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44767 – the inside story

The legendary LMS ‘Black Five’ will need no introduction to readers of Heritage Railway.  842 engines were built between 1934 and 1951 and it was one of the most successful designs produced by William Stanier of the LMS. Most were of identical design but this was to change in 1947, when HG Ivatt, who succeeded Stanier, set about building 30 new ‘Black Fives’ to different designs in order to keep them abreast of modern developments to produce an increase in availability and periods between general overhauls and to also lessen the work of maintenance, servicing and inspections.

To that end, Caprotti valve gear and Timken roller bearings were chosen as two major fitments likely to produce substantial benefits. All engines had the latest fitments, such as manganese axlebox liners, rocking fire grate, self-emptying hopper ashpan, self-cleaning smokebox and continuous boiler blow down. Six locomotives, including No 4767, were fitted with double chimneys and electric headlights. To make a proper trial, Ivatt included the standard Walschaerts valve gear, but for the first time in almost 100 years, one locomotive, No 4767, was fitted with an experimental set of outside Stephenson motion.

It can be seen the comparative trials were well thought out with a lot of investment in drawing office design and materials from specialist manufacturers. The drawing office was given a free hand to produce the best designs, even if it meant moving away from the standard ‘Black Five’ of which a vast number, 732, had already been built at that time. To fit the Timken bearings, the trailing axle centres were moved back by 4ins and the boiler raised by 2ins with an increase in locomotive weight of three tons.

Of all the new designs, that for No 4767’s valve gear was the most unusual. How it came about we would not know, had it not been for the former head of the Crewe works development section, a GA Landridge, visiting Carnforth Museum in August 1974.

Thinking it would be of interest for a future guide book, he kindly wrote as follows: 'The Stephenson Class 5 came about through a remark from HG Ivatt that his GWR counterpart said its 4-6-0s with (inside) Stephenson’s valve gear were so much better than the LMS with Walschaert’s. So Ivatt said let's see what we can do to get Stephenson’s gear on the outside of a Class 5. Ivatt thought it would be doubtful if it would fit, but the development section worked it out. So that is how this Stephenson ‘Black Five’ came about. It all started following a remark from the GWR!'

A unique engine
This experimental set of outside Stephenson valve gear was developed with two fly cranks rather than eccentrics to give a maximum travel of about 6½in, the same as the piston valves in the Walschaerts gear engines. The cost in drawing office time and manufacture of the components must have been considerable for a ‘one off’ and on the eve of nationalisation of the railways in 1948. To put this into context, the last main line locomotive previously to No 4767 to have outside Stephenson valve gear in Britain are believed to be the William Dean’s single drivers of the Great Western Railway in 1884!

The LMS paper on the trials said: 'Special cost records are to be kept of the 30 locomotives to assess the relative financial benefit that accrues from the various arrangements'; but in practice with Nationalisation in 1948 this never happened, which is unfortunate as it could have influenced the design of the BR Standards. No 4767 had a reputation of being stronger on the hills than a normal ‘Black Five’, so were the Great Western right?

After construction, all the 30 engines went into normal traffic, and being ‘non standard’, they could have been candidates for early withdrawal; but this was not to be the case, with No 44767 lasting almost to the end of steam on BR. While many ‘Black Fives' have luckily made it into steam preservation, of the 30 experimental ones developed for the trials, only one has survived – No 4767.

This locomotive, when new, as the accompanying photograph shows, was turned out in LMS livery and numbered 4767 and fitted with a double chimney. It was at first allocated to Liverpool Bank Hall shed where problems with drifting smoke from the double chimney saw it replaced with the normal single variety in 1952. On 23 April 1960, it was transferred to Southport but reached Carlisle Kingmoor in September 1963 and for the following four years worked over the Settle and Carlisle, West Coast Main Line and north to Glasgow and Perth.

Carlisle Kingmoor closed on 30 December 1967 and a day later No 44767 was finally withdrawn, exactly 20 years to the day from when it entered service. It would have certainly gone for scrap had it not been for the intervention of the late Dr Peter Beet, who set up Carnforth Museum and who tried to find buyers for potential good engines to preserve.

Preservation
Documentation shows a Mr J. Buttigieg from Newport in Wales bought No 44767 and other engines for scrap for cutting up at Kingmoor, rather than transporting to South Wales. It is possible Peter Beet did not know this, as one day the whole tender of No 44767 was cut up by mistake. Fortunately, the locomotive and rods were still intact.

A new buyer was desperately needed to save this unique locomotive and he turned to someone who already had ‘Black Five’ No 45428 and part ownership of LNER K1 2-6-0 No 62005 and A2 No 60532 Blue Peter. This was the late Brian Hollingsworth, who purchased No 44767 for £2100 from the British Railway Board, who must have compensated the scrap dealer who had recently bought it. No 44767 did of course not have a tender but fortunately one of those with roller bearings from the batch of 30 engines had been attached to another class member, No 44950, which was withdrawn from service and sold to Drapers of Hull. This tender was somehow attached to a freight train from Hull to Carlisle, coupled to the locomotive, then the whole engine towed dead over Shap to Carnforth. Those arrangements must have taken a huge effort to organise.

At Carnforth, restoration of 44767 commenced, but with few helpers to assist Brian Hollingsworth, progress was slow. The early 1970s were the years of great development and progress of preserved railways throughout the UK. One, the infant North Yorkshire Moors Railway Preservation Society, had by 1971 the NELPG Q6 0-8-0 and J27 0-6-0, but more big engines were required prior to the opening of the line in 1973. No 45428 and Captain Bill Smith's GNR J52 0-6-0ST No 1247 were moved from Tyseley to Grosmont and No 44767 was linked to a move to the NYMR.

