in 1922
	A1 introduced in 1948

2751 (later 60097 Humorist) was fitted with smoke deflectors and a Kylchap blastpipe and double chimney. Between 1958 and 1960 the rest of the class were also fitted with double chimneys and Kylchap blastpipes. This gave the engines a much softer exhaust which caused problems with smoke drifting across the drivers vision. To solve this problem trough type smoke deflectors (of the German pattern) were later fitted to most members of the class.

Some engines were fitted with GNR type tenders with coal rails, the rest being fitted with LNER tenders.

Number in Service.

	Built		Withdrawals	No. in Service
	BR Numbers	Quantity
1922	60102	1		1
1923	60103-112	10		11
1924	60044-55 & 64-83 (excl 68)	31		42
1925	60056-63	8		50
1928	60089-94	6		56
1929	60095-98	4		60
1930	60084-88 & 99-101	8		68
1934	60035-42	8		76
1935	60043	1		77
1948	60096 rebuilt from A10	1		78
1949-58				78
1959	60104		1	77
1960				77
1961			6	71
1962			12	59
1963			33	26
1964			23	3
1965			2	1
1966	60052		1	0

• 60064-60083 were built by the North British Locomotive Company. The rest were built at Doncaster.

 

Locomotive allocations during British Railways operation

Depot as of January	1948	1960	1963	1964	1965	1966
Ardsley			5
Carlisle Canal	4	4
Darlington		2	2	2
Doncaster	5
Gateshead	16	13		11
Grantham	4	16	5
Haymarket (Edinburgh)	14	15	4
Heaton (Newcastle)	10	8	14
Kings Cross	19	12	8
Leeds Holbeck			1
Leeds Neville Hill		5	3
New England Peterborough)	6		7	6
St Margarets (Edinburgh)			8	6	3	1
St Rollox (Glasgow)			2	1
Tweedmouth		2
	78	77	59	26	3	1

Accidents and Incidents

• On 26th May 1926 locomotive 2565 (60066) Merry Hampton was hauling the twelve coach Flying Scotsman express passenger train from Edinburgh to King’s Cross when it was derailed between Annitsford and Cramlington in Northumberland whilst travelling at reduced speed. The derailment was caused by the removal of a length of rail. In addition fishplates joining rails together and the loosening of some other plates as well as keys from the chairs under more than one rail. The result was that the engine ploughed its way through the ballast for nearly 90 yards before coming to a stop on its side with its buffers resting against a disused signal box. The first five coaches were also derailed and ended up at various angles across the track but only the first coach did not remain upright.
  • Fortunately only three people were injured including a volunteer fireman on the engine who had his wrists scalded.
  • The incident occurred during the General Strike in 1926 which was called by the TUC in support of the miners. The mine owners wanted to increase the miners’ working hours and decrease their wages. As the miners would not accept this, on 3 May, the mine owners locked the miners out of the mines. Thus the slogan of the Miners’ Federation was ‘Not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay.’ The General Strike began one minute before midnight on 3 May and was widely supported by workers in a variety of industries. The regional strike committee for the North East was based in Newcastle, and the miners in the Northumberland and Durham coalfields played a central role in the dispute. As the strike intensified the government responded by deploying tanks and armoured cars in some of the more militant areas, and sending a warship to Newcastle.
  • As there was a general strike at the time of the derailment the platelayers who were responsible for maintaining the track consisted of a team of six volunteer platelayers under the leadership of an engineering assistant. When the team were checking the track where the accident later occurred it was noticed that the cabin where tools were stored had had a window removed. Before they were able to investigate this further they heard shouting from the direction of Cramlington Colliery where a group of men and youths were seen to be running towards the railway line. They were said to be shouting “Kill the ………..blacklegs, get hold of their gear” and this was followed by a shower of stones was thrown from the group towards the platelayers who sustained some injuries. The railworkers retreated whilst continuing to be hit by stones collected by about 100 pursuers. After about 200 yards the crowd ceased their chase and returned towards the platelayer’s cabin.
  • When the railwaymen reached Cramlington station Mr Martin (the assistant engineer with the group) informed the Station Master as to what had happened and proceeded on along the track when he noticed smoke from an approaching train. He signalled for the train to stop and he warned the driver and one of the guards to expect a hostile crowd at the platelayer’s cabin and then he and the rest of his team boarded the train. The train proceeded forward at a slow and just about the time that men were seen running away from the track the train derailed.
  • Mr Martin and a number of other quickly left the train and ran after the men running across the field but were unable to catch them. The train guard commented that he had noticed five or six men inside the railway fence immediately after the train came to a hault.
  • When a Permanent Way Inspector examined the site shortly after the derailment he concluded that a rail had been removed and various other fittings removed or loosened. On examining the area near the track he found railway tools under some bushes as well as 24 pegs which had been thrown into a nearby pond.
  • The train driver said that he did not think the rail had actually been removed as he had noticed a missing rail before the derailment. He thought that the line might just have been loosened. He also said that after the incident he did see a group of people in the field standing in a row alongside the railway laughing and gesticulating. The fireman also commented that there were people in the field next to the line who were distinctly hostile.
  • There were reports from railway staff that there had been a number of incidents in the same area on other occasions when stones had been thrown at passing trains.
  • The suspects of the derailment are eventually discovered and are put on trial. The coverage of the trial by the Newcastle Evening Chronicle demonstrates the quirks of the event. The trial accused nine young miners from the local area with wrecking the train
  • The men accused did not openly admit they were acting in response to their political beliefs, it appears that the incident happened on a whim by those responsible. If those accused possessed revolutionary zeal I do not believe that they would have started accusing each other of the crime as they did during the trial.
  • Within the piece the views of the local community are arguably shown, by the inclusion of a Robert Taylor who was a local miner as a witness against the accused. He declared that he saw men on the line, bending down and tampering with the line.
  • The defence counsel argued that it was the fault of a mob and not the accused as individuals whilst the prosecution claimed that it was inconceivable that if accused were innocent they would have given the answers they did when first charged that they were nowhere near the smash. The defence also stated that as the four accused men for who he appeared were concerned…there was hardly evidence that they were on the line.
  • The closing statements also highlight the potential lack of evidence against the accused.
  • According to “The Wrecking Of The Flying Scotsman. 1926” by Margaret Hutcherson the aim of the Northumbrian miners was to derail a coal train rather than a passenger train. Below has been taken from this her article.
    • West Cramlington Lodge of the Miners Federation considered the continual scabbing on their patch somewhat of a personal affront and decided to put a stop to it. They decided to dismantle and remove a section of the track. First they raided the railway huts to gather up the tools needed for the job. How many people were involved is not accurately recorded but something up to 40 men joined in the operation with what seems like a great many other spectators in broad day light, it wasn’t a secret operation. Indeed, there seems something of a public act of defiance and commitment to the movement in the operation rather than some desperate act.
    • In truth, local Bobbies on the ground probably knew far more than they owned up to and were slow to start going through the motions of investigation. The formal clammer caused infiltrators to be planted in the village to pick up information. The investigation went into overdrive and names started to emerge. Despite all the traditions of solidarity and comradeship, informers were found from among the ranks of the activists with the promise of amnesty. The first to crack had been Lyle Waugh a striking miner with an older brother in the Police force, who happened to be in the squad investigating the action, he was also the nephew of the police inspector. Lyle had been involved in the derailment himself but then as people started to be arrested for withholding information fear and the amnesty offer got through to him. The list of names grew and on Saturday 5th June, midnight raids took place around the village. Nine men were rounded up when they appeared at Newcastle Moot Hall.
    • When the judge at length ordered that the jury must judge each case separately and assess each circumstance of evidence as it applied to each individual it was clear the jury had already made up their minds, and took just 30 minutes to find all nine guilty. They were sentences to four, six and eight year’s penal servitude.

