The National Railway Museum at Shildon, now has three additional locomotives now on display in the museum’s Collection Building.
LMS Stanier Class 8F 2-8-0 No. 45170 has arrived at Shildon from Turkey, where it saw service during World War II.
This locomotive design was introduced by the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1935 to haul heavy freight. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the class was chosen to become the UK’s standard freight design. The War Department had 208 8Fs built by Beyer Peacock and North British Locomotive Company, and requisitioned 51 more.
When war was declared, British locomotive manufacturers found that they could no longer supply an order to Turkish Republic Railways (TCDD) for 2-10-0 locomotives similar to the TCDD 56001 Class, derived from the German BR42, at the original price and conditions. However, Nazi Germany stepped in to offer neutral Turkey an alternative, which become the TCDD 56501 Class. Diplomatically embarrassed, the British offered the Turks a batch of 25 of the LMS Stanier Class 8Fs – including locomotive no. 45170.
The locomotives were shipped as a kit of parts via the Cape of Good Hope and Suez Canal, since the Mediterranean was too dangerous for Allied shipping. Two ships in the convoy failed to reach their destination, leading to the loss of seven of the locomotives. The remaining 18 locomotives were transhipped at Port Said in Egypt before travelling overland to Turkey. They were re-erected in Sivas under the direction of Ronald G Jarvis, an LMS engineer.
Designed for British conditions, the 8Fs were not really suited to Turkey. Though large for British engines, they were underpowered by Turkish standards and so could not ascend the steep grades unassisted. They were relegated to shunting and local freight trips, although they continued to see regular work into the 1980s.
Two of the Turkish 8Fs have been preserved in Turkey, and one was repatriated to the UK in 1989 by the Churchill 8F Group. In October 2010, two more of the six remaining derelict examples in Turkey – 45166 and 45170 – were acquired by a British consortium. The owners hope to restore 45170, and the locomotive will be on display at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon until Summer 2011, when it will move on to the restoration base at Storey Engineering in Hepscott, Northumberland.
Stirling Single No. 1 has arrived at Shildon straight from London’s Waterloo Station, where it has been starring in a spectacular theatre adaptation of E Nesbit’s classic ‘The Railway Children’. The locomotive has been stealing the show since the York Theatre Royal and National Railway Museum production opened in York in Summer 2008. The most recent run of the show has taken place in a 1,000 seater venue at the former Eurostar Terminal, with the audience seated either side of the railway line.
The Great Northern Railway G Class Stirling Single locomotives were designed by Patrick Stirling, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Northern Railway, for express passenger work between London and York. The design is characterised by a single paid of large – 8ft 1in – driving wheels, which led to the nickname ‘eight footer’. A total of 53 locomotives Stirling Single locomotives were built at Doncaster between 1870 and 1895, but only one example remains – the first of the class, Stirling Single No. 1, is the only one to be preserved.
Stirling Single No. 1 is on display at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon until Spring 2011. Museum visitors will have the chance to get on board the footplate of this fabulous locomotive at the Museum Alive! event on Sunday February 13.
What’s more, railway and photography enthusiasts will have the opportunity to take night photographs of Stirling Single No. 1 plus another recent addition to the display – LMS Crab No. 13000 – at an evening photography session on Wednesday February 16.
LMS Crab No. 13000 is the first-built example of its class, and has recently been repainted into its original livery in the Conservation Workshop at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon.
The evening photography session is a unique opportunity to take photographs of this spectacular locomotive on display outside the Collection Building (weather permitting). Admission is by ticket only – tickets are on sale now, priced £5. For more information or to book, please call the museum on 01388 771439.
For more information on events at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon, please visit www.nrm.org.uk/locomotion