Railway Museum

Went to Shildon Model Rail Exhibition today.  Some decent layouts on show and had a good discussion with Paul Davenport who makes marvellous scale model buildings in 0 gauge - double the size of mine. 

Outside in the yard stood this forlorn Class J21 North Eastern Railway   locomotive.  For those who care about such things, some historic notes are appended below from the owners website.

                                                 Class NER C  - BR ClassJ21

A total of 201 were constructed, primarily as freight locomotives, in the period August 1886 (No. 22) - February 1895 (No. 1820) initially under the direction of Thomas W. Worsdell. Gateshead Works built the majority, but some (30) were also constructed at Darlington. The first 3 members of the class were 'simple' expansion engines - designated Class C1, they had 140psi boiler pressure, 18" cylinders and a tractive effort of 15,108lb. In fact, 10 of the first 11, were so built - then construction of 'compound' locomotives took over. These were designated Class C - had 160psi boiler pressure, a high pressure 18" cylinder, a low pressure 26" cylinder and a tractive effort of 16,952lb. Both 'simple' and 'compound' engines were fitted with Joy's valve gear and slide valves. In 1890, T.W. Worsdell retired as a result of ill-health and was succeeded by his brother, Wilson, who disliked 'compounding' (and Joy's valve gear). As a consequence, he re-ordered the remaining 20 engines (Nos. 1801 - 1820) to be built with 'simple' expansion.
Thomas remained with the NER as a 'consultant' and reported a saving of some 14.5% in coal consumption with the 'compound' over the 'simple' engines when working between Newcastle, Leeds and York. However, the reported coal savings were not always achieved in practice and, on the 5th October 1893, the Locomotive Committee of the Board of Directors asked Wilson Worsdell for a report on the NER's 'compound' locomotives. Some six months later, having given careful consideration to the report at their meeting on the 19th April 1894, it was decided to convert all such engines to 'simple' expansion. With priority given to the passenger locos, it was not until 1901 that the first Class C engine (No. 994) was rebuilt and the last (No. 668) was completed in 1913. The majority of these had 18" cylinders and a tractive effort of 17,265lb. However, just to complicate things even further, 75 were rebuilt with 19" cylinders, Stephenson valve gear and piston valves giving them a tractive effort of 19,237lb. In addition, 3 of the 'simple' expansion Class C1 engines were also similarly modified. From June 1914, all 201 locomotives were designated Class C.