GN&SR №81 {1866}

Great Northern & Southern Railway №81 was an 0-4-2 tender engine built in 1866 by the Northern & Eastern Railway at their Allsburgh Works.

Number 81, for she didn't carry a name, was built by the Northern & Eastern Railway at their Allsburgh Works in 1866 as one of four identical 0-4-2 tender engines intended for mixed traffic duties. She was given the number № 26, and was initially allocated to the Hendon Bridge Sheds that were jointly owned by the N&ER and the GN&SR  for trains over the lines of both companies; she moved to the locomotive shed at Pennington in 1871, shortly before the N&ER was taken over by the GN&SR. While at Pennington, she overran the buffers in one of the sidings while shunting tender-first and so had her damaged tender replaced by a second-hand one from the Redwick & Knightsbury Railway from one of their Rothwell, Hick & Rothwell 2-4-0s.

Upon the N&ER's absorbtion into the GN&SR, № 26 was renumbered as № 81 and remained at Pennington until she was sent to the GN&SR works at (southern division works - name needed) in 1877 where she was rebuilt as an 0-6-0, after which she was reallocated to goods workings out of Holmstone. At Holmstone, she was one of only two tender engines as the six other engines were of the Northern Division 115 Class of 1869. № 81 remained at Holmstone until 1886 when she was sold to the ()mouth Docks & Canal Company becoming their № 4; in 1890, she was sent to Gibbs & Sons of () where she as rebuilt as an 0-6-0ST during which her tender was listed for purchase and later became a spare for the preserved 2-4-0 of it's original class. № 4 worked at the Docks for a further 12 years after her rebuild until she was sold to (contractor here) for civil engineering work where she was given the name "Endurance".

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