RAILWAY REALISM

NER Bo-Bo electric 4 approaches with a coal train at Aycliff e on August 24 1923. Wm. Rogerson/Rail Archive Stephenson.

from Locomotion Models and Rails of Sheffield – manufactured by Heljan. In 1910, Vincent Raven became Chief Mechanical Engineer of the NER and he was heavily influenced by Merz, taking trips to the USA to see the latest developments in electric traction. As a result, the following year the company commissioned a feasibility study into wider electrification and this led to a pilot scheme on a main line and for freight traffic being authorised. The section of track picked for this experiment ran between Shildon and Newport in County Durham. At this time the yards at Shildon received a huge flow of coal from the numerous collieries in the area and this was despatched mostly to Newport for onwards movement by ship. Traffic on this 18-mile-long line was fairly self-contained, so the projected electric trains would not have to interface with either passenger trains or steam-hauled goods workings to or from other destinations. In a break with previous electrification systems, power was transmitted to the locomotives entirely from the overhead, but this time at a voltage of 1,500V DC. Masts were placed at 300ft intervals and power came from two purpose-built power stations, with work to provide the necessary equipment being commenced in June 1913. Ten locomotives were constructed to work the electrified section, with construction this time taking place at Darlington Works to designs prepared by Raven and with electrical equipment coming from Siemens Brothers in Stafford. These were Bo-Bos and considerably larger than the earlier Tyne Dock locomotives, but they retained the centre cab arrangement, this time with two bow collectors mounted on the roof. Numbered 3-12, these locomotives were designed to haul 1,400-ton trains at a minimum speed of 25mph. Electric working of the ShildonNewport section commenced on July 1 1915, with the new machines provided with a specially-adapted roundhouse at Shildon shed. By this time the country was at war with Germany, which affected the North East’s export markets for coal and it was to be 1920 before the final locomotive was completed and available for traffic. In service the locomotives did everything promised from them, including working trains of up to 90 wagons long, and electrical engineers gained valuable experience of working a main line electrified system.

TABLE OF PIONEERING NORTH EASTERN ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES NUMBER TYPE DUTY BUILT SCRAPPED 1-2 ES1 Tyneside Quay shunter 1905 1966 (no 2) (no 1 preserved) 3-12 EB1 Shildon-Newport freight 1914-1919 1950-1964 13 EE1 Express Passenger 1922 1950

Despite other class members being withdrawn in 1950, NER EB1 26510 remained intact into the 1960s. In February 1954 it was noted at Ilford car sheds. E.V. Fry/Rail Archive Stephenson.

CURRENT FAILURE

During the war years Raven had been seconded to the Woolwich Arsenal but on his return in 1919 he was sufficiently impressed with the progress on the Shildon-Newport scheme to push forward with a plan to electrify the YorkNewcastle main line, seeking as a first step permission to build a prototype large express locomotive. This 2-Co-2 machine was constructed at Darlington Works in May 1922 and used electrical equipment supplied by Metropolitan Vickers. It had a large centre cab section and huge nose ends, although this time the locomotive was more of a box shape and had lost any similarity to the ‘crocodile’ design much favoured on the continent. Numbered 13, this locomotive was designed to haul 14 coaches at a speed of not less than 45mph on the level, with a maximum design speed of 90mph, and interestingly included in its specification a requirement to be able to start this train on a gradient of 1-in-78, which did not exist on NER metals but did at Edinburgh Waverley, perhaps showing what the longterm intentions were. Unfortunately, by this time the country’s finances were in tatters and it was realised that there was insufficient money available for such a large capital scheme, with the result that the future of main line electrification was placed in doubt. Matters were finally resolved in 1923 when

NER Bo-Bo electric 11 heads a lengthy coal train at Simpasture on May 14 1923. Wm. Rogerson/Rail Archive Stephenson.

the NER became part of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), which decided not to proceed with the idea. Consequently No.13 never ran, apart from some trials between Shildon and Newport, and appearances at railway celebration events. Somehow it managed to escape scrapping, lasting in store until British Railways days when it met its end at Rotherham in 1950. The ten Shildon engines fared just as badly as the depression caused a dramatic decline in traffic on their intended route, so much so that in 1933 when renewal of the overhead wires was required it was instead decided to revert to steam operation and place the electrics in store. Nine of the ten remained at Darlington until 1947 when they were moved to South Gosforth, while No.11 was sent to Gorton for conversion to a banking engine for the Wath line, but following this it returned to South Gosforth. Ultimately No.11 went to Ilford where it spent some years as depot pilot, occasionally venturing out on the main line. The Shildon electrics were condemned in August 1950 and broken up except for the former No.11, by now numbered 26510, which lasted until 1964 before making its final trip to Doncaster Works. This left only the first Tyneside electric, No.1, as the sole survivor of this interesting period in history. It is interesting to wonder what might have happened had the post-war depression not caused the railways to suffer from a lack of finance. Had the East Coast route between York and Newcastle been electrified in 1922 and had No.13 exhibited the kind of performance anticipated, then it is entirely possible the whole route between London and Scotland might have been electrified and that famous locomotives such as Gresley’s ‘A3s’ and ‘A4s’ might never have seen the light of day. In the event, Manchester-Sheffield was to be the first main line route to be electrified, to the same specification the NER had used some 40 years previously. That this should be so says a great deal for the pioneering work of Charles Merz and the foresight of Vincent Raven, who between them laid many of the foundations of the modern electrified system that we have today. HM

Immaculate NER prototype 4-6-4 (2-Co-2) express electric loco No.13 is hauled by ‘J71’ 0-6-0T 1163, whilst taking part in the Stockton and Darlington centenary cavalcade on July 2 1925. F.R. Hebron/ Rail Archive Stephenson.