Class 16 (Locobase 10447)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol X (15 April 1904), p. 57. Boiler pressure is an estimate. Works numbers for the Charles Tayleur engines were 245-253.

This class of goods engines were produced by both Robert Stephenson and Company (5) and Charles Tayleur (9). 20 had 54" drivers and a 22" piston stroke. The class was later rebuilt. Three were rebuilt in the 1860s; see Locobase 10448.

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Class 188 (Locobase 10353)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol IX (22 August 1903), p. 112. Boiler pressure is an estimate. Works number was 667.

A lone six-coupled long-boiler for the ECR that entered service as 188, but was renumbered to 154 within a few months. It had the standard hemispheric firebox, high running board over axles that had a wider space between the first two axles than the last two.

It was scrapped, unmodified, in 1862.

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Class 204 (Locobase 8418)

Designed by Samuel Johnson and described in Van Norstrand's Engineering Magazine of 1869, p. 298-299; and "Shunting Engine for Great Eastern Railway", Engineer, Volume 27 (2 April 1869), p 237. Also see "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," Locomotive Magazine, Volume XV [15] (15 November 1909), p. 203.

"The Engineer", the journal from which Van Norstrand's took its information, says very little about the design of this class except that they were intended for shunting work. See Locobases 11163 and 21091 for two other products of this highly regarded manufacturer of agricultural tractors and other equipment as well as small railway locomotives like this.

This design, while not oversized for the standard gauge, was considerably larger than the usual Ruston, Proctor product, but nonetheless represented "a very excellent type of the heavy shunting locomotive ...[t]he workmanship is thoroughly good ...since the engines were put in work they have given complete satisfaction."

Steamindex.com ([], accessed 18 May 2007) adds that three were later converted as crane tanks with larger boilers and a 3-ton capacity crane and as such survived into the LNER era.

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Class 224 (Locobase 10448)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol X (15 April 1904), p. 57.

These were the 3 rebuilt locomotives of the original class of 14.

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Class 233 (Locobase 10548)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XII (15 February 1906), p. 22.

As noted in 10547, the Cramptons of 1854 were almost total failures in service because of their low adhesive weight. But their boilers would be used to supply a basic goods design with steam. After a while, later superintendents replaced the existing boilers with ones of their own design. In Johnson's case, he rebuilt 3 of the locomotives with slightly larger cylinders and a cab (or rather a sheltered weatherboard).

The effect was to add 13-14 year to the locomotives' lives before being scrapped in 1883, 2 in January (233, 235) and 1 in October (237).

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Class 234 (Locobase 10547)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XII (15 February 1906), p. 22.

When the original Crampton engines didn't work out, they were rebuilt as goods engines because their boilers were virtually new. Later on, two different locomotive superintendents fitted their own boilers to the frames. Sinclair's pair of locomotives represented the earlier effort, which used a slightly larger boiler. Their reconstruction occurred in October 1867 and extended the life of the design another 15-17 years.

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Class 417 (Locobase 10728)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XV (14 August 1909), p. 148. Works numbers 1330-1344 in 1867, 1345-1349 in 1868.

Neilson and Worcester Engine produced batches of this six-coupled goods design by by S W Johnson with Neilson's locomotives having 3 fewer boiler tubes and slightly less heating surface. The last 10 had 61" drivers that generated 12,247 lb in tractive effort.

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Class 437 (Locobase 10729)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XV (14 August 1909), p. 148. Works numbers 17-19 in 1867, 20-26 and 40-47 in 1868, and 48-69 in 1869.

Worcester Engine was certainly the smaller of the two builders who produced batches of this six-coupled goods design by S W Johnson. The one significant difference between these and the Neilsons (Locobase 10728) was the presence of two safety valves on the Worcesters.

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Class 437 - rebuilt (Locobase 10734)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XV (15 October 1909), p. 185.

