One for the train spotters! This early view of Loftus Station appears to date from just after the extension of the line to Whitby, with the Train on the Middlesbrough bound line obscured by steam. The embankment looks new with little vegetation growth. The engine looks to be an 0-6-0 tender locomotive, the position of the springs on the tender, and square spectacle windows in the cab could give a clue to the class of locomotive? Our expert viewers will give us their opinion, please. Gareth Spencer comments: “My first thought was the locomotive is likely to have been one of Edward Fletcher’s four-coupled passenger engines as modernized under McDonnell, which would account for the square spectacle windows, as seen running c.1900. I am not conversant with the details of Fletcher’s locomotives, but there were several classes of this type of passenger engine on the North Eastern Railway. One such engine of 1873 is preserved in original condition, plus one of the later Tennant 2-4-0s of 1885, which the locomotive in the photograph is definitely not.” and later added: “Most likely a member of the 901 class, one of 55 engines constructed between 1872 and 1882 by the NER at Gateshead works, by Beyer Peacock & Co, and also Neilson & Co. The extant example No.910, restored for the Stockton and Darlington Centenary, was a Gateshead product of April 1875 and has square spectacle windows. A photograph of No.908 shows a cab with round spectacles. McDonnell adopted Ramsbottom safety valves as standard and introduced them to the 901 class, which later received a new design of boiler and new cylinders, thus altering their appearance. The 1440 class (15 engines) was similar, they had 6ft. diameter driving wheels, whereas the 901 class had 7ft driving wheels. Source LNER Encyclopaedia (Internet).”
Image Courtesy of Michael Garbutt; thanks to Gareth Spencer for the updates.
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