Seven of the roads in Earlesfield are named after steam locomotives which went through the town in their heyday. They were built off Trent Road in the later 1960s. Some were named after engineers, others after birds.
Sir Nigel Gresley was one of Britain’s most celebrated railway engineers, rising to Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway. He designed the LNER Class A1 and A4 Pacifics, among them Flying Scotsman, the first steam locomotive officially recorded over 100mph, and Mallard, which still holds the world speed record for steam at 126mph.
His engines were admired for more than speed. Gresley’s conjugated valve gear allowed a three-cylinder locomotive to run on just two sets of Walschaerts gear rather than three, giving smoother running and more power at lower cost.
Gresley trained at Crewe and Horwich before moving to the Great Northern Railway, where he succeeded Henry Ivatt as Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1911. When the LNER was formed in 1923, he took the top job there too, a post first offered to John G. Robinson, who turned it down in Gresley’s favour.
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