NER Class R1

The North Eastern Railway Class R1 were a group of large-boilered 4-4-0s designed by Wilson Worsdell and built at Darlington Works between 1908 and 1909. A total of ten examples were built.

History

In an attempt to make a more powerful and successful passenger engine, the NER's Drawing Office took an R (D20) class bottom end and put in a modified V (C6) class boiler. The first batch of ten were built between 1908 and 1909, and upon entering service, they looked impressive with their large boilers. However, they were not so good as the D20s, as they proved to have an extravagant appetite for coal and that the boiler design was non-standard compared to most of the other classes. Because of this, no more engines were ordered.

As the years went by, and as the trains grew heavier, they were being replaced by more powerful engines and displaced to secondary duties. The lighter and slower work had helped them to live longer lives, and they racked up higher mileages between general repairs. Despite this, they were all withdrawn and scrapped between December 1942 and February 1946, with no surviving examples.