Nigel Gresley, Vincent Raven, Henry Ivatt and the Worsdell brothers: the chief mechanical engineers and locomotive superintendents of the LNER and its antecedents produced some truly superb and eye-catching designs. Even controversial CME Edward Thompson’s ‘B1s’ and ‘L1s’ have a pleasing functionality to their lines.
But you’d never normally associate Richard Maunsell with designing an LNER locomotive, would you? Or William Stanier? Yet they did… and they weren’t the only ones.
Join Steam World as we explore the intriguing stories of five LNER classes which had very non-LNER designers.
1 ’Y9’ 0-4-0ST
Designed by: Neilson & Co
Where should credit for the LNER ‘Y9’ 0-4-0ST lie? Should it be with Matthew Holmes who was the North British Railway’s Locomotive Superintendent when the first two were delivered? Or should it be Dugald Drummond, Holmes’ predecessor, who actually placed the order?
Officially, it’s Holmes who takes the credit. In reality, it should be a third party: Glasgow locomotive builders Neilson & Company.
Scotland in the mid- to late-1800s was bursting with heavy industry. The fishing industry was also booming so consequently, there were plenty of factories and harbours with tightly curved and lightly laid railways and sidings.
These new lines would need locomotives to work them and so Neilson & Co produced a four-coupled saddletank that was ideal. It was a simple
