London & North Western 0-8-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 2524 (Locobase 2180)

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

Larger freight engine that started a trend. The boiler had a 39.7 sq ft (3.69 sq m) of heating surface in a combustion chamber in the center of the barrel. Bowen Cooke asserts that placing this chamber in the middle of the tube length "...has the effect of arresting the gases as they pass from the firebox, thus securing more perfect combustion, and causing all the heat developed to be fully utilized for the generation of steam."

Indeed, such chambers did have that effect, but they were usually placed just ahead of the firebox.

Class A (Locobase 2181)

Data from F W Webb, "Development of the Crewe System of Compounding Locomotives," Engineering Review, Volume 2, (20 June 1895), pp. 391-393; and W A Tuplin, The Steam Locomotive: Its Form and Function (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974), Tank engine of an unusual wheel arrangement by FW Webb. Built between 1881-1890 and in service until 1958.

Like the Teutonics, these 0-8-0s used Stephenson link motion on the outside with a "slip-eccentric" link between the two outside HP cylinders and the single LP cylinder under the smokebox. Unlike the passenger engines, however, the four axles were coupled and all three cylinders drove the second axle. They were soon rebuilt as D-class simple-expansion locomotives by GW Whale.

Note: Tuplin gave a nominal tractive effort of 30,000 lb, commenting that it is "that of the simple engine produced by removing the high-pressure cylinders." The number given in the specifications is based on a 1924 ARA formula.

[] (9 May 2003 -- the website of the London & North Western Railway Society's Goods Locomotives "exhibit" -- for boiler diameter.

Class B / Swami (Locobase 2189)

Data from W A Tuplin, The Steam Locomotive: Its Form and Function (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974), Some data from Christopher Hill (who styles himself "Webb [sic] Master of [] (10 May 2003 -- the website of the London & North Western Railway Society's Goods Locomotives "exhibit".

Four-cylinder Webb compounds that were rebuilt as Whale Class E compounds. Hill's exhibit offers the same harsh verdict usually rendered on most of Webb's designs:"But the bulbous (piano-front covering the rocking arms driving the valves for the outside cylinders could never be elegant and made the design a visual disaster. The weight of cylinders and valve gear at the front was not adequately supported, and was a ñheavy' front end."

In its glossary, the site adds that the nickname derived as follows: "swamis were oriental magicians and illusionists popular as entertainers in the late nineteenth century, who always finished their acts by disappearing in a cloud of smoke". Presumably that was the image of the B as it started up.

Note: Tuplin (1963) gives a nominal tractive effort of 33,000 lb, commenting that it is "that of the simple engine produced by removing the high-pressure cylinders." The number given in the specifications is based on a 1924 ARA formula.

Class C (Locobase 2182)

Fifteen rebuilds of the unsuccessful Webb freight compounds by George Whale. These engines joined other classes in a further 1912 build by CJ Bowen-Cooke known as the G1 class.

Class D (Locobase 5529)

Data from [], first accessed 10 May 2003); and W A Tuplin, The Steam Locomotive: Its Form and Function (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974),

George Whale's rebuilds of Webb's A-class locomotives proved to be popular with the crews as they demonstrated useful pulling power. The transformation involved mounting the much larger boiler of the F-class and removing the LP pistons.

Tuplin (1963) gave a nominal tractive effort of 30,000 lb, commenting that it is "that of the simple engine produced by removing the high-pressure cylinders." The number given in the specifications is based on a 1924 ARA formula.

See [] (10 May 2003 -- the website of the London & North Western Railway Society's Goods Locomotives "exhibit".

Class G (Locobase 2198)

Bowen-Cooke's initial 0-8-0 design that was also the basis for the G1 series of rebuilt 0-8-0s, into which these engines were incorporated.

According to Christopher Hill (who styles himself "Webb [sic] Master of [] (20 March 2005) -- the website of the London & North Western Railway Society's Goods Locomotives "exhibit", these locomotives were rebuilds of the B class (which were in turn rebuilds of the A). The HP cylinders were removed and the LP cylinders left as the main power.

Class G1 / Super D (Locobase 2183)

Data from Christopher Hill ("Webb [sic] Master of [] (accessed 19 March 2005) -- the website of the London & North Western Railway Society's Goods Locomotives "exhibit". See also "Superheater Goods Engine, London and North Western Railway," Locomotive Magazine, Volume 18, p. 96-97.

A combination of rebuilds of earlier 0-8-0 designs that incorporated superheating for the first time and newly built engines by Bowen-Cooke. LM reported that the original conversions were to determine whether freight (goods) engines would benefit from superheating to the same extent as passenger locomotives. Their driver diameters were measured with 3" (76.2 mm) tires.

They had 8"(203 mm) piston valves.

Class G2 (Locobase 2202)

Data from [] (10 May 2003)

George Whale rebuilds of B, G, & G1 engines similar to the earlier Gs and G1s, but the boiler was reorganized to allow for superheating. The website of the London & North Western Railway Society's Goods Locomotives "exhibit" says these were G1s with superheat and BP raised to 175 psi. Piston valves were a moderate 8" in diameter and the firebox was the relatively common square-shouldered Belpaire.

Class G4S (Locobase 3761)

Data from Bryan Attewell ([] Steam locomotive simulator (April 2000 edition).

Used a Belpaire boiler. This is the last of the London & North Western mineral engines.