Of the 60 locomotives built by Neilson and Worcester Engine in the late 1860s, the GER rebuilt 23 with slightly larger boilers with 203 tubes of smaller diameter (1 3/4") and a total tube heating surface of 957.6 sq ft, smaller grates (15.27 sq ft), and less weight. After 10 were redone in 1879-1880 (3) and 1885-1886 (7), the design was modified to take even smaller tubes that yielded slightly more area.

Within a couple of years the first engines were being retired, a process that continued until 1899.

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Class 477 (Locobase 4819)

Information from Christian Halpaap as reply to Photo Detective ([]). This was one of series of General Freight and Coal Engines built in the 1860s and later. This class were a slight improvement on the 417s. (The 1882 class entered in Locobase as record #3647 had very similar dimensions.) Beyer, Peacock & Co delivered the first 20 in 1871-1872; Dubs, Nasmyth Wilson and Robert Stephenson each added 5 in 1872, and Yorkshire finished off the class with 15 in 1873.

Although modernized under later regimes, this class retired within 30 years of entering service, the last (512) going in 1902.

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Class 552 (Locobase 3647)

Data from E L Ahrons, The British Railway Locomotive, 1825-1925 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1926); and "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway", The Locomotive, Volume XVII (15 August 1911), pp. 173-174. Works numbers were 2430-2439 in 1882.

Inside-cylinder design by Massey Bromley. The small steam dome sat on the boiler's middle ring over the gap between the first two driving axles. All but the 553 received new boilers in 1893-1896 identical to those fitted to several other classes and shown in Locobase 10734. 553's telescopic boiler installed in 1898 offered 1,083.8 sq ft (100.69 sq m) in heating surface area. As the original cylinders wore out, the GER took the opportunity to fit 17 1/2" (445 mm) cylinders.

All were scrapped in 1904-1906.

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Class 6C - Robinson rebuild / J12 (Locobase 8920)

Data from Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia ([], last accessed 22 November 2007).

Locobase 3012 describes the original Charles Sacre' "Bulldogs" that were produced between 1880 and 1882 for the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire. By 1909, the MS & L had been taken into the Great Eastern and the successor railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer John G Robinson administered a makeover. He fitted the engines with a "Standard No 1 Belpaire" boiler which had more firebox heating surface (although less overall heating surface) and was pressed to a higher PSI. The rebuild program ran for 11 years with the last locomotive completing in 1920.

Marsden comments "The J12s were as rugged as they looked, and they were popular with enginemen." Even so, the need for higher speeds and more power meant a relatively short lifespan for these Bulldogs. The LNER's adoption of 2-8-0s resulted in a speedy withdrawal with the last locomotive leaving in 1930.

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Class C53 / J70 (Locobase 7545)

Data from Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia on [], last accessed 11 June 2006. See also "The Locomotves of the Great Eastern Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XIX [19] (15 May 1913), pp. 109-110.

(See Locobase 20655 for the original W&U tramway locomotives produced by Thomas Worsdell in 1883.)

This James Holden product has been immortalized as "Toby the Tram Engine" in W Awdry's Railway Stories (more recognizable as the world of Thomas the Tank Engine). Built for the agriculturally oriented Wisbech & Upwell Tramway, the locomotive had the Board-of-Trade mandated enclosure around the boiler and footplate and a governor restricting speed to 8 mph. As they ran on the tramway beside East Anglian public roads, they brought "coal in, potatoes out" and were especially designed to handle the heavy, harvest-time traffic.

Marsden notes the governors could be disengaged when the trams operated away from the public roads on their way to Stratford for maintenance. Crafting a charming image, Marsden says: "The journey to Stratford was typically performed light and the J70s could get to run at quite a high speed. As such it often resembled a run-away brake van!"

Passenger service ended in 1927 and all but five were disposed of. In the heavy season, a single J70 might pull as heavy a train as 400 tons in 48 freight wagons. This quintet survived into the 1950s, the first leaving in 1953 and the others in 1954.

