Great Eastern 0-10-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Decapod (Locobase 3247)

Data from Ahrons (1927) and "'Decapod' Passenger Locomotive for the Great Eastern Railway", Engineering, Volume 75, No. 4 (23 January 1903), p. 111-112. See also "A55 Class 0-10-0WT 1903; 0-8-0 1906" in the menu selection for James Holden on the Great Eastern Railway Society's website at [], last accessed 28 March 2017.

Engineeering's report provided the context for James Holden's unique passenger locomotive. It noted that the GER's local passenger traffic represented a service of "quite exceptional volume and importance; and it will ...be generally acknowledged", the report continued" that this traffic has been worked with a punctuality, speed, and absence of accidents which reflect the greatest credit upon all concerned." But traffic kept growing and "the difficulties of handling it satisfactorily become reater and greater."

This big beast was constructed by James Holden to see if a steam engine could compete with the electrics in accelerating a heavy suburban train to a useful speed. The standard was 300 tons from rest to 30 mph in 30 seconds. To generate the required power, Holden mounted two cylinders outside, their connecting rods driving the cranks on the third axle, and a third cylinder on the centerline turning the crank of the second axle. All three sets of eccentrics for the shifting link valve gear were mounted on the third axle.

The GER Society account reports that "despite popular myth, the locomotive was never painted in blue livery and was not used in service - indeed, it was never 'handed over' to the Running Department in its original form.

While both OS Nock (RWC III, pl 49) and Tufnell (1986) agree that the Decapod satisfied that requirement, they differ in their accounts in other important respects. Nock says that after the Decapod proved the point that steam could compete with electric, Liverpool Street remained unelectrified for 30 years and the locomotive was scrapped.

Tufnell says the engine's coal and water supplies were terribly constrained by the weight limit and the engine was rebuilt into an 0-8-0 tender engine. See Locobase 10597.