Sir Nigel Gresley: the engineer who shaped British steam

Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley designed the fastest and most celebrated steam locomotives ever to run on British rails. As Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway from 1923 until his death in 1941, he created the A4 Pacific that still holds the world steam speed record at 126 mph, the A3 Pacific that became the world's most famous locomotive, and a fleet of mixed-traffic designs that kept the East Coast Main Line running through depression and war. His innovations in valve gear, three-cylinder propulsion, and aerodynamic streamlining placed him among the greatest locomotive engineers of any era. Today, eleven of his original locomotives survive in preservation, two new-build projects are recreating extinct Gresley classes, and his designs remain the most popular subjects in model railway manufacturing — a legacy that shows no sign of fading.

Quick takeaways

• Born 19 June 1876 in Edinburgh; died 5 April 1941 at Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, aged 64, from cardiac failure exacerbated by wartime overwork
• Appointed LNER Chief Mechanical Engineer on 1 January 1923, a position he held for 18 years until his death
• His A4 Pacific No. 4468 Mallard set the still-unbroken world steam speed record of 126 mph (202.58 km/h) on 3 July 1938
• His A3 Pacific No. 4472 Flying Scotsman was the first locomotive officially authenticated at 100 mph (30 November 1934) and is widely regarded as the most famous steam locomotive in the world
• Patented the Gresley conjugated valve gear (UK Patent No. 15,769, 1915–1916), enabling economical three-cylinder propulsion across his entire locomotive fleet
• Six A4 Pacifics, one A3, one V2, one K4, one D49, and one N2 survive in preservation across the UK, USA, and Canada
• Gresley locomotives are produced by every major model railway manufacturer including Hornby, Bachmann, Dapol, and Heljan across OO, N, and O gauges

Early life and entry into railway engineering

Herbert Nigel Gresley was born on 19 June 1876 at 32 Dublin Street, Edinburgh — his mother, Joanna Wilson, was consulting a gynaecologist there, not at the family home. He grew up at the rectory in Netherseal, Derbyshire, where his father, the Reverend Nigel Gresley, served as rector of St Peter's Church. The family traced its lineage to the Gresley baronets, an ancient Derbyshire family descending from Robert de Toesni, a companion of William the Conqueror. Gresley was the fourth son and fifth child of the family.

His education began at a preparatory school in St Leonard's, Sussex, before he entered Marlborough College in Wiltshire from 1890 to 1893. Even at fourteen, his aptitude for engineering was evident — a mechanical drawing he completed at that age still hangs in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In 1893, aged seventeen, he was apprenticed to Francis William Webb at Crewe Works of the London and North Western Railway, one of Britain's largest locomotive factories. Gresley was always proud of being a "Crewe man." After completing his apprenticeship, he felt his practical knowledge remained insufficient, so he spent an additional year as an "improver" in the fitting and erecting shops.

In 1898, he moved to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway as a pupil under Sir John Aspinall at Horwich Works. Aspinall proved a formative mentor — described in contemporary accounts as "the father of many men who won high positions in railway life." Gresley progressed rapidly through the L&YR: test room work in 1898, locomotive foreman at Blackpool in 1899 (where he met his future wife, Ethel Frances Fullagar), then outdoor assistant and works manager at Newton Heath by 1902. They married on 17 October 1901 and had four children: Nigel, Violet, Roger, and Marjorie.

His transition from carriage and wagon work to locomotive design came through the Great Northern Railway, which appointed him Carriage and Wagon Superintendent at Doncaster in 1905. This role gave him broad engineering experience and access to the locomotive works where Patrick Stirling and Henry Ivatt had established a tradition of elegant, fast express engines.

Career progression from Doncaster to King's Cross

On 1 October 1911, Gresley succeeded H.A. Ivatt as Locomotive Engineer of the Great Northern Railway at Doncaster — a position that would later be retitled Chief Mechanical Engineer. His first original locomotive design appeared in 1912: a two-cylinder 2-6-0 (classified K1, later H2). The K2 class followed in 1914 with an enlarged boiler, and during the First World War he supervised the conversion of Doncaster Works to munitions production, earning a CBE in 1920 for his service.

