North Staffordshire 0-6-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class L (Locobase 10402)

Data from "New Engines for the North Staffordshire Railway", The Locomotive Magazine, Volume IX (14 November 1903), p. 279. Works numbers were 1891-1896 in 1903. The accompanying photograph shows the locomotives were lettered "North Stafford".

The NSR's chief locomotive engineer, J H Adams, designed this class to be able to pull the heavy mineral and freight trains, but also to serve passenger trains as need arose. The LM report said that even in the early days of their service, they were "...already showing themselves equal to hauling any ordinary load which may be put behind them."

They were also the last NSR main-line locomotives not to be built at the railway's Stokes works. A later batch of 8 (156-157, 98-99 inter alia) was delivered from Stokes Works in 1907-1908. These had 185 tubes and larger tanks.

Class New L (Locobase 20684)

Data from "NSR New L Class" Wikipedia entry found at [], last accessed 2 January 2020. See also Consul W F Doty, Stoke-on-Trent, England, "British Railway Adopts Oil Fuel", Commerce Reports, Issues 150-203, (18 July 1921), p. 317.

Locobase 10402 shows the original L class produced by Vulcan Foundry in 1903. The NSR's own Stoke Works began turning out this John Adams design in 1908 and added to the class over the next 15 years. Wikipedia notes that Stoke turned out several variants of the design, including 1913 engines fitted with saturated boilers and Belpaire fireboxes.

"Although built primarily as a goods tank engine," says Wikipedia, the New Ls hauled passenger trains as well and became an ideal mixed traffic tank locomotive. During their early years the class were not only used on the heavy freight turns but also on express passenger turns between Stoke and Manchester-London Road.

Occording to the 1912 Commerce Reports article, at least three of the class were fitted with an oil-burning system. Using Midland Railway's device as an add-on, the NSR put the burner in the unchanged firebox and supplied it with oil fuel flowing from a 450 Imperial gallon (540 US gallon) tank placed on top of the coal bunker. Steam mixed with the oil at the burner through a stop valve on the boiler while the oil was regulated by "a simple plug cock."

"With a little practice," Doty reported, "regulation of the supply of oil and steam is easily acquired. The engine works without smoke and maintains steam well. The tank is of sufficient capacity to last more than a full day's work."