Background
The locomotive was built for purely political purposes in order to block the passage through Parliament of a new rival scheme for an electric railway. The Decapod was built in 1902 to a design by the GER Chief Draughtsman, Fred Russell under the supervision of the Chief Superintendent, James Holden. The aim was to demonstrate the ability of a steam locomotive to accelerate passenger trains at a rate comparable to electric traction and the electric trams with which the GER was also in competition over short distances.
The locomotive was far larger than any locomotive previously built in Britain for home service. It had 10 four-foot-six-inch driving wheels, which gave high tractive effort. Three cylinders were used because there was insufficient room for two cylinders large enough to develop the required tractive effort without going up to a higher boiler pressure. Even so, it still had to have a pressure of 200 psi (1,378 kPa) to achieve the required result.
Read more about this topic: GER Class A55
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