The pivotal year was 1920, when Gresley built his first three-cylinder locomotive: the K3 class 2-6-0 No. 1000, which debuted his patented conjugated valve gear. This was followed by the O2 class 2-8-0 in 1921, and then in April 1922 came the locomotive that transformed his reputation — No. 1470 Great Northern, his first Pacific. This enormous 4-6-2 caused a sensation with its combination of power and visual elegance.

When the Railways Act 1921 grouped over 120 companies into four large railways effective 1 January 1923, Gresley was appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the newly formed LNER. J.G. Robinson of the Great Central Railway was initially offered the post but declined, recommending the younger Gresley. The LNER was generally the poorest of the "Big Four" companies, which shaped Gresley's pragmatic strategy: invest heavily in powerful mainline locomotives while retaining older designs for secondary work.

A defining moment came in 1925 when the GWR's Castle class locomotive Pendennis Castle outperformed an LNER A1 Pacific in exchange trials, consuming less coal and water. Rather than dismiss the result, Gresley studied the data meticulously and redesigned his Pacifics with longer valve travel, higher boiler pressure (220 psi), and increased superheat — creating the much-improved A3 class from 1927. This willingness to learn from rivals marked his character throughout his career.

His professional relationships reflected a mix of competition and cooperation. Oliver Bulleid served as his personal assistant from 1912 to 1937, contributing significantly to the A4's wedge-shaped profile and championing the Kylchap exhaust before departing to become CME of the Southern Railway. Sir William Stanier, his exact contemporary at the LMS, was both rival and collaborator — together they promoted the joint Rugby Locomotive Testing Station, which Gresley had championed for years. Colleagues described Gresley as "a thoroughly delightful man and very easy to get to know," though his key staff were "rather apprehensive of him and reluctant to offer criticism." He was knighted in the 1936 Birthday Honours by King Edward VIII, and served as President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1936.

Gresley died on 5 April 1941 at his wartime home at Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire. His heart specialist, Sir Maurice Cassidy, had warned him months earlier that he would not survive six months unless he reduced his workload. Gresley refused, saying he "could not be seen to slacken his work during a war when everyone else was working to their best ability." He was buried beside his wife Ethel (who had died of cancer in 1929) at St Peter's Church, Netherseal. He was succeeded by Edward Thompson, who controversially rebuilt several Gresley designs.

Key locomotive designs and classes

Gresley's locomotive output spanned three decades and encompassed express passenger, mixed-traffic, and heavy freight designs. The table below summarises his principal classes.

Technical specifications of major Gresley locomotive classes

The A1/A3 Pacifics formed the backbone of East Coast express services. No. 4472 Flying Scotsman, built in February 1923, became the most famous of the class after being exhibited at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, hauling the inaugural non-stop London–Edinburgh service on 1 May 1928, and becoming the first locomotive officially authenticated at 100 mph on 30 November 1934. All surviving A1s were eventually rebuilt to A3 specification with higher boiler pressure and improved valve events.

The A4 streamlined Pacifics, introduced in September 1935, represented the pinnacle of Gresley's work. Thirty-five were built, featuring a distinctive wedge-shaped nose inspired by the Bugatti railcar and refined through wind tunnel testing at the National Physical Laboratory. On 3 July 1938, No. 4468 Mallard set the world steam speed record of 126 mph descending Stoke Bank between Grantham and Peterborough, with driver Joe Duddington and fireman Tommy Bray at the controls. The record has never been broken.

The V2 2-6-2 class, introduced in 1936 with No. 4771 Green Arrow, is widely regarded as one of the finest mixed-traffic locomotive designs ever produced. With 184 built, it was Gresley's most numerous class and proved extraordinarily versatile, regularly deputising for Pacifics on express passenger workings while equally capable on heavy freight. The P2 2-8-2 Mikados, by contrast, were more problematic — only six were built for the demanding Edinburgh–Aberdeen route, and while they were Britain's most powerful express passenger locomotives with a tractive effort of 43,462 lbf, they suffered from crank axle failures and were controversially rebuilt by Thompson after Gresley's death.

