ES1

The two ES1 (a 1945 LNER classification) locomotives were built for the North Eastern Railway in 1903 for working the steeply graded line from Manors to Newcastle Quayside Yard. Built by British Thomson-Houston, the mechanical parts were sub-contracted to Brush Electrical Engineering Co. They were designed to collect power from both an overhead supply and third rail (in tunnels) at 600-630V dc. As built, they were originally fitted with a bow collector mounted on one of the bonnets. This was replaced a few years later with a pantograph mounted on the cab roof. The locomotives continued to work this line until 1964 by which time they had acquired the British Railways numbering of 26500 and 26501. 26500 was preserved and is part of the National Railway Museums collection.

The model I have built is a Judith Edge kit and goes together quite easily. The kit follows Michaels usual practice of separate body and frame assemblies bolted together. The model is powered by a Black Beetle motor bogie and I have added additional pick ups on the non-powered bogie. Some basic interior detail is provided, not that there was much in the cab anyway.

I decided to fit a ready made pantograph. I found that the Sommerfeldt TT scale pantograph was fairly near the original. The safety chains between the bogie fronts and frames seemed quite obvious to me, so I added some fine chain to represent this.

My model is finished in its late BR condition of lined light green with both the BR Totem and NER Coat of Arms. All the transfers are from Fox Transfers except the NER Coat of Arms, which is an HMRS transfer.

The model was built before I adopted DCC, so will require conversion at some stage.

This is a great kit of these unusual prototypes and makes a good addition to my collection.

Locomotion and Rails of Sheffield announced in October 2022 that there were producing an ES1 in various liveries manufactured by Heljan. Noticeable on the publicity photographs is the lack of a fuse box on top of the cab roof (visible on my model above). The model however, to have working lights.