LNER Peppercorn Class A1

60133 Pommern passing Leeds-Holbeck High Level Station hauling Leeds Central to Kings Cross Yorkshire Pullman

60131 Osprey at Leeds Neville Hill locomotive shed on 18 April 1965

The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Peppercorn Class A1 is a type of express passenger steam locomotive. Forty-nine original Peppercorn Class A1s were built to the design of Arthur Peppercorn (who was the last Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Railway) during the early British Railways era, but all were scrapped with the discontinuation of steam, with none of the original production run surviving into preservation. In 2008 a brand new 50th Peppercorn A1 locomotive, 60163 Tornado, was completed.

Background

Most of the former LNER Class A1 locomotives designed by Sir Nigel Gresley had been rebuilt as LNER Class A3 locomotives prior to this class being conceived. The few straggling LNER Class A1 locomotives that remained unrebuilt during the tenure of Peppercorn's predecessor, Edward Thompson, were redesignated by him as Class A10s in preparation for the construction of his new Class A1 locomotives. Thompson rebuilt the pioneer LNER pacific Great Northern in 1945; originally this was the new Class A1, but the rebuild was not repeated. Instead, initiated by Thompson but largely taken forward by his successor Arthur Peppercorn, Great Northern was designated Class A1/1, and a new class of Peppercorn A1s ordered.

The locomotives were designed to cope with the heaviest passenger trains in the after-war period on the East Coast Main Line (London – York – Newcastle – Edinburgh – Aberdeen) which consisted normally of trains with up to 15 coaches and up to 550 tons. The Peppercorn A1s were able to pull such a train on the flat at a speed of 60–70 mph (95-110 km/h). Like previous LNER pacifics, the class had a 3-cylinder arrangement. The chimney system was of the type Double-Kylchap.

Original locomotives

Construction

The new A1s were ordered by the LNER but delivered after that company had been nationalised to form part of British Railways at the start of 1948. The 49 engines were built at the Eastern Region's Doncaster and Darlington works between 1948 and 1949.

Withdrawal

By summer of 1966 all 49 class members had gone for scrap. The last to be withdrawn from stock was No. 60145 Saint Mungo after a working life of just 17 years.

List of original locomotives

Below is a list of original Peppercorn A1 Locomotives^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Notes on names

The names of the A1s ^[9] were an eclectic mix including:

• Racehorses: Bois Roussel, Silurian, Scottish Union, Bongrace, Pommern, Foxhunter, Alcazar, Boswell, King's Courier, Aboyeur, Amadis, Willbrook, Flamboyant
• Names of people: W. P. Allen (an LNER locomotive driver who became a member of the Railway Executive in 1948), Archibald Sturrock, Patrick Stirling, H. A. Ivatt, Sir Vincent Raven, Wilson Worsdell, Edward Fletcher (Locomotive Superintendents of pre-grouping railways), Sir Walter Scott, Saint Mungo
• Names related to the works of Sir Walter Scott: Meg Merrilies, Hal o’ the Wynd, Kenilworth, Guy Mannering, Marmion, Borderer, Madge Wildfire, Redgauntlet, Bonnie Dundee. Some of these names had previously been used on NBR J class locomotives
• Pre-grouping railway companies: North Eastern, Great Central, Great Eastern, North British
• Birds: Kittiwake, Curlew, Kestrel, Osprey, Sea Eagle, Peregrine
• Place-related names: Balmoral, Abbotsford (Sir Walter Scott's house), Midlothian, Holyrood, Bon Accord (motto of Aberdeen), Auld Reekie (a soubriquet for Edinburgh), Saint Johnstoun (an old name for Perth), Aberdonian

No. 60163 Tornado

60163 Tornado, August 2008, Darlington

None of the original production run of 49 Peppercorn A1s survived the scrapyard to be preserved, however in 2008 a brand new 50th A1 based on the Peppercorn patterns, 60163 Tornado, was completed as the evolved member of the class.^[10]

Accidents and incidents

• On 5 June 1950, locomotive No. 60153 Flamboyant was hauling an express passenger train which was derailed at Tollerton, Nottinghamshire due to heat buckled track.^[11]

Models

Bachmann Branchline and Hornby make models in OO gauge, Graham Farish produce a model in N gauge and Accucraft (UK) make a live steam model in gauge 1.

References

Further reading

• Boddy, M. G.; Neve, E.; Yeadon, W. B. (April 1973). Fry, E. V., ed. Locomotives of the L.N.E.R., Part 2A: Tender Engines—Classes A1 to A10. Kenilworth: RCTS. ISBN 0-901115-25-8. 
• Yeadon, W. B. (1991). Yeadon's Register of LNER Locomotives, Volume 3: Raven, Thompson and Peppercorn Pacifics. Irwell Press. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LNER Peppercorn Class A1.

• A1 Steam Locomotive Trust
• LNER Encyclopaedia
• Railuk database