Earlier designs included the K3 2-6-0 (193 built from 1920), which was his first three-cylinder locomotive and earned the nickname "Jazzers" for their syncopated exhaust beat, and the O2 2-8-0 (67 built), his principal heavy freight design. His experimental W1 "Hush-Hush" high-pressure compound No. 10000, built in 1929 with a Yarrow water-tube boiler, was a bold failure that he acknowledged gracefully, converting it to a conventional streamlined Pacific in 1937.

Technical innovations and the conjugated valve gear

Gresley's most significant technical contribution was his conjugated valve gear, patented as UK Patent No. 15,769 (filed November 1915, accepted October 1916). This mechanism solved a fundamental problem of three-cylinder locomotive design: how to actuate the valve for the inside (middle) cylinder without installing a complete third set of valve gear in the cramped space between the frames.

The gear works as a mechanical adding machine using two interconnected levers. The "2-to-1 lever" connects at one end to an outside valve spindle, with its other end — at twice the distance from the fulcrum — linked to the "equal lever." The equal lever then connects both to the other outside valve spindle and to the inside valve spindle. Because the three cylinders are set at approximately 120° crank spacing, the derived motion produces correct valve events for the middle cylinder, reversed in direction from the outside cylinders.

The advantages were compelling. The gear eliminated the weight, cost, and maintenance burden of a third set of Walschaerts valve gear in an almost inaccessible location. It worked seamlessly with the existing outside Walschaerts gear and produced measurably smoother running than two-cylinder designs, with six exhaust beats per revolution delivering even torque and dramatically reduced "hammer blow" on the track. Gresley acknowledged that the principle drew on Harold Holcroft's earlier patent (1909, lapsed 1913), and the mechanism is sometimes called "Gresley-Holcroft gear."

The gear's weaknesses, however, became increasingly apparent over time. Wear on the lever pivot pins caused the inside valve events to drift, making the middle cylinder work harder than the outside pair. This amplification of slackness through the lever ratios meant small amounts of wear produced disproportionate timing errors, leading to the notorious hot middle big-end bearings that plagued Gresley locomotives throughout their careers — Mallard itself suffered this failure during its record run. During wartime, skilled labour shortages meant the critical roller bearings at pivot points were replaced with plain bushes that wore rapidly, severely degrading performance across the fleet.

Beyond the valve gear, Gresley's commitment to three-cylinder propulsion shaped every significant design from 1918 onwards. Three smaller cylinders could produce equivalent tractive effort to two larger ones, with lighter individual reciprocating masses and superior starting ability. The A4's streamlining, developed with Professor W.E. Dalby using NPL wind tunnel data and inspired by the Bugatti railcar, served a dual purpose: reducing aerodynamic drag at high speed while creating an updraught that lifted exhaust smoke clear of the driver's forward vision. The Kylchap double blastpipe fitted to later A4s, championed by Bulleid after studying André Chapelon's French developments, proved transformative — reducing coal consumption by 6–7 lb per mile while improving steaming at speed.

Engineering philosophy and design approach

Gresley's design philosophy centred on what contemporaries called the "Big Engine" policy — building large, powerful locomotives for mainline services rather than proliferating smaller types. This was partly pragmatic: the LNER's weak finances meant investing in fewer high-capability machines was more economical than wholesale fleet replacement. But it also reflected Gresley's conviction that the long-distance East Coast routes demanded locomotives of exceptional power and speed.

His approach to innovation was notably open-minded. He was always ready to make practical tests of promising inventions and willing to adopt good features from whatever quarter they came. He visited French railways to study Chapelon's work on internal streamlining and exhaust design, rode the German Fliegende Hamburger diesel express, and studied Bugatti's railcar designs. The 1925 GWR exchange trials exemplified his intellectual honesty — where others might have dismissed the Castle class's superior economy, Gresley analysed the data and fundamentally redesigned his Pacifics.

Yet he was not without blind spots. Roland Bond, who worked under both Gresley and Stanier, observed that Gresley's key staff were "reluctant to join in debate or even offer the mildest form of criticism." His attachment to the conjugated valve gear persisted despite growing evidence of its maintenance difficulties, and his preference for three cylinders sometimes created problems (as with the P2's crank axle failures) that a simpler two-cylinder arrangement might have avoided. His successor Thompson's wholesale abandonment of Gresley principles was excessive and controversial, but it reflected real frustrations within the LNER's running department.

