Colne Valley & Halstead 2-4-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 2 / F9 (Locobase 5899)

Data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (Jan 2004).

Locobase 20027 shows this class in their original state. All three were rebuilt at the turn of the century in the following order: Halstead in 1896, Colne in 1897, and Hedingham in 1902. at which point the original three-ring boiler was replaced by a two-ring version with the dome on the front ring. LM reported that part of their rehabilitation was to smarten up the paint job. The all-over black was "relieved by a broad vermilion band, edged on either side by a fine white line." Two of the railway's three initials--CV--stood out in gilt to either side of the name board.

Not until the Grouping of 1923 were CV&H locomotives 2 & 3 brought into the LNER fold as 8312 & 8313, although much of the repair work was performed in earlier times at the Great Eastern's Stratford shops. #4 never had an LNER number before its withdrawal in June 1924. 8313 went into retirement in December 1927 and 8312 went out of service in 1930.

Class Halstead (Locobase 20027)

Data from "Colne Valley & Halstead Ry and its Locomotives", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 17 (14 October 1911). Works numbers were 2079-2080 in 1887 and 2283 in 1894.

These relatively small tanks served local service on this very local Suffolk railway. The main line ran between Haverill and Chappell, not far from Newmarket and Bury St. Edmonds. When they entered service, they were the Halstead, Colne, and, seven years later, the Hedingham.

Around the turn of the century, all three received new boilers and fireboxes; see Locobase 5899.