Herbert Nigel Gresley
Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley C.B.E. (1876-1941), Doncaster Engineer.
Born at Edinburgh. Locomotive and carriage Engineer.
Best-known for -
- Chief Mechanical Engineer of GNR and LNER from 1911-1941.
- Pioneer of articulated coaches, buffet-cars and streamlined locomotives.
- Designer of Great Northern, Flying Scotsman, Cock o' the North and the record breaking Mallard, K3 2-6-0 class, 02 2-8-0 class, B17 (Sandringham) 4-6-0 class for East Anglia and V2 (Green Arrow) 2-6-2 Class, all with three cylinders.
1941 Obituary [1]
The railway world can ill afford to lose a man of the ability of Sir Nigel Gresley, whose death on April 5th at the early age of sixty-four we mourn to-day. For many years he was pre-eminent as a British locomotive designer, and not even the historic figures of the past have more famous engines to their credit than he.
Trained under such masters as Webb and Aspinall and Ivatt, he combined the experience gained under them with a natural aptitude for design which he fostered and enlarged by the careful study of foreign, particularly French, developments. He never hesitated to embody in his own engines the good things he found in others, and was always ready to make practical tests of promising inventions. But despite this broadness of outlook there is not one of his many designs that is not essentially British, both in characteristics and appearance. They carry on the great tradition of British locomotive engineers, but always adding to and improving on what had gone before. Only once did he depart from the standard design. In 1929 he built No. "10,000," a compound with a high-pressure water-tube boiler.
For years he devoted to it all the skill and knowledge he could command, but in the end had to admit that, for once, success evaded him. Those who allege that British C.M.E.s are lacking in daring and imagination cannot say that in this case either was wanting ; nor can they say that the experiment failed because the designer was half-hearted. Gresley did all that could be done to make the engine a success, and it was not till 1937 that it was converted. Its failure confirmed him in the belief that for the conditions of British railways the conventional form of boiler and engine, the out come of more than a century of practice and experience, is still the best.
Sir Nigel was a Leicestershire man, the son of a Rector of Seale, but he was a descendant of an old Derbyshire family. He was born in June, 1876, was educated at Marlborough and apprenticed to Webb at Crewe. Crewe men look upon Crewe as old boys look upon their public school. It is a common bond between them. Gresley was always proud of the fact that he was one of the band. Leaving Webb, he went to Horwich as a pupil under Sir John Aspinall, the "father" of many men who have won high positions in railway life. Then, in 1905, Ivatt took him to Doncaster as carriage and wagon superintendent. In those days, long before the reduction of many railways to four, that was always regarded as preceding appointment as locomotive superintendent.
In 1911 H. A. Ivatt retired, and Gresley reigned in his stead. Ivatt, carrying on the Patrick Stirling tradition, had made a reputation for Great Northern express engines, and for several years Gresley was content to produce "Atlantics " of more or less standard Doncaster design. Then in 1922 he broke new ground. He designed and built at Doncaster his first "Pacific." For two or three years he had been developing the three-cylinder engine.
In 1920 he built a mixed traffic 2-6-0 engine, "No. 1000 " - see THE ENGINEER, May 7th and December 31st , 1920 - and in the following year some 2-S-0 coal engines, both with three 18.5in. by 26in. cylinders. The outside valves were controlled by Walschaerts gear, but t he inside valve was operated by floating levers (Holcroft and Gresley). His "Pacifies" of 1922 - see THE ENGINEER, January 26th and April 27th, 1923-were the most notable engines of their day. They had three 20in. by 26in. cylinders, driving 6ft. 8in. wheels and weighed 97 tons, with 60 tons on the coupled wheels. The valve gear was Walschaerts, and the floating linkage of Gresley's design.
In 1923 grouping of the railways took place under the Act of 1921. The Great Northern ceased to be a separate entity; it was amalgamated with other companies under the title London and North-Eastern, but Gresley was retained and became chief mechanical engineer to the whole new system. The most active part of his career as a locomotive designer then began. In ten or a dozen years he turned out himself or adopted for trial many new engines or introduced new details.
In 1924 he fitted a booster to an Atlantic. In 1925 be purchased some 2-8-8-2 "Garratts," in 1926 he fitted the Lentz valve gear to some engines for t est purposes, in 1927 a new 0-6-0 goods engine was built, and in the same year the pressure in 4-6-2 "Enterprise " was brought up from 180 lb. to 220 lb. In the following year a 4-4-0 three-cylinder engine was put into service, and in the next year steam railcars were purchased. A new class of passenger engines, the "Sandringhams," appeared in 1929, and in the same year a " Pacific " was fitted with roller bearings. In 1929 the high-pressure water-tube boiler, four-cylinder compound, No. "10,000" was constructed, and new side tank engines went into service. Two years later a 4-4-4 articulated boost er locomotive was built.
The year 1934 is notable for the completion of No. "2000," a 2-8-2 express engine called "Cock o' the North," and in 1935 came the famous streamlined engine and train-the "Silver Link" and "Silver Jubilee." His last product was a 2-6-2, the "Bantam Cock," designed so that it might run over parts of the L.N.F..R. system that are not suitable for a 22-ton axle load.
This mere catalogue of engines-all of them have been illustrated and described in our pages will give some idea of Gresley's activity at this time. The "Silver Link " has to her credit a speed with a heavy train of no less than 112 m.p.h. That was a "stunt" run, but the type was designed to maintain an average of 70 m.p.h. on very long trips. The " Silver Jubilee" train of 1935 did the 232 miles to Darlington without a stop in four hours, and in 1937 the "Coronation" ran from King's Cross to York at an average speed of 72 m.p.h., and reached Edinburgh in six hours. These runs being too long for one train crew, Gresley built a tender with a corridor running through it, so that the crews could be changed en route. He not only designed the engines for these crack trains, but had a great deal to do with the design of the trains themselves, the air resistance of which it was desired to reduce to the minimum. We may recall, also, that many years ago he introduced the fixed articulated train in which three bogies carry two coaches, the central bogie being common to both. Of all his engines, three stand out. The "Cook o' the North," "No. 10,000," and the "Silver Link." The "Cock o' the North," of 1934, was designed to work the heaviest section of the L.N.E.R., that between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and is remarkable from the fact that she has eight large coupled wheels with two leading wheels instead of a bogie. The wheels are 6ft. 2in. diameter and the engine is a genuine "express." She has three 2l in. by 26in. cylinders and the first of the class-the " Cock o' the North " herself - has poppet valves operated by rotary cams. The driving axles are loaded at about 20 tons each and the total weight of the engine is a little over 110 tons, with a tractive effort of 43,462 lb.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Chris de Winter Hebron, 50 Famous Railwaymen, 2005