7 1/4 inch gauge Stirling "7 foot double" 4-4-0

When Patrick Stirling designed his supremely beautiful 8 foot single for the Great Northern Railway in 1870, like many new designs it wasn't an immediate success. The fact that any problems were at most minor teething issues was proved by the subseqent performance and extraordinarily long life of the design - the last of the singles was completed in 1895, 25 years after the first engine was built.

Intriguingly, in the 1950s an outline drawing for a 7 foot 4-4-0 obviously based on the 8 foot single turned up at Doncaster Works. Dated 1870 and signed "J.C.Park" - then the chief draughtsman - a tracing of this drawing was made by J.N. Maskelyne and reproduced in the Stephenson Locomotive Society journal in 1952.

A "might have been", it was never produced - history doesn't relate whether Stirling himself ever saw the design.

This is a 7 1/4 inch gauge model based on the Park drawing, a well-built engine showing just how neatly an extra pair of driving wheels could be accommodated in place of the usual trailing wheels.

The engine has spent the last few years on a private railway in the North - it's something I coveted since first seeing it! With passing years, the owner is discovering the ergonomic practicalities of narrow versus standard gauge engines (something I cottoned on to some years ago, can't bend down far enough for ground level standard gauge these days!). With a fine Koppel in the shed already, and the Waldenburg we delivered a few weeks ago, I suspect his knees and back will have much to thank him for.

We had this one in steam recently, I couldn't resist a brief run up and down on it in the yard. A delightful thing to drive, the same high-geared chuff from the chimney you get from an eight footer, with one of the lightest regulators I've had the pleasure to use.

In good order througout, the original paintwork remains in good condition with some minor retouching in places. One tender wheel has an old repair which appears sound and caused no problems with drivers of various weights (!) sat upon it.

As ever, the estimable videographer Lee Sutherland has some excellent footage on his YouTube channel of this engine (and many others). With his kind permission, I've put links to clips of the engine pulling freight and at speed flying around the Nottingham club track here.