The Great Northern Railway (GNR) No. 1 class Stirling Single is a class of steam locomotive designed for express passenger work. Designed by Patrick Stirling, they are characterised by a single pair of large (8 ft 1 in) driving wheels which led to the nickname "eight-footer".

Stirling built his engines for speed and power, in order to handle some of the continuous gradients on the main York-London GNR line, and to compete against the Midland Railway and L&NWR in the Races to the North. Stirling joined the GNR in 1866 having previously been Locomotive Superintendent of the Glasgow & South Western Railway since 1853.

The first London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Class A2 was a class of 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Vincent Raven for the North Eastern Railway (as NER class 4.6.2). [1] Two were built by the NER in 1922 before the grouping and another three by the LNER in 1924. Their LNER numbers were 2400–2404. All five locomotives were named by ...

Stirling built locomotives with domeless ("straightback") boilers. Many were rebuilt by Ivatt with larger, domed boilers, and were placed in a different class as shown in the table. No.533 rebuilt as a crane-tank in 1905. Q2 were rebuilds with piston valves. Later classified as O3 under the LNER. Three-cylinder. Another 56 built by LNER.

This engine was constructed to prove to the directors of the Great Northern Railway that it was quite practicable to reach Edinburgh from King’s Cross in eight hours by only stopping at Grantham, York, Newcastle and Berwick.

The Great Northern Railway (GNR) ‘8ft Singles’ were a type of steam locomotive designed for express passenger work between London King’s Cross and York by Patrick Stirling. It is characterised by a large single driving wheel allowing it to haul trains of around 150 tons at an average speed of 51mph while reaching speeds of up to 85mph and ...

This pack includes 5 variants of the A2 locomotive: NER Green (original condition). 1924 LNER Green (both with and without bogey spring variants). LNER Apple Green (both with and without bogey...

Back to Locomotives Earlier locomotives which were not taken into the stock of the big four companies at Grouping in 1923. 11 4-2-2 GNR Class A2 Stirling Single 2 0-6-0ST Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway 3 Coppernob 0-4-0 Furness Railway Class A2 20 Furness Railway 0-4-0 Furness Railway 25 Furness Railway 0-4-0ST Furness Railway 49 Columbine…

The A2/2s are often considered the least successful of Thompson’s Pacific designs, but it has to be borne in mind that he was working with the flawed P2 design. They differed from the other A2 locomotives in not carrying smoke deflectors.

Only surviving GNR Stirling Single locomotive, as well as the only 4-2-2 type locomotive in the UK. Operated briefly in excursion service on the Great Central Railway in the early 1980s. Became the basis for Emily the Stirling Engine from Thomas & Friends.