Restoration
In 1972, there was an agreed plan to have No 44767 commercially restored at Hunslet in Leeds (the last UK steam builder) or Doncaster, painted in crimson lake, numbered 4767 with ‘NYMR’ on the tender sides. It was also to be named on 1 May 1973 Duchess of Kent in honour of her Royal Highness, who officially opened the line. Because the contractual arrangements could not be set up quickly, there was not enough time to do the restoration, so the opening Royal Train carrying the Duchess of Kent was hauled by NELPG’s P3 No 2392 and Lambton Tank No 29.

At the same time in 1972, great plans were being made in the North East by the local councils to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which occurred in 1975. Those three years of preparation and planning were to lead to perhaps the greatest steam event in railway preservation, that in one day alone attracted 350,000 people to witness the Grand Steam Cavalcade.

As the NELPG representative on the committee to decide the locomotives for that Cavalcade, an LMS ‘Black Five’ had to attend, but which one? The hon general manager of the NYMR, the late John Bellwood, wished to move No 44767 from Carnforth to Grosmont, so could the exhibition be persuaded to pay for the movement? What if Brian Hollingsworth would agree to call his engine George Stephenson after the famous engineer of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and of course designer of the Stephenson link motion on No 44767? What if the son of the general manager of the LNER, William Whitelaw, would perform the naming ceremony as one of the highlights of the week-long locomotive exhibition at Shildon?

Never was an idea greeted with such enthusiasm by all parties, and the local councils agreed to pay in full for the movement from Carnforth to Shildon and Grosmont and even the brass nameplates! There was only one problem – the engine was as withdrawn from BR service.

NELPG was already heavily committed, sending three locomotives; the K1, J27 and the Q6, the latter needing a complete overhaul at Grosmont.

Nevertheless, NELPG was asked if it could also restore the ‘Black Five’ to full working order at Thornaby in only 12 months. It bravely agreed to the challenge and with co-operation with Peter Beet and Joe Greenwood at Carnforth, No 44767 was prepared for movement by NELPG volunteers and duly arrived at Thornaby on 14 August 1974, leaving less than 12 months to do the job.

Working against the clock in Thornaby roundhouse, progress was good, with the cost of materials being met by Brian Hollingsworth. Then, out of the blue, Brian agreed to sell the locomotive in January 1975 for £7000 to someone closely involved, NELPG’s then chairman Ian Storey.

First steaming
Progress was so good that within just nine months, the engine was steamed for the first time in preservation by NELPG volunteers at Thornaby on 15 March 1975. With three other locomotives being prepared at Grosmont, this was a proud achievement indeed; and by August, right on schedule, the engine was fully repainted in its original LMS livery as No 4767.

At the Shildon exhibition on 25 August 1975, William Whitelaw unveiled the George Stephenson nameplates and was presented with a painting by NELPG member and artist John Wigston. It was a proud day for NELPG, as George Stephenson, with NELPG headboard attached, led the four engines restored by NELPG volunteers past the 350,000 people watching the Grand Cavalcade on 31 August 1975.

George Stephenson then began its life in preservation and with its owner Ian involved with the locomotive and running a successful engineering company, Ian Storey Engineering, at Hepscott, near Morpeth, the locomotive could not have been in better hands. Its home base was the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and with no covered accommodation at Grosmont for No 44767, in order to help construct Deviation Shed with NELPG volunteers, Ian contributed finance and volunteer help to make it happen.

Its first of many main line runs, ‘The Scarborough Flyer', occurred on 4 July 1976 when the ‘Black Five’ ran between Newcastle and Stockton and 9F 2-10-0 No 92220 Evening Star between York and Scarborough. This was to be the first of dozens of railtours by this popular engine that has seen it travel throughout the north, along the Blyth and Tyne, Newcastle to Carlisle, the Settle & Carlisle, but also further afield to places such as Swansea, Fishguard, London St Pancras, Cleethorpes, London Waterloo, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ayr, Perth, Inverness and Helmsdale.

It also made a considerable contribution to the success of the Fort William to Mallaig service, running seven seasons between 1984 and 1998.

Other than the NYMR, No 44767 has visited many heritage lines over the last 35 years, including the Strathspey, Midland Railway Centre, Severn Valley, KWVR, Great Central, Mid Hants, North Norfolk, Nene Valley and Bo’ness.

A busy programme
Unlike some locomotives that spend long periods in store, because George Stephenson has a ‘hands on’ owner to manage maintenance and the difficult finances, it has meant the engine has never been idle.

Following the 1975 Thornaby overhaul, it was retubed by NELPG members at Grosmont in 1980, followed by general overhauls at Hepscott 1989 to 1991 and 2003 to 2009. The current overhaul has involved a lot of work, especially on the boiler, with a new outer steel backhead on the firebox and a new front tubeplate.

The 46-year-old copper firebox fitted in 1964 required little work. Hydraulic and steam tests were carried out between October and December 2009, then the locomotive moved to the Great Central Railway, where it made its first run on 14 January 2010.

With a new boiler ticket, Ian Storey plans to run the engine on the GCR until May, then spend the summer on the North Norfolk Railway, followed
by an autumn appearance at the West Somerset steam gala.

 It may in future years venture out on the main line, but due to excessive tyre wear now being experienced between Fort William to Mallaig, it will definitely not be returning to the Highlands – Ian being content with some great happy memories.
Having now owned the engine for 35 years compared to the 20 years it ran on BR, Ian Storey is looking forward to some great times ahead for his unique locomotive – George Stephenson.