Lambton Colliery 0-6-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 29 (Locobase 6315)

Data from chart of locomotives in service on three colliery lines on 1 Jan 1948 published on [] (viewed 12 Oct 2004). (Thanks to Hughie Bristow for his 9 July 2024 email noting similarities among Kitson radial tanks supplied to coal roads in Wales at the same time.) Kitson works number was 4263 in 1904.

In 1896, James Joicey and Company, LLC, of Newcastle upon Tyne bought Lambton Collieries from the Earl of Durham and set it up as a separate company.

Eight years later, Lambton bought the first of what was becoming the standard short-haul coal-traffic engine in English service. An inside-cylinder design with low, rounded cab and dome ahead of the middle axle, it seems to have fulfilled expectations. Hughie Bristow noted similarities between this engine and Kitson's 1902 pair of Rhondda & Swansea Bay radial tanks shown in Locobase 10377.

After careful analysis of the locomotive's performance, two more were delivered with more and smaller-diameter tubes; see Locobase 6316.

Class 30 (Locobase 6316)

Data from chart of locomotives in service on 3 colliery lines on 1 Jan 1948 published on [] (viewed 12 Oct 2004) (Thanks to Hughie Bristow for his 9 July 2024 email noting similarities among Kitson radial tanks supplied to coal roads in Wales at the same time.) Works numbers were 4532-4533.in 1907.

These two tanks followed #29 (Locobase 6315) into service. According to the Lambton chart, the boiler now had more and smaller-diameter tubes, but the tube surface area remained the same. Locobase's calculation shows a 5% increase in area and that is represented in the area shown in the specifications. 31 was lighter overall (134,960 lbs) and slightly less heavy on the drivers (103,040 lbs), but its axle loading rose a little to 35,280 lbs.

Class 5 (Locobase 6317)

Data from chart of locomotives in service on 3 colliery lines on 1 Jan 1948 published on [] (viewed 12 Oct 2004). Works #3377-78 in 1909, 3801 in 1920.

After the Kitson radial tanks proved the merits of the arrangement on Lambton colliery rails (see Locobase 6315-6316), the system ordered two more from Robert Stephenson two years later. The design was virtually identical to the 1907 Kitson pair, although the boiler was shorter, there were a few more tubes, the cylinders had 1/2" less diameter, and the locomotives had slightly higher adhesion weight.