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Class C72/J68 (Locobase 21055)

Data from "New Tank Engines: Great Eastern Railway", Railway News. Volume 101 (30 May 1914), p. 1123; and Richard Marsden, "The Hill J68 (GER Class C72) 0-6-0T Locomotives", LNER Encyclopedia at [], last accessed 17 July 2022.

RN's 1914 report described this six-coupled tank as AH Hill's "G75" class, but Marsden's account of the engine's career uses class ID C72. Those first ten, produced in 1912, went into passenger service on the so-called "Jazz" suburban trains running out of London to the North on the Enfield Town and Chingford Lines. Marsden tells us this first group rolled on steel, balanced ten-spoke drivers and used screw reverse gear. As they were replaced by L77/N77 0-6-2Ts, most of this group remained on passenger duty as pilot engines.

The other twenty, which arrived in equal ten-locomotive strengths in 1913-1914 and 1923, went straight into yard shunting. Running gear included iron wheels with sixteen spokes and lever reverse gear.

All of the class transferred into the London & North Eastern upon the 1923 grouping and all but 7401 remained in use until the late 1950s, when they were rapidly replaced by diesel shunters. The Ministry of Defence bought 7401 in 1939 and assigned it to Longmoor Military Railway. Beginning in 1942, the engine first went to Bicester Central Ordnance Depot (northeast of Oxford), and then to Military Port No. 1 at Faslane, not far from Glasgow, Scotland.

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Class D81 / J20 (Locobase 2339)

Data from "Superheater Goods Locomotive, Great Eastern Railway,," Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXVI [26], No. 333 (15 May 1920). p 93. See also "New Goods Engines, Great Eastern Railway", Locomotive News and Railway Notes, Volume XIII [13], No 20 (5 November 1922) , p.98; and Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia ([], accessed 22 November 2007).

Marsden says that "Hill's Class D81 (LNER J20) is usually considered the ultimate in traditional Great Eastern Railway (GER) goods engine design." As 0-6-0s went, the D81s offered a large amount of boiler heating surface because this freight engine shared its principal dimensions with the B12 4-6-0 (Locobase 1760) of an earlier year, including the Belpaire boiler and the 10" (254 mm) piston valves. The superheater ratio was still quite on the small side.

Marsden notes the unusual length of the wheelbase that resulted, but notes that spring-loaded side control trailing axle boxes allowed tight (4 chain) curve radii. The LNER would later replace those axle boxes (likely a high-maintenance item) with plain ones and thus raise minimum curve radius to 5 chains. Another modification was the replacement of the Belpaire boiler with a round-top vessel beginning in 1943. As each engine went through the process, it was redesignated J20/1. Eight original J20s were left by 1948 and these were redone by 1956.

Used on heavy coal trains at first, the J20s were later put to use on cross-country excursions and other passenger service. They lasted well into the Nationalization era with the first retirements coming in 1959 and the last 4 in 1962.

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Class E22/ J65 (Locobase 7547)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway", Locomotive Magazine (15 May 1913), p. 109.

The long-running series in the LM said that this class served small branches for which their lighter construction suited them.

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Class E72/J18 - 1912 batch (Locobase 20062)

Data from "Great Eastern Ry", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 18 (14 December 1912), pp. 245-246. See also Richard Marsden, "The Hill J18 & J19 (GER Classes E72 & T77) 0-6-0 Locomotives", LNER Encyclopedia online at [], last accessed 9 June 2016.

Locobase 10162 shows the original G58s, which were James Holden's Belpaire-boiler design first produced in 1906 as a variant of the F48 described in 10161. In 1912, locomotive superintendent A J Hill delivered ten of the class with unusually large (for British practice at the time) Schmidt superheaters and 10" (254 mm) piston valves. (The contemporary LM report incorrectly identifies this group as F48s.)

