North Eastern Railway Fletcher '1238' class 2-4-0 No. 1240. Built circa 1879 and withdrawn circa 1908.

The history of Edward Fletcher's '1238' class is rather odd. They had originally been built as a Thomas Bouch design of 4-4-0 for the Stockton & Darlington Railway and were nicknamed 'Ginx's Babies'. In this guise they were fast runners but dreadfully unreliable. When acquired by the North Eastern they were promptly rebuilt to the form seen here. 1240 is being being proudly displayed outside one of York South Shed's roundhouses in July 1908. It was a Saltburn allocated locomotive at the time of its withdrawal.

© Stephen Barrett Archive-SA Collection