North Eastern Railway electric !ocos

I've been reading up a bit recently on the NERs electrification scheme on the Newport to Shildon section, and the locos which they built to operate it, EF1s, they were classified. Electric working was discontinued in the 30s, presumably, due to the economic conditions in the depression, and the engines were then put in store, and never really used again, apart from one which was sent to Ilford as a depot shunter. They also built one loco intended for passenger work, a 4-6-4, which was numbered 13. This was never used in service at all, and was just stored for years.

these could, theoretically, have been used on Woodhead, as the electric system was the same, the question is why was this not done, as it seemed a waste of operational locos?

 

Consideration was given to using them for banking on the Woodhead route and No 11 was upgraded by Doncaster, bearing in mind these early electrics lacked the power to operate the longer graded route they couldn't be used as road locos, before the improved electric could be tested as a banker nationalisation killed the proposal. There was also an abortive attempt to use them on the Quayside branch down to the Tyne.

 

@Cartman , I can thoroughly recommend Ken Hoole's books on the NER electrics which IIRC were published by Oakwood. I do remember the one covering the locomotives was a bit of a trial to find though.

 

I always thought the NER was the most important part of the LNER, and, pre grouping, it was very successful and profitable, it had a complete monopoly in the North East. After the grouping, it got lumped in with lines like the GC, which had a mountain of debt, the GE, which was also unprofitable, as was the NBR. Don't know about the GN. The result was that it ended up propping up less profitable parts of the larger company, and electrification plans got shelved

 

The Newport electrification was removed because the traffic was falling, and didn't justify the costs of equipment renewal - all I've ever read suggests it was a decision made with the traffic on that line in mind, not as part of a wider corporate strategy. That was a symptom of the LNER's weakness, as the coal traffic that it relied upon was in decline - most intensely in the former NER heartland. I've seen various arguments about the GC's profitability, including that it was a lot less bad than reputation suggests. But that was one small part of the system.

It's also worth mentioning that the NER's success (and monopoly) was not entirely a good thing for the company. It was what triggered Hull businessmen to build the Hull & Barnsley, and the fear of abuse of monopoly powers is also part of what led to government restrictions on railway tariffs.

 

Raven proposed to electrify York to Newcastle, built the prototype no 13, but Gresley took the big job and of course the rest was - -.

 

Gresley's involvement with the nascent LNER revealed the lack of finance available for electrification given the high cost of necessary infrastructure costs up front. In defence of Gresley, however, note his retention of Raven as head of electrical matters, his later design of 6701 / 26000 Tommy for the Woodhead route and initiation of the GER suburban services. Had WWII not intervened the Woodhead scheme might have extended further but the GER suburban scheme proved the success that Gresley expected.
In terms of the original Shildon scheme, the continuing financial shortages meant that it was cheaper to return to steam traction rather than renew the infrastructure hence the LNER Board deciding not to incur the expense of renewal.

 

Sheldon is on the edge of Briminghanm, can we not get even this simple piece of history and location correct? Iv seen the same msitake on Face book recently and whilst my typing might be poore at times, it's Shildon!

 

Ok, sorted!

 

The dodgy digit syndrome allied with spell checker strikes again. With family connections in Birmingham I am aware of Sheldon and its neighbour Yardley where my grandparents are buried and where my cousin's family lives; note however that the original text has now been corrected.

 

There is a poorly displayed model of no 13 in the NRM, with a note explaining it was the first non steam mainline loco for the UK, ironically it did of course survive Gresley.

 

I doint really understand the details BUT the Big 4 were hindered even more so than the rest of British Industry by the lack of Capital, even the Southern Railway and Region was having to electrify on the cheap, no 'Total Route Modernisation'