Tail rods extending through the cylinders, which were located inside the frames, required long frame extensions forward. It's not clear from Marsden's account if the tail rods were removed in 1916. They were deleted from the J19 design, which began production that year (Locboase 20063).

Three J18s were retrofitted with Robinson superheaters, thus joining the J19s. The other seven retained their Schmidt superheaters until the mid 1930s when they were all modified as J19/1 or J19/2. All of these had 21-element Robinson superheaters as fitted in the J20s (Locobase 2339).

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Class F48/J16 (Locobase 10161)

Data from "New GER Goods Locomotives," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol V [5] (October 1900), p. 161 and Richard Marsden, "The Holden J16 & J17 (GER Classes F48 & G58) 0-6-0 Locomotives", LNER Encyclopedia ([], last accessed 18 April 2008).

Dissatisfaction with the relatively puny goods locomotives then being used on the GER and satisfaction with the new Claud Hamilton express locomotive boiler (Locobase 2277) led James Holden to adopt the same design to a six-coupled engine running on small drivers. Fifty-nine appeared between 1900 and 1903 with the round-topped boiler. (At the same time, Holden took one of the planned 60 and fitted a Belpaire boiler to it. He was pleased with that experiment as well and produced the G48 version of this engine; see Locobase 10162.)

The LM author rather windily commented on their intended destination: "These engines are intended for the increasingly heavy goods and mineral traffic of the GER and are capable of hauling much larger loads than has hithertoo been the custom to consider the limit for the main line service." They went to work at the March and Peterborough sheds doing just that, a service from which they were not displaced until the 1930s.

GER started fitting Belpaire fireboxes and superheaters to the F48s in 1921; see Locobase 10163. The GER joined the LNER under the Grouping scheme of 1923. At that time the LNER redesignated the remaining F48s as J16. All of these would be reconfigured as superheated J17s by 1932.

At Grouping in 1923, the LNER classified these as J16s.

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Class G48 superheated - J17 (Locobase 10163)

Data from Richard Marsden, "The Holden J16 & J17 (GER Classes F48 & G58) 0-6-0 Locomotives", LNER Encyclopedia ([], last accessed 18 April 2008).

The GER started fitting superheaters to the Belpaire-firebox G48 (Locobase 10162) in 1915 and installed the same combination of Belpaire fireboxes and superheaters in F48s (Locobase 10161) in 1921. As with most of the GER superheat programs, the amount of surface given over to the superheater was quite small. This probably reflects more than anything the small boiler dimensions that most of these engines had.

At Grouping in 1923, 13 F48s had been converted to what was now designated J17 and all of the F48s were done by 1932. Marsden isn't clear about how long the G48 superheate upgrade program took, but it likely wasn't very long. After their displacement from the main coal and freight service, the J17s operated on branch lines or local freights. During World War II, when the lines of the former Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway needed motive power, most of the J17s moved there and 17 were fitted with vacuum brakes for passenger work. Marsden comments: "Although they were not designed as passenger locomotives, the J17s performed reasonably well and were capable of faster running."

Later in the war, a V2 rocket explosion extensively damaged 8200, but all of the rest were nationalized in 1948 and retired in the 1954-1962 period.

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Class G48/J17 (Locobase 10162)

Data from Richard Marsden, "The Holden J16 & J17 (GER Classes F48 & G58) 0-6-0 Locomotives", LNER Encyclopedia ([], last accessed 18 April 2008).

As James Holden started production of his F48s (the all-adhesion engine that used the Claud Hamilton boiler; see Locobase 101061) he took one of the planned 60 (1189) and fitted a Belpaire boiler to it. He was pleased with that experiment and produced 30 G48s between 1905 and 1911. With the F48s, the G48s operated out the March and Peterborough depots in coal and heavy freight service until the mid-1930s

GER started fitting superheaters to the G48s in 1915 and installed the same combination of Belpaire fireboxes and superheaters in F48s in 1921; see Locobase 10163.

At Grouping in 1923, the LNER classified these as J17s.

