GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY ‘A2’ (STIRLING ‘SINGLE’) NO. 1 (1981-1985)
An elegant and graceful Victorian ‘single driver’ hauling a rake of mismatched Mk 1 coaches – an image that epitomises preservation in Britain in the 1980s. However, the incongruous sight of Great Northern Railway Stirling ‘Single’ No. 1 coupled to a pair of ‘blood and custard’ Mk 1s and a crimson suburban carriage was one of the very few opportunities enthusiasts got to see Patrick Stirling’s masterpiece 4‑2‑2 in steam.
Like many of the other ‘one hit wonders’, No. 1 was another locomotive to have been reprieved in the steam era following official withdrawal. However, in contrast to some of its fellow returnees – which returned to steam under BR auspices – the Stirling ‘Single’s’ revival took place at the behest of the London & North Eastern Railway, in 1938, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ‘Races to the North’, in which No. 1 had participated. After a number of railtours – one of which was the first ever privately organised railtour – No. 1 was consigned to the LNER’s museum at York, its massive 8ft 1in driving wheels seemingly never to turn in anger again.
Unlike most of the engines covered in this survey, the Stirling ‘Single’ was not returned to steam for either the Stockton & Darlington or Liverpool & Manchester 150th anniversary celebrations in 1975 and 1980 respectively (although it appeared at the former, towed dead) but for an Open University programme exploring Victorian steam locomotives.
NRM senior curator of Rail Transport and Technology Anthony Coulls says: “Having got it back into working order for the Open University programme, the thinking was, ‘why not keep it running?’.”
No. 1 arrived at the Great Central Railway on November 11 1981, and steamed for the first time since 1938 on December 3 that year. Its first public runs took place two days later.
Commenting on why the GCR was the venue for the Stirling ‘Single’s’ return to steam, Anthony says: “The GC was probably chosen because it was a fairly gentle and flat line. When you look at what other railways were up and running at that point – the ‘Moors’, Keighley and the Severn Valley for instance – none were really suitable for the ‘Single’.”
This is somewhat ironic given that the only other line on which No. 1 would operate under NRM auspices was the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (see below).
That said, owing to its age and mechanical condition (like many of the engines featured in this survey, recommissioning work on No. 1 was fairly minimal), the number of times the Stirling ‘Single’ steamed was limited. The GCR’s then mechanical foreman, Alen Grice – a former shedmaster at both Longmoor and Annesley – said: “I don’t think it did very much while it was with us; it was only used for high days and holidays.”
It remained at the GCR until October 9 1982, when it returned to York.
Almost exactly a year later, it moved to its second railway ‘home’ during its operational stint – the North Yorkshire Moors Railway; again, its first runs there were motivated by an Open University programme. Compared to its time at the Great Central, No. 1’s time at the ‘Moors’ was even more limited; it ran there for two days on October 19/20 1983, and for four days two years later, on October 11‑14 1985.
Prior to bowing out, however, it ran alongside Mallard at York for the NRM’s tenth birthday celebrations in September 1985. Its final runs at the NYMR a month later not only constituted No. 1’s last turns in steam, but the last time a ‘single’ operated in Britain, as Midland ‘Spinner’ No. 673 – the only other ‘single driver’ to have run in the preservation era – retired in 1980 (see One Hit Wonders Part One, SR494).