This is the North Eastern Railway's first electric locomotive.
British Rail Class ES1 (Electric Shunting 1) was a class of two electric locomotives commissioned by the North Eastern Railway in 1902. They were of steeplecab design. No 1 was built between 1902 to 1903.
The electrification of the Shildon Newport line began in 1915. A section of line was electrified between Shildon in the south west Durham coalfield and Newport, on Teesside, with the intention of improving performance on coal trains from Shildon to Middlesbrough. For this, he introduced electrification at 1500 volts DC with overhead wires. Full electrification of the line was completed in 1916.
At the end of the First World War the company also developed a prototype electric locomotive for service on what is now known as the East Coast Mainline.
On display at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon
www.nrm.org.uk/locomotion