• On 10 December 1937, 2744 Grand Parade was destroyed in the Castlecary rail accident when it ran into the rear of a standing train in snowy conditions. The driver and fireman survived with minor injuries although the locomotive and tender were buried under the four following coaches. 35 other passengers and railway crew were killed in the accident. As Class A3 locomotives were still in production at the time, a replacement was built with the same name and number.
• On 9 August 1947, locomotive 60 Persimmon was hauling a passenger train that was run into by another at Darlington, County Durham due to a signalman’s error. Twenty-one people were killed and 188 were injured.
• On 26 October 1947, locomotive 66 Merry Hampton was hauling an express passenger train which was derailed at Goswick, Northumberland, between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Morpeth. Twenty-eight people were killed and 65 were injured.
  • The train was diverted from the main fast line to a goods loop line at Goswick because of engineering work on the fast line. The driver failed to respond to the signals in advance of the diversion and took the 15 mph restricted turnout at approximately 60 mph. The locomotive and most of the train was derailed and overturned.
  • The driver, fireman and guard had all, for various reasons, failed to read the notice of the diversion posted at Haymarket depot. The driver, who was held principally at fault, had also taken an unauthorised passenger on to the footplate who may have distracted his attention. He claimed to have missed the distant signal due to smoke from the engine obscuring his view. The home signal was at clear to allow the train to draw up slowly to the points; the signalman could not judge the speed of the train until it was too late, and was exonerated of any blame.
• On 19 February 1949, a freight train became divided at New Southgate, London. The rear portion was able to run back and cross from the down slow line to the down fast line due to a signalman’s error. Locomotive 60107 Royal Lancer was hauling a parcels passenger train that collided with the wagons.
• On 5 August 1957, locomotive 60036 Colombo was hauling a passenger train when it crashed into the buffers at York station.
• On 15 December 1961, an empty coaching stock train was in a rear-end collision with a freight train at Conington, Huntingdonshire. Locomotive 60078 Night Hawk was hauling a freight train that ran into the wreckage. A third freight train then ran into the wreckage.

60052 Prince Palatine at Dundee-July 1965. 60052 spent its earlier years based on the Eastern Region (mainly at Leicester Central) before moving to the North Eastern Region in the mid 1950’s. It moved to St Margarets (Edinburgh) in August 1963 and was withdrawn from service there in January 1966. It was the last member of the class to be withdrawn.

Preservation

• 60103 Flying Scotsman (GNER 1472, LNER 1472, LNER 4472, LNER 503, LNER 103, BR E103 & BR 60103)

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