[A] noteworthy engine was No. 215, an illustration of which, with its original tender, is here given in Fig. 19, and concerning which Mr. Sturrock wrote a brief description some ten years ago to the following effect: ” An engine with 7-ft. 6-in. driving wheels, a four-wheeled bogie in front, and a pair of carrying wheels in rear, was delivered to the Great Northern Railway on August 6th, 1853, and having a large tender, could and did run 100-mile lengths at the highest present speeds.
This engine was constructed to prove to the directors of the Great Northern Railway that it was quite practicable to reach Edinburgh from King’s Cross in eight hours by only stopping at Grantham, York, Newcastle and Berwick. This service was not carried out, because there was no demand by travellers for nor competition amongst the railways to give the public such accommodation.”
No. 215 was built by Messrs. R. and W. Hawthorn, and was an eight-wheeled engine having outside bearings to all the wheels, including those of the bogie, a large raised firebox with a mid-feather, and no steam dome. The driving wheels had no flanges. It had a sixwheeled tender of large capacity which, as is shown in the illustration here given, had originally a hooded seat provided at the rear in a similar manner to the old broad gauge tenders on the Great Western Railway. The leading dimensions of the engine were : diameter of driving wheels 7-ft. 6-in., and of bogie and trailing wheels 4-ft. 3-in. ; wheel-base : bogie wheels 7-ft. 2 -in. ; hind bogie wheels to driving wheels 6-ft. 4 1/2-in. ; driving to trailing wheels 8-ft. 2-in., total wheelbase 21 -ft. 8 1/2-in.; cylinders 17-in. by 24-in. ; boiler barrel 12-ft. long by 4-ft. 4-in. diameter, containing 240 tubes 12-ft. 5 1/2-in. long by 2-in. diameter ; internal firebox 5-ft. 5-in. by 3-ft. 9-in.; heating surface: firebox 155-2 sq. ft., tubes 1,564-0 sq. ft., total 1,719-2 sq. ft.; weight of engine empty 32 tons 1 1 cwt. 3 qrs., in working order 37 tons 9 cwt. 2 qrs. The tender was on six wheels of 4-ft. 3-in. diameter, and carried 2,505 gallons of water, its weight in working order being 33 tons.
As originally built, this engine does not appear to have been an unqualified success. Its blast-pipe orifice was only 3 3/4-in. in diameter, which was subsequently increased to 4 1/2-in. At first it caused great trouble by the ease with which it left the metals in going round sharp curves. This tendency was undoubtedly due to the design of the bogie, the sandwich frame of which made a very close fit with the main frame of the engine, and in damp weather the wood on both frames swelled to such an extent as to bind them together, thus neutralizing the effect of the bogie. Eventually the wood was cut well away, and iron plates were provided to give the necessary sliding surfaces, and with this increased freedom of action to the bogie, the engine seems to have given no further trouble in the way of derailments. No. 215 ran upon the G.N.R. until the year 1870, when it was broken up, and the driving wheels were utilized for a new engine. No. 92, which was then built, and to which further reference will be made in due course