Gresley was a lifelong champion of scientific testing. He campaigned for years for a national locomotive testing station modelled on the French facility at Vitry, eventually securing approval for the Rugby Testing Station as a joint LNER–LMS project in 1937 with Stanier's support. War delayed completion, and Gresley died seven years before it opened in 1948.

Preserved locomotives and heritage locations

Eleven original Gresley-designed locomotives survive, spanning five classes, plus two ambitious new-build projects recreating extinct types. Only two are currently operational: Flying Scotsman (A3) and Sir Nigel Gresley (A4), with Bittern (A4) and D49 Morayshire under overhaul.

The six surviving A4 Pacifics are the centrepiece of Gresley preservation. No. 4468 Mallard occupies pride of place in the Great Hall of the National Railway Museum, York (Leeman Road, York YO26 4XJ; open daily 10:00–17:00; admission free), displayed permanently in LNER Garter Blue livery. No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, the 100th Gresley Pacific, returned to mainline service in 2022 after a seven-year overhaul and operates with the Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust from a Crewe base. No. 60019 Bittern is currently under overhaul at SNG Engineering's North Yorkshire facility with a target of returning to the mainline. No. 60009 Union of South Africa and K4 No. 61994 The Great Marquess are both permanently retired at Balbuthie Railway and Farming Museum, Balbuthie Farm, St Monans, Fife. Across the Atlantic, No. 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower is displayed at the National Railroad Museum (2285 S Broadway, Ashwaubenon, WI 54304; Mon–Sat 9am–5pm), while No. 60010 Dominion of Canada resides at Exporail – Canadian Railway Museum (110 Rue Saint-Pierre, Saint-Constant, Quebec). All six were reunited for the extraordinary "Great Gathering" at the NRM in July 2013, marking the 75th anniversary of Mallard's speed record, attracting around 250,000 visitors.

No. 60103 Flying Scotsman, purchased by the NRM in 2004 for £2.31 million after a major public fundraising campaign, returned to service in February 2016 following a £4.5 million restoration and continues mainline tours and heritage railway appearances. The sole surviving V2, No. 60800 Green Arrow, is displayed at the Danum Museum, Gallery and Library in Doncaster, on loan from the NRM, though its boiler requires major work. The oldest surviving Gresley locomotive is N2 0-6-2T No. 1744 (built 1921), owned by the Gresley Society and under overhaul at the North Norfolk Railway.

Among new-build projects, the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is constructing P2 class No. 2007 Prince of Wales at Darlington Locomotive Works, with a boiler delivered from Germany in December 2025 and completion estimated for 2027 at a cost of approximately £6.5 million. The B17 Steam Locomotive Trust is separately building No. 61673 Spirit of Sandringham at Sheffield.

Scale models and modelling significance

Gresley designs dominate the British model railway market to a degree unmatched by any other engineer's work. The combination of iconic status, visual drama, diverse livery options, and extensive preservation interest ensures that every major manufacturer produces multiple Gresley types across all popular scales.

OO gauge (4mm:1ft)

Hornby offers the widest range. Their A4 Pacific is available from the entry-level RailRoad range (R3371, Mallard in LNER Garter Blue, approximately £45–55) through to the premium super-detail range with flickering firebox, 21-pin DCC socket, and optional steam generator (R30268, 85th Anniversary Mallard, approximately £250). The Flying Scotsman range is equally extensive: the RailRoad A1 (R3086, approximately £45–55) sits alongside the current super-detail A3 (R3991, BR Green 60103, approximately £250) and the extraordinary sound-and-steam-fitted version (R3991SS, approximately £380–400). Hornby's all-new P2 class tooling (from R3983, approximately £250–295) represents their most comprehensive Gresley release, with five variants covering the original and streamlined configurations. The W1 "Hush-Hush" (R30124, approximately £230) and streamlined B17/5 (R30406, approximately £230) round out an impressive catalogue.

Bachmann Branchline's V2 class (35-200 series, introduced 2021) is widely regarded as one of the finest OO gauge steam models ever produced. Available in LNER Green, BR Black, and BR Green liveries at approximately £200–230 (DCC Ready) or £300–310 (DCC Sound Fitted), with NRM-exclusive Green Arrow versions and limited-edition variants through Rails of Sheffield. Bachmann's earlier A4 tooling (31-952 series) is discontinued but available pre-owned at £80–140.

