Kitmaster No. 9

Fifty-Three engines of this type were built between 1870 and 1895 at the Doncaster works of the Old Great Northern Railway to the design of Patrick Stirling. For a long time they worked a large part of the East Coast route and in this capacity achieved notable speed performances. Engines of this class figured in the Railway Race to Edinburgh in 1888 and the Race to Aberdeen in 1895. These locomotives had a distinctive outward appearance, with their domeless boilers, outside cylinders and the sweep of the footplate over their 8 0' dia. driving wheels and the mechanical design enabled them to maintain a very high standard of reliability in all conditions of working. The original No. I locomotive of 1870 was not withdrawn from service until as late as August 1907 in which time it completed upwards of 1,400,000 miles. It is a remarkable life for an old locomotive which cost only £2,076 to build. Although withdrawn from service in 1907, the No. I locomotive was again in steam in 1925, when it took part in the procession of locomotives between Stockton and Darlington on the occasion of the Railway Centenary celebrations. This locomotive was again brought into service In 1938, when It was given a general overhaul and provided with a train of old East Coast 6-wheel carriages, with which it made a number of excursions to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Railway Race to the North. The No. 1 is now in the Railway Museum at York giving a fitting end to a fine locomotive.

Exploded Diagram

Instruction Sheet