Photos from Aussie Print & Laser Co.'s post I printed the "North Eastern" tender transfers for this wonderful 1:11 scale historic model N.E.R. F1 4-4-0 live steam locomotive for a customer in the UK. The model has a very interesting background, so you may wish to continue reading. Below is what the lucky custodian says about it:
The loco is a historic model, originally constructed by Harry Atkinson of Cleckheaton in Yorkshire c.1900. I know this only because there is an article in the 'Locomotive Magazine' for February 1900, describing Atkinson's railway, with pictures of the loco. The article describes how it was built from drawings made by Atkinson from measurements taken from the loco while it was standing in the station at Leeds. (The N.E.R. had refused to allow him access to their official drawings).
The prototype was a Class F1 4-4-0, built at Gateshead in 1887 to the design of T.W. Worsdell, then Locomotive Superintendent of the N.E.R. Atkinson's model takes a few liberties, all relatively minor: for example, by increasing the size of the driving wheels from 6'6" to 7'6". This decision would seem to have been inspired by the more recent practice of the N.E.R., which by then was building bigger 4-4-0s (notably Classes M, M1 and Q). However, Atkinson still identified his model as an F1, and gave it the number of his original prototype (1137).
Atkinson built his model at a time before gauges were standardised. His chosen scale was 1:11, which meant that the loco ran originally on a gauge of five and three-sixteenths inches. In consequence, he only ever ran it in his own garden. What became of the model between the time of his death, in 1929, and the time I found it in an obscure auction back in 1999, remains a mystery.
Although retaining the original gauge would have preserved a certain curiosity value, Jim and I decided that it would be a shame if such a fine model were unable to run on today's tracks. The loco has accordingly been adapted to run on 5" gauge, and this very slight adjustment is, happily, imperceptible. A new boiler has had to be fitted (obviously!) and the loco is now coal-fired: in common with general practice at the time of its first construction it originally ran on a combination of charcoal and something called 'Royle's Patent Fuel' - presumably some kind of oil or paraffin. Proper injectors now take the place of the original hand pump arrangement. However, apart from this, pretty much all of Atkinson's original build survives.
I was just lucky: first, to have chanced upon the model in a place it should never have been, and then to find that Hamilton Ellis had noticed the Locomotive Magazine article (which I doubt I would otherwise have discovered) and used it to write an account of Atkinson's railway in his book "Model Railways 1838-1939" (1962).
My hope now is that No. 1137 will run fairly frequently at open days on the Tyneside Model Engineers' club track in Newcastle. I have also been asked to write up its story in an article for the journal of the North Eastern Railway Association. As you say, it's quite possible this will generate wider interest, and maybe even some fresh information. One frustrating thing at present is that I haven't been able to track down any photograph of the prototype. Pictures are available of virtually every other member of classes F and F1, but not this one, so I'm hoping somebody may yet turn one up.
Thanks to DJH Engineering for allowing me to use their wonderfully produced artwork for this project. ... See more
