Worksplate from landmark Gresley Pacific to go under the hammer
A WORKSPLATE from a landmark Nigel Gresley locomotive that entered traffic exactly 100 years ago but was at the centre of controversy midway through its service life will go under the hammer on July 9.
It is from No. 60113 Great Northern, which was built at Doncaster in April 1922 (works No. 1536) as the prototype of what became the LNER A1 (later A3) class. Numbered 1470 by the Great Northern Railway and 4470 by the LNER, it was Gresley’s first Pacific, and was thus the predecessor of the streamlined A4 class that in 1938 earned Gresley the accolade of having designed the world’s fastest steam locomotive.
No. 1470 was the first of 79 in its class and enjoyed an East Coast Main Line life until May 1945, when it entered Doncaster works for a deep-rooted and extensive rebuild instigated by Edward Thompson, who had been appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LNER in 1941 following Gresley’s sudden death. Thompson had started work in 1944 on designing a new class of express locomotives and decided to rebuild Great Northern to assess his new design, a choice that led to much debate, and anger in some quarters, due to this engine having historical significance as Gresley’s first-ever Pacific and the pioneer of a successful class.
Controversy
It was generally reported that Thompson, who was works manager at Stratford prior to becoming CME, and Gresley had a strained relationship, and Thompson’s choice of No. 4470 for a rebuild led to accusations that he selected this particular engine, which was spoken about as being a candidate for preservation, because of that enmity.
Contemporary reports claim that the LNER’s chief draughtsman and other leading officials tried in vain to persuade Thompson to choose a different locomotive, and one leading observer of the railway scene later described the decision as “the most disappointing and tactless act in his (Thompson’s) short and stormy career as CME.”
Whatever Thompson’s reasons, No. 4470 was rebuilt with an A4-type boiler, a double blastpipe chimney, three cylinders with derived drive, three sets of Walschaerts valve gear, new frames that extended the wheelbase, and smoke deflectors. On its reappearance in September 1945 after 148 days in the works, another respected observer declared that Thompson had turned the Pacific “into a machine of such hideous appearance as might well have made its designer (Gresley) turn in his grave.”
Teething problems
The rebuilt Pacific had a number of early teething problems – in the 12 months after its rebuild it entered Doncaster Works seven times for repairs – and plans to construct 16 locomotives to the design were dropped by Arthur Peppercorn, who had become CME after Thompson’s retirement in 1946.
Peppercorn instead proceeded with a new class of his design that was to become the Peppercorn Class A1 numbered from 60114 to 60162, while Great Northern retained its original name and was numbered 60113 and classified an A1/1. Ironically, No. 60113 outlasted two of the newer Peppercorn A1s by surviving in service until November 1962, when it was withdrawn from Doncaster (36A) and cut up there three months later.
The worksplate, which carries a build date of 1922 and a ‘Rebuilt 1945’ additional engraving, will be going under the hammer at a GW Railwayana live online auction, and although the Great Northern Railway identification was filled in by BR, the auction house’s Simon Turner is estimating it at up to £6000.
“It is a significant plate from the very first Gresley Pacific built exactly 100 years ago and withdrawn precisely 60 years ago, and with worksplates currently in vogue I believe there will be enormous interest,” he said.
“We will never know Thompson’s reasons for choosing this engine for the rebuild, but I greatly look forward to putting such an historical railway item under the hammer.”
➜ See Geoff Courtney’s railwayana column on pages 68-70 for full details of the auction and more railwayana news.