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Class N31 / J14 (Locobase 7482)

Data from Richard Marsden's onlin LNER Encyclopedia [], accessed 9 March 2006.

This follow-on class to the successful Y14s were, alas, something of a failure. The valve chests were located below the cylinders instead of being between them and this led to several problems. The ashpan couldn't get enough air because the valve chests blocked the flow. Marsden adds: "The steam chests often became 'water logged.' Symptoms included a tendency to prime badly, and a slow response to regulator changes. " Marsden says that their sluggishness gave rise to "... [the] ironic nicknames of Swifts and Waterburies.".

Such a flop were these engines that production was cut off in 1899 and the earlier J15s reentered the picture. A boiler redesign in 1898 led to construction of two telescoped rings (rather than the butt joints used earlier) and fewer tubes. A 1907 redesign led to the layout shown in the specs; not all N31s were rebuilt to this design. N31 withdrawals began in 1908 and of the 81 built, only 18 were taken into the LNER at Grouping in 1923 and these were disposed of by 1925.

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Class R24/J67 (Locobase 7548)

Data from "Six-Coupled Tank Engines. Great Eastern Railway", Railway Engineer, Volume XIII [13], No 11 (November 1892), pp.297-298. Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia on [], last accessed 11 June 2006. See also Steamindex's compilation of information on the GER -- [], last accessed 11 June 2006.

Spinning out variations on the T18 design, James Holden introduced this R class which differed only in the longer wheelbase under a shorter frame. Also, 100 of the 140 had screw-reversing gear and Westinghouse air brakes for passenger service. Like the others, new boilers fitted in 1899 had 160-psi working pressure. Shortly thereafter, BP rose still further to 180 psi (12.4 bar) in 95 engines to generate more power for the heavier trains; these were designated R24-Rebuilt and had larger grates and larger tanks.

Steamindex includes C J Allen's enthusiastic recollection of the quality service these engines provided:

"The feats of the diminutive R24 0-6-0s with their packed trains of 15 four-wheelers verged on the incredible. Between 1900 and 1912 my [Allen's] parents lived in a house in Upper Clapton ...Some of the up morning workmen's trains were non-stop from Hoe Street, and had the advantage of a start down at 1 in 125 and 1 in 80 to Hall Farm Junction; and I am prepared to take an affidavit that their speed across the marshes, with the coupling-rods of their 4 ft. wheels loudly ringing as they lashed round at terrific speed, was nearer sixty miles an hour than fifty."

See Locobase 7549 for the S69 data and description of later passenger service.

Except for one damaged in a 1931 collision, the J67s began withdrawal in 1937 with 12 gone by the onset of World War II. As diesels entered service in 1953, the J69s and J67s rapidly went out of service and were gone by 1958 (J67) and 1962 (J69)

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Class S56 / J69 (R24 Rebuilt) (Locobase 7549)

Data from Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia on [], originally accessed 11 June 2006, last accessed 23 July 2017.

The S56 is the new-building version of the R24-Rebuilt mentioned in Locobase 7548. As noted, the increased boiler pressure and longer boiler were intended to handle the heavier passenger service required of the GER as the 20th Century gained traction.

Marsden says that most of the J67 and J69s at Grouping - a total of 121 - were assigned to Stratford. Describing the demands of that service, he observes:"The Stratford passenger locomotives were mainly used on the 'Jazz' suburban services to Enfield Town and Chingfield. These were very intensive services that included relatively heavy commuter services." And he underscores the satisfactory performance of these engines: "At the time no electric service was capable of handling the load, but these small steam engines handled the load very well especially when the relative lack of time for maintenance is taken into account."

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Class T18 / J66 & (R24 / J67) (Locobase 7546)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XIX [19] (15 March 1913), p. 58. See also "T18 Class 0-6-0T 1886-1888" on the Great Eastern Railway Society's webpage at [], last accessed 27 March 2017.

