Great Northern 2-4-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 223 (Locobase 9657)

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. 30. Hawthorn works #915-920.

These were enlargements of the successful 71 class described in Locobase 9652. They were delivered with equalizing levers fitted between the coupled axles. After 25 years' service, the class was retired in 1880-1881.

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Class 251 / E5 (Locobase 9660)

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.

Similar to earlier Sturrock 2-4-0s, this class had a tall, round-top dome mounted in the middle of the boiler and a transverse mid-feather firebox. Patrick Stirling later fitted the class with new straightback (and therefore domeless) boilers and, ultimately, vacuum brakes before their retirement in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

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Class 264 (Locobase 9661)

Data from "Great Northern Express Engine, Constructed by Messrs John Fowler and Co, Engineers, Leeds", Engineer, Volume 23 (1 March 1867), p. 181; [], 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. Works numbers were 747-749

Among the very last engines to be designed by Archibald Sturrock, these were tall-drivered express engines that introduced the innovation of steel drivers. They were not a success, however, in large part because (as J C Park would figure out) the stroke and the cranks had incompatible dimensions. That is, the cylinder stroke measured 24" (610 mm) and the outside-crank radius was 14" (356 mm).

Patrick Stirling soon converted the three Fowlers (works #747-749) and the 3 Yorkshire engines that soon followed (their first, works #1-3) class to 2-2-2 express singles with new straightback boilers. As such, they were better able to undertake express service. They were later relegated to secondary service and retired by 1902.

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Class 71 (Locobase 9652)

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. 14-15.

Archibald Sturrock's first class came from R W Hawthorn (works 729-733, road 71-75) and E B Wilson (road 76-90). Steamindex says that Bird's quote of 150 psi boiler pressure for this class is too high and that 120 psi was more likely. On the other hand, Locobase believes that Steamindex's heating surfaces are a mistaken repetition of the figures given for the previous class of "Little Hawthorns" described in Locobase 9650.

Bird illustrates the detail differences between the two classes with two profile drawings. visible over the rear driver set, tapered safety-valve stand, and virtually straight stack. The Wilson engines had a slotted splasher masking the external spring on the front driver, fluted columnar safety-valve stand, and thicker stack with broader cap.

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Class E1 (Locobase 3495)

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. 99-100 and Richard Marsden, The LNER Encyclopedia ([], last accessed 25 January 2009).

Not only were 10 new locomotives (Doncaster works #713-722) produced to this design, but many of the earlier Stirling 2-4-0s were renovated with boilers of similar design. Bird says the boilers "...were identical in every respect with that of the 4-4-0 (No. 400) that Ivatt had produced in the same year. Marsden's data show a locomotive with two fewer tubes and slightly less heating surface area and 16 1/4 sq ft of grate area. Locobase goes with Bird's figures because of Ivatt's known proclivity for larger grates -- but the compiler could be in error.

Marsden says that these relatively light passenger engines "...typically hauled slow and branch passenger traffic, parcels, and fast goods." He adds that they might have deputized for an express 4-4-0 if the latter were not available. Locobase wonders at a "fast goods" engine with 80" drivers. The South Eastern & Chatham borrowed 15 E1s in 1913 for 2 years.

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Class E2 (Locobase 3504)

Data from George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern, 187-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Co, Ltd, 1910), p. 130; and E L Ahrons, The British Railway Locomotive, 1825-1925 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1926); and Glover (1967). Doncaster works numbers were 471-472 in 1888;

477-478, 483-486, 489-492, 497-498 in 1889;

508, 510 in 1890;

532, 534, 540, 542, 549, 553 in 1891;

578-579, 581, 584-585, 588, 590, 593, 596 in 1892;

606, 621-622, 624, 628, 633, 635, 638-639 in 1893;

642, 644, 646, 648-650, 665-670 in 1894;

677-680 in 1895

Glover wrote of these engines, the last batch of a series that had begun in 1867, that they were passenger, rather than express, engines. And Ahrons observed that as cylinders increased in size in the series (from 17 to 17 1/2"), total tube surface dropped.

As a result, the "coupled engines, though very good for semi-fast or stopping trains, were much inferior [to Stirling's singles] on the expresses. The reason probably lay in the fact that the celebrated old engineer went somewhat too far in reducing his boiler power."

The data show this another way, too. For one thing, 21 years after the first of these boilers were introduced, the number and diameter of tubes in the 1881 2-4-0 design is identical to those of the 0-4-2s of 1867, which were already straining for power. Hence, although the ratio of the boiler tubes' cross-section to grate area is adequate, the boiler itself is just too small.

That Henry Ivatt noticed this as well is demonstrated by his E1s, which came out two years after Stirling's death; see Locobase 3495.

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Class E3 (Locobase 2997)

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. 51-52.

This was Patrick Stirling's first significant design as Locomotive Superintendent. Avonside supplied the first 10, 6 in late 1867 (works #725-730) and 4 more in early 1868 (731-734). Yorkshire's order (works #54-63) followed, also in 1868.

Bird comments that in many ways, these engines typified the new order on the railway: "Hitherto all passenger engines on the G.N.R. had been designed with double frames giving outside bearings to all the axles ; many, if not all, had been fitted with boilers having raised firebox casings, many also had carried steam domes on the boiler barrels, and, above all, there had been no marked uniformity of design, and certainly no attempt at reducing the stock to a few well-chosen types."

Stirling's hand was firmer and he decided that all 6-wheel passenger express engines would be fitted with inside axle bearings on the drivers, outside bearings on the auxiliary wheels. For all other main types, he decreed inside axle bearings on all wheels as well as inside frames. In the straightback boiler (which actually consisted of 3 telescoping rings) he replaced the steam dome with a perforated pipe that ran the entire length of the boiler;the steam led to the regulator that was relocated to the smokebox. And he finally sheltered the locomotive crew with a full cab.

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Class E3 / 86 (Locobase 9668)

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. 99-100.

According to Steamindex, this was a design of 2-4-0s introduced by Patrick Stirling in 1867 (see Locobase 2997). Doncaster added these 14 between 1874 and 1879 that differed primarily in a longer stroke. Bird's boiler dimensions actually come from the E2.