Dapol's Black Label A4 represents the premium end of the market — a die-cast metal body with integrated DCC sound and smoke generator, limited to runs of 300–400 pieces at £399 per locomotive, available exclusively through Rails of Sheffield.

Heljan produces the Gresley O2 2-8-0 in OO gauge (3900 series, approximately £200–230), covering GNR Grey, LNER Black, and BR Black liveries with 13 variants, and has announced a U1 Beyer Garratt for 2025.

N gauge (2mm:1ft)

Dapol dominates Gresley N gauge production with high-quality A4 (2S-008 series) and A3/A1 (2S-011 series) models at approximately £153–180 DCC Ready or £183–215 DCC Fitted. Booksets pairing locomotives with four matching Gresley teak coaches run to approximately £225–265. Complementary Gresley teak coach packs are available separately. Graham Farish produces the J39 0-6-0 (372-400 series, approximately £110–130), a modern tooling of this Gresley freight design.

O gauge (7mm:1ft)

Hattons Originals (manufactured by Heljan) have produced outstanding A3 and A4 Pacifics in O gauge, launched at approximately £750 each with 19 variants per class covering the full operational lifespan. Many are now sold out at retail but active on the pre-owned market at £500–800. Matching Gresley teak coaches were produced at £250, now available in clearance at approximately £89. For kit builders, DJH, ACE Products, and DMR offer brass and whitemetal kits for less common Gresley types.

Gresley locomotives are popular with modellers for several converging reasons: the A4's unmistakable streamlined profile makes a dramatic centrepiece on any layout, the extensive livery range (LNER Apple Green, Garter Blue, Silver, wartime black, BR Green, BR Blue) offers enormous variety for collectors, and the availability of matching Gresley coaches enables prototypically accurate train formations from the 1920s through the 1960s.

Legacy and lasting influence on railway engineering

Gresley's influence extends far beyond his specific locomotive designs. He established the East Coast Main Line tradition of fast, elegant express running that persisted through the transition to diesel and electric traction, and his "Big Engine" philosophy directly shaped post-war British locomotive policy. The 1948 BR exchange trials confirmed the A4 as the most thermally efficient of the "Big Four" express Pacifics, validating his design approach over those of Stanier, Collett, and Bulleid.

His legacy among the "Big Four" CMEs is distinctive. Where Collett at the GWR conservatively refined Churchward's existing designs and Stanier at the LMS brought systematic Swindon-style standardisation, Gresley combined bold experimentation with aesthetic sensibility. His willingness to build radical one-offs like the W1 high-pressure compound, to test ideas from France and Germany, and to pursue streamlined high-speed services placed him closer to the Continental tradition of locomotive engineering than any British contemporary. The V2 class, often called the finest mixed-traffic design in British railway history, demonstrated that innovation and practicality could coexist.

His designs directly influenced his successors. Bulleid's Merchant Navy Pacifics for the Southern Railway were explicitly "inspired by Gresley," incorporating three-cylinder propulsion, chain-driven valve gear (his own solution to the conjugated gear's problems), and aerodynamic casing. Arthur Peppercorn, who succeeded Thompson at the LNER, returned to Gresley principles with his A1 and A2 Pacifics — widely considered among the finest British express locomotives. Even Thompson's controversial rebuilds acknowledged, by their very existence, the centrality of Gresley's designs to the LNER fleet.

The enduring fame of Mallard and Flying Scotsman has given Gresley a public profile unmatched by any other locomotive engineer. Flying Scotsman's centenary in 2023 was marked by a Royal Mint £2 coin, Royal Mail stamps, and a poem by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. The Great Gathering of 2013, reuniting all six surviving A4s at York, attracted a quarter of a million visitors. His induction into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame in 2023 recognised what railway enthusiasts have known for decades: that Gresley's combination of technical innovation, aesthetic vision, and competitive drive produced the defining locomotives of British steam's golden age.

Frequently asked questions

1. When was Sir Nigel Gresley born and when did he die?

Gresley was born on 19 June 1876 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died on 5 April 1941 at Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, aged 64. He died from cardiac failure exacerbated by wartime overwork, having refused his doctor's advice to reduce his working hours.

