MIss Ten to Eight is an LBSC designed model of a North Eastern Railway Class R1 locomotive in 3 1/2in. gauge, which he described in Model Engineer magazine way back in in 1939. Quite rare these days, but this one shown by Tony Ellis at the 2011 Guildford Rally reminded what an attractive model it makes, and perhaps even better in maroon and polished brass than NER pea green. 

The Class R designed by Wilson Worsdell was introduced on the North Eastern Railway in 1899. It proved to be an extremely capable locomotive, but by 1907 there was a need locomotives of greater power to handle the increasing train loads. The NER already had a number of more powerful designs, but these were better suited to more onerous duties.  The new design, NER Class R1 (LNER D21) combined the wheels and cylinders of the R class with a larger boiler based on the C6 boiler. The boiler pressure was initially 225psi, and the grate area was increased to 27sq.ft. The R1s looked impressive, but in practice were not quite as good as either the R or C6s. Only one batch was built in 1908-9 at Darlington. The NER started superheating trials before the D21s were built and all received superheaters between 1912 and 1915. All of the original boilers were built with Ramsbottom safety valves.

The first two R1s were initially allocated to Neville Hill (Leeds) to work the Glasgow services as far as Newcastle. The remaining eight R1s were allocated to York to haul main line services to Newcastle. After a short interval, they were also used on services to Edinburgh. During this period, the R1s are on record as performing some fast runs from York to Darlington and Newcastle with heavy passenger expresses. However, with continuously increasing train loads and the introduction of more powerful locomotive types, they were displaced from the best express services.

In 1924, the allocation of Gresley A1 Pacifics  displaced the C7 Atlantics into many of the R1 duties. The R1s were moved to secondary duties before being replaced by D49 Hunt/Shires.  The R1s could also be found on a variety of excursion services at this time.

During the 1930s, they were confined to semi-fast passenger work and the occasional summer excursion. Withdrawals began in December 1942, and were completed by February 1946.