According to Wikipedia's T18 entry, these tank engines were produced in the following batches:

1886 T18 Stratford Works 10 275-284 7275-7284

1887 K19 Stratford Works 20 285-304 7285-7304

1888 H21 Stratford Works 10 307-316 7307-7316

1888 T21 Stratford Works 10 317-326 7317-7326

The first few batches had boilers set to 140 psi (9.66 psi)

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Class T77 - J19 (Locobase 20063)

Data from Richard Marsden, "The Hill J18 & J19 (GER Classes E72 & T77) 0-6-0 Locomotives", LNER Encyclopedia ([], last accessed 9 June 2016).

The GER started fitting Robinson superheaters to the Belpaire-firebox G48 (Locobase 10162) in 1915 and was sufficiently pleased with the result to build four new batches of the 1912 E72s (Locobase 20062) to the same design beginning in 1916 and ending in 1920.

In the mid-1930s, the class was rebuilt with the boiler used in the J20s (Locobase 2339) and reclassified as J19/1.

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Class Y14 / J15 (Locobase 7493)

Data from Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia ([], accessed 20 May 2006).

Marsden describes this class as the solution to a freight-locomotive famine caused by the opening of the Great Northern-Great Eastern Joint Line, which expanded the GER's range of operations to centers such as Doncaster. T W Worsdell's design was an instant success and the design would be produced in no fewer than 27 batches and comprise the single biggest GER class. Over the next 30 years, Chief Locomotive Superintendents Worsdell, James Holden (after the less-than-winning results of his J14 ), his son S D Holden, and Alfred J Hill would return to the Y14. All but 19 were built at the GER's Stratford Works, with Sharp, Stewart contributing 19 early on (1884).

Early batches had a flat (aka "square-bottom") grate measuring 17.9 sq ft and a firebox yielding 105.5 sq ft. Overall heating surface measured 1,169.3 sq ft. Marsden does not say why, but sloping grates replaced level grates in new construction in 1891. Two years later a telescoping boiler design supplanted the butt-jointed original. Marsden describes the overall appearance as "ancient, but quaint" owing to the rounded dome placed just behind the first axle and a tall, inversely tapered stack. The firebox placement down between the latter two axles added to the look.

In sum, says Marsden, "The J15s were a very successful class of locomotive [in large part because of] their simple design which enabled easy maintenance." For one thing, the class never received superheaters. As Marsden notes, it was the simplicity that enabled the GER to set a record for the fastest construction time for a locomotive - 9 hours.

Over the long history of the class, Y14s (later dubbed J15s by the LNER) worked in all kinds of freight service, latterly in local, branch-line work, pulling excursion trains. Of the 289 built, 272 were taken in by the LNER at the 1923 Grouping and 127 survived to take British Railway numbers in 1948. The last one left service in 1962.

One (65462) was preserved and maintained in operating condition. It was one of the last to be produced, coming out of Stratford in 1912.

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Class Y14 compound (Locobase 5417)

Data from "An English Compound Freight Locomotive",Railroad and Engineering Journal, Volume 64 (September 1890), pp. 408-409. See also "No. 127 Class' 0-6-0 1887" on the The Great Eastern Railway Society ; "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," at [], last accessed 14 May 2023; Locomotive Magazine, Volume 18 (15 November 1912), pp. 233. (Thanks to Alexander Blessing for his 7 May 2023 email pointing out the class size (1) and its number.)

The article says that this was a design by James Holden. It's a inside-motion cross-compound. It was a single-engine variant of the very successful, prolifically produced (289) and long-lived Y14 "Little Goods" class.

Apparently only an experiment, the 935 was converted to the N31 class's 17 1/2" x 24" simple-expansion arrangement in 1895. "Upon rebuilding," the GERS comments, "it was thus regarded as an N31 class engine, although in most other features it was always a Y14 in exile." Given a new, two-ring telescoping boiler in 1913, the 999 carried on until it was withdrawn in 1913.