Great Northern 0-4-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 101 (Locobase 9651)

Data from [], Steamindex's summary of Great Northern locomotive practice. See also George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 7-8. Hawthorn works numbers ran 633, 635-647, 672.

Steamindex says these were not entirely successful "luggage engines" to begin with. The problems included slack wheel bearings and weak bracing within the frame. (Steamindex says the cylinder diameter was soon reduced to 15 1/2" inches, but Bird's data shows them delivered with 15" cylinders ...)

Bird's profile shows a typically stubby profile with an outside frame and overhanging springs bearing the boiler with its tall, cylindrical dome centered over the gap between the two driving axles, a taller, slender stack, slender safety-valve stand over the firebox and the utter lack of protection for the driver. Fifteen years later, GNR 110 was fitted with condensing equipment for service on the underground portion of the Metropolitan Railway.

Class 126 (Locobase 9665)

Data from [], Steamindex's summary of Great Northern locomotive practice. See also George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 64-65

To provide proper power for the underground section of the Metropolitan Railway, Patrick Stirling designed a locomotive similar to those that Sturrock had supplied several years earlier. A big difference, however, was the 13-ft gap between the second driving axle and the auxiliary axle that supported the tank and bunker. The first two operated in West Riding, the others were equipped with condensers and used in the underground railway.

Reboilered in 1884-1885, the class remained in service into the 20th Century; the last locomotive was retired in 1918.

Class 18 (Locobase 3003)

Data from Graham Glover, British Locomotive Design 1825-1960 (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1967); and Ahrons (1927) for data.(See Locobase 9669 for the 1882 batch.)

Like Patrick Stirling's 2-4-0s (Locobase 9663), these mixed-traffic engines were built over a long time and had progressively less tube surface area. Even though both the grate and firebox were relatively large in relation to overall heating surface area, Ahrons (1927) criticized this design for insufficient grate area: "When working even moderately hard, they threw out a large amount of cinders and unburnt fuel, the result of forcing the small boiler and grate with a small blast pipe."

And yet, Steamindex's survey of Great Northern locomotives notes that Kenneth Leech, in his 1921 observations of the last few Stirling 0-4-2s still in service, "aptly sums up their useful versatility: "...in my view [Leech said] the Stirling 0-4-2's were really marvellous little engines, seeming almost to forget their limited adhesion weight when used on goods trains and their small driving wheels when on passenger work. They really were Stirling's "maids-of-all-work" and well earned their keep" . Which, to a type of engine such as the 0-4-2 mixed traffics, is as fitting a tribute as any."

Class 18 (Locobase 9663)

Data from [], Steamindex's summary of Great Northern locomotive practice. See also George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 56-57.

Bird notes that these data are for the first set of engines designed by Patrick Stirling. Bird described them as "useful" in their mixed-traffic role.

Class 241 Metro tank (Locobase 9658)

Data from [], Steamindex's summary of Great Northern locomotive practice. See also George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 34.

In addition to the conversions of the "Little Sharps" to an 0-4-2 configuration, Archibald Sturrock designed engines that could run underground. The locomotives needed to condense their steam exhaust and did so by passing the steam back through a long pipe under the footplate. To accommodate the back tank of water and coal on the frame, the rear axle was extended well beyond the footplate.

Steamindex quotes Sturrock's comments in the 5 January 1866 issue of The Engineerto the effect that the Adams radial axleboxes "answer admirably, both at high and low speeds; the engine running with perfect steadiness at above fifty miles an hour" A later commentator said rather that the radial axleboxes did not steady the after end of the locomotive.

Ten more -- 5 delivered from Neilson & Company and 5 from Avonside -- arrived in 1866. The Neilson engines had overall wheelbases of 20" 3" and weighed about 3,400 lb (30 cwt) more.

Class F2 (Locobase 9669)

Data from [], Steamindex's summary of Great Northern locomotive practice. See also George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 42.

Bird noted that these data are for the first set of engines; see Locobase 3003 for discussion of the entire class.

Worth repeating is Kenneth Leech's 1921 summation of Patrick Stirling's design. That many were still on the roster, he wrote,"aptly sums up their useful versatility: ", he continued"...in my view [Leech said] the Stirling 0-4-2's were really marvellous little engines, seeming almost to forget their limited adhesion weight when used on goods trains and their small driving wheels when on passenger work. They really were Stirling's "maids-of-all-work" and well earned their keep" . Which, to a type of engine such as the 0-4-2 mixed traffics, is as fitting a tribute as any."

Class unknown (Locobase 8967)

Data from C J Bowen Cooke, "British Locomotives", (London: Whitaker & Co, 1894), p. 252.

As noted in Locobase 3003, these engines were built over a long time and had progressively less tube surface area. On the other hand, this much later batch were slightly larger. The grate seemed small, but the whole design was a miniature.