The A1 is a locomotive that will always be tied to the names Sir Nigel Gresley and LNER, however only one of these was involved in the design and construction from the beginning. The A1 was originally a Great Northern Railway design, with number 1470 ‘Great Northern’ being one of only two examples to outshop into GNR service. These locomotives were powerful, and almost immediately served their purpose of comfortably outperforming the older ‘Atlantic’ locomotives that were being pushed to their limit between London and the North.
These ‘Pacific’ locomotives did just that, and they would go on to become one of the most versatile locomotives in Britain. Upon amalgamation onto the LNER, some minor changes were made to the Class, but being a recent design at the time they were already close to the pinnacle of what could be achieved by any locomotive designer, let alone Sir Nigel Gresley.