The pioneering North Eastern Railway steeple cab electric is the subject of the latest collaboration between Locomotion Models, Rails of Sheffield and Heljan. MIKE WILD takes a detailed look at this new release ahead of its arrival in December.
AS UNIQUE survivors go, the North Eastern Railway’s British Thomson-Houston built Bo-Bo electric No. 1 is quite remarkable. It was built in 1903 at a time when electric locomotives were in their infancy and had what, in many respects, was an unremarkable career pottering up and down a short branch line in Newcastle.
What really makes ES1 – Electric Shunting One – so special is its place in electric locomotive development. It was a steeple cab design which had a central cab with clear visibility over the two bonnets. Inspiration for the locomotive came from an example built by General Electric and Thomson-Houston for the Milan-Varesse railway in Italy.
