River Esk

From Ratty

River Esk was designed by Henry Greenly as a 2-8-2 tender engine, and built by Davey, Paxman Ltd. in 1923. It was capable of hauling the heavy granite trains from the quarry at Beckfoot to the crushing plant at Murthwaite.

The engine has a miniature 1/3 scale outline, gives full protection to the driver while still looking smart on passenger trains. The original valve gear was fitted in Colchester by the builders, with their Lentz poppet vales, however, these gave problems, but these were sorted by the addition of Walschaerts valve gear in 1928, by the Yorkshire Engine Co. They also fitted a 0-8-0 steam chassis under the tender, with their Poultney system, and this was supposed to supply extra power on the granite trains, but was unneeded and removed in 1931. A new tender was added in 1970, and up until then, the original tender had been raised off the old bogies.

Between 1940 and 1952, the engine was out of service, thanks to the need of a new firebox which required fitting, but the boiler shell from 1923 lasted in use until 1982. In 1986, it was awarded the Premier Award for Technological Innovation by British Coal.

The current livery of the engine is LNWR blackberry black, with red and black lining, and its usual driver is Peter van Zeller.