Description
This is a pre order item which cannot be checked out. Please order by telephone or email, Expected price £220 DCC ready
GNR and Pre-grouping fans will finally be able to get their hands on a ready-to-run model of No.1 in the same condition as it was restored to in the 1930s. Paired with a small tender, No.1 had remained in this condition for most of its life in preservation. Despite it being discovered in the 1970s that this tender wasn’t meant to be coupled to this railway icon, it wasn’t until many years later, in 2014, that the Stirling Tender Project actually returned it to its prototypical and current preserved condition that we know it as today.
Prior to withdrawal, No.1 had a standard large Stirling tender of 1891 design, but in preparation for the White City Exhibition of 1909 an old tender was found, which had previously been used behind the Doncaster Carriage Shunter, Hawthorn 0-4-2, No 112A. This consisted of a goods tender chassis with 3ft 7in wheels with a small well tank designed for a passenger tender.
So, the tender attached to No.1 had no historical claim to be paired with the locomotive prior to the White City Exhibition, but as it was thought no legitimate tender remained at this point, it sufficed. It did so for many years until a historically correct version was discovered.
Incredibly it had been discarded rather unceremoniously in a siding just outside of Peterborough.
With over 80 years being coupled to the smaller of the two tenders, it is fair to say that many enthusiasts associate No.1 with this longstanding low-profiled counterpart, remembering it fondly from visits to the National collection or enthusiast events.
To quote Mr. Richard Gibbons, who penned the conservation report on the Stirling Single for the NRM: “The Sturrock tender currently with the locomotive is an anachronism that has been perpetuated for so long now that it has acquired its own historical legitimacy.”
Stirling Single No.1
Small “Sturrock” tender (1909 to 2012)
Smooth running mechanism
Suitable for operation on 2nd Radius curves (438mm or greater)
Accurate, fine scale precision livery application
Working firebox flicker
21-pin DCC decoder socket
Factory fitted speaker in all models
Accurate sounds obtained from archival footage
Laser 3D scanned for accuracy