2. What speed record did Mallard set, and does it still stand?

On 3 July 1938, A4 Pacific No. 4468 Mallard reached 126 mph (202.58 km/h) descending Stoke Bank on the East Coast Main Line between Grantham and Peterborough, driven by Joe Duddington with fireman Tommy Bray. This remains the world speed record for steam traction — never broken because the era of high-speed steam development ended with the Second World War.

3. Why is Flying Scotsman considered the world's most famous locomotive?

Multiple factors converged: it was exhibited at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, hauled the inaugural non-stop London–Edinburgh service in 1928, was the first locomotive officially authenticated at 100 mph in 1934, and had a dramatic post-service history including American and Australian tours, near-scrapping, and a £2.31 million rescue by the National Railway Museum in 2004. It remains operational today.

4. How does the Gresley conjugated valve gear work?

The gear uses two interconnected levers — a "2-to-1 lever" and an "equal lever" — to derive the valve motion for the inside (middle) cylinder from the two outside cylinders' Walschaerts valve gears. This eliminates the need for a third set of valve gear in the cramped space between the frames. Its main weakness was that wear on the lever pivot pins caused the middle cylinder to overwork, leading to hot bearings.

5. How many Gresley locomotives survive today?

Eleven original Gresley-designed locomotives survive: six A4 Pacifics (Mallard, Sir Nigel Gresley, Bittern, Union of South Africa, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dominion of Canada), one A3 Pacific (Flying Scotsman), one V2 (Green Arrow), one K4 (The Great Marquess), one D49 (Morayshire), and one N2 tank engine (No. 1744). Two new-build projects (P2 Prince of Wales and B17 Spirit of Sandringham) are under construction.

6. Where can I see Gresley locomotives on display?

Key locations include the National Railway Museum, York (Mallard, plus Flying Scotsman when not touring; free admission); the National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin (Dwight D. Eisenhower); Exporail, Saint-Constant, Quebec (Dominion of Canada); the Danum Museum, Doncaster (Green Arrow); and Balbuthie Farm, Fife (Union of South Africa and The Great Marquess).

7. Which Gresley locomotives are currently operational?

As of early 2026, only Flying Scotsman (A3) and Sir Nigel Gresley (A4) are operational. Bittern (A4) and Morayshire (D49) are under overhaul with expected returns to service. Union of South Africa and The Great Marquess are permanently retired.

8. What is the best OO gauge model of a Gresley locomotive?

Bachmann's V2 class (35-200 series, 2021 tooling) is widely regarded as the benchmark OO gauge steam model. For A4 Pacifics, Hornby's super-detail range (e.g., R30268 Mallard) offers excellent detail with DCC readiness. Dapol's Black Label A4 (£399, sound and smoke fitted) represents the premium option.

9. Are Gresley models available in N gauge?

Yes. Dapol produces high-quality A4 (2S-008 series, ~£153–180) and A3/A1 (2S-011 series) models in N gauge, plus matching Gresley teak coaches. Graham Farish produces the J39 0-6-0 (372-400 series, ~£110–130). Dapol's N gauge Gresley Pacifics are considered the definitive models in this scale.

10. How did Gresley compare with rival engineers like Stanier and Collett?

Gresley was the most experimental of the "Big Four" CMEs, favouring three-cylinder designs and bold innovations like streamlining and high-pressure compounds. Stanier (LMS) brought systematic Swindon-style standardisation. Collett (GWR) conservatively refined existing Churchward designs. All three produced outstanding locomotives, but the 1948 exchange trials confirmed the A4 as the most thermally efficient express Pacific design.

11. What is the P2 new-build project?

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is building P2 class 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales at Darlington Locomotive Works. Based on the original Gresley P2 design with modern improvements (roller bearings, welded steel boiler), it is expected to be completed around 2027 at a cost of approximately £6.5 million. None of the original six P2s survived.

12. When was Gresley knighted and for what?

Gresley was knighted in the 1936 Birthday Honours by King Edward VIII. He had previously received a CBE in 1920 for his wartime services supervising munitions production at Doncaster Works. He also served as President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1936 and received an honorary DSc from Manchester University the same year.