North Eastern 0-8-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class T/Q5 (Locobase 647)

Data from "Class T Mineral Engines, North Eastern Railway", Locomotive News and Railway Contractor, Volume XIII [13], No. 23 (22 December 1922), p. 176.

Designed by Wilson Worsdell, these eight-couples had outside cylinders driving the third axle. As with most British engines, note the high BDF and GDF characteristic of the high-calorie coal the engines burned. 40 were built with Smith-patent piston valves, the other 10 with slide valves. 40 later T1s were built with slide valves after side-by-side tests showed in favor of the slide valve, in part because the locomotives ran more freely downhill as the valve floated over the opening, reducing friction.

OS Nock (Locomotives of the North Eastern, 1954) comments that this class was "surely the most ornate mineral locomotives ever to be built in twentieth-century Britain." And in service they were "grand," managing over 1,300 tons from Stella Gill to Tyne Dock (about 25 miles) at 21 mph average speed.

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Class T2/Q6 (Locobase 3525)

Data from Richard Marsden, of [] (visited 11 December 2004); and "Trials of the First Locomotive Built at Scotswood Works, Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co, Ltd", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXV [25], Whole No. 328 (15 December 1919), p. 205-206. The first 75 were built at the North Eastern's Darlington shops. In 1919, Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co supplied 50 engines from their Scotswood Works. These were the first AW locomotives produced in the 20th Century.

A Vincent Raven design for heavy goods working that was more than a match for the task. Superheating and 8 3/4" (222 mm) piston valves

OS Nock (Locos. of the NER, 1954) wrote that in the T2, "Raven produced an engine that could be driven 'all-out' for indefinite periods at anything up to maximum mineral train speeds." Marsden was equally emphatic: "The Q6s were an unqualified success. By combining Worsdell's motion with the B15 boiler and the Schmidt superheater, Raven managed to create a strong and reliable locomotive which gave good strong service right up to the end of BR steam."

See also [], the website of a restored Q6.

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Class T3/Q7 - 102 tubes (Locobase 2345)

Data from Ahrons (1927), supplemented by ""Locomotive Construction on the North Eastern," Boiler Maker (August 1922), pp.. 40-41, 58. See also Richard Marsden, "The Raven Q7 (NER Class T3) 0-8-0 Locomotives" at his LNER Encyclopedia site []; and "Three-Cylinder Eight-Coupled Mineral Locomotive, North Eastern Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXV [25] (15 December 1919), p. 207.

Preceding Vincent Raven's 4-6-0 by a year, this locomotive had identical boiler and grate dimensions. Note the relatively generous proportion of superheat. The link motion was actuated by 8.75 inch (222 mm) piston valves.

The class was used to carry about 1,543 tons of coal FROM Newcastle on a ruling grade of 0.5%. In tests, engine 901 hauled a 1,402 long ton (1,507 short tons) train of 60 loaded wagons between Blaydon sidings and Carlisle. According to LM's 1919 report, "a speed of 32 miles per hour [51.5 kph] could easily be maintained on the level, and 17 miles per hour [27.4 kph] maintained on a gradient of 1 in 221 (0.45%]...The engine was satisfactory in every respect."

But Marsden observes that there aren't many good reasons for this class to have been built: "They appear to have been an exercise in determining the power which could be produced by a three-cylinder mineral locomotive of practical dimensions. There was no immediate demand for this extra power and in this respect suffered a similar situation as the P1 Mineral Mikado locomotives."

The first five were delivered in 1919 with 102 small tubes. Apparently there were some issues with longitudinal stiffness because two more stays were added and two small tubes were removed.

Before long, the now-LNER Q7s went into service hauling iron ore from Tyne Docks to Consett. Stiff maximum grades of 2 2/3%-3% with more frequent 2% grades meant a Q7 with a 700-ton trailing load would require a second Q7 as a banker (helper) on these stretches.

In 1933, these boilers were changed out for 133-tube boilers similar to those in the 1924 batch (see Locobase 14394) and Robinson superheaters replaced the Schmidt design.

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Class T3/Q7 - 133 tubes (Locobase 14394)

Data from Richard Marsden, "The Raven Q7 (NER Class T3) 0-8-0 Locomotives" at his LNER Encyclopedia site [] . See Locobase 2345 for the first five in this class, which had 102 small boiler tubes. Apparently Vincent Raven didn't believe the boiler was quite big enough, so he built ten more in 1924 with 29 more tubes. The link motion was actuated by 8.75 inch (222 mm) piston valves.

Marsden, who had expressed disbelief that the first five were necessary, professed still greater mystification at this acquisition: "This second order is particularly odd because six of the ten were immediately sent South Yorkshire to haul coal on the virtually level route from Gascoigne Wood to Hull docks."

They soon served the Tyne Docks-Consett iron ore trains. Whatever their apparent non-necessity, the Q7s remained in service for decades before being retired in November-December 1962.