Great Eastern 2-4-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 140 (Locobase 2933)

Data from Ahrons (1927). Works numbers were 1083-1102.

Robert Sinclair-designed tank engine for local traffic that had outside cylinders and inside valve motion. These were among the first of this wheel arrangement in Great Britain.

Glover (1967) explains that these well tanks had the firebox lying behind the second driven axle, which allowed a long boiler for its overall size, but a relatively "meagre" grate area and heating surface area for the firebox. Her leading axle was carried in a Bissel truck, but the trailing axle was rigid.

Class C32/F3 (Locobase 3652)

See Ahrons (1927) for data on this James Holden design. See also "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 19 (15 February 1913), pp. 39-40; and "C32 Class 2-4-2T 1893-1902" under the J Holden menu option on the Great Eastern Railway Society's website at [], last accessed 28 March 2017.

A larger design based on James Holden's "Intermediate' T26 2-4-0s (Locobase 3651), this class hauled longer-distance local traffic than Worsdell's M15s, working such London-originated runs as the ones to Bishops Stortford, Southend, and Witham. The GER Society account notes "a few subtle differences" between the two. The leading axle was relocated 3" (76.2 mm) farther back and axle boxes, not the axles, had 1 1/2 inches of lateral play to allow the tanks to get around sharper curves.

According to the GER Society, "there were some teething problems however. Not having the steadying influence of a tender at the rear [as did the T26s], and with greater un-controlled side play in the outer axles, they tended to 'huntñ. After various experiments, an arrangement of control springs was fitted to the outside axle boxes at either ends, and all engines quickly acquired reinforcing patches to the outside frames."

The last ten--1040-1049--were delivered with the control springs in place and boilers set to 160 psi (11.03 bar).

Additional data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (Jan 2004). Marsden says that the last 10 were completed with 160 psi and 250 boiler tubes, but that over time the other 40 were upgraded with similar boilers. The variety of boilers among four different GER types multiplied as boilers were swapped among the engines. Marsden also notes that the C32s had a tendency to slip because the greatest axle loading was borne by the lead, undriven axle.

Just before World War I, the class was moved to East Anglian rural service. Although retirements began in 1936, the class's diminution in numbers was gradual with 37 being left in 1945 and 15 at the time of nationalization in 1948. The last of this group was withdrawn in 1953.

Class G69 / F6 (Locobase 5892)

Additional data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (Jan 2004). See also "Great Eastern Railway", The Locomotive, Volume 17 (15 May 1911), p. 96; and "Locomotives of the Great Eastern Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XIX [19] (15 February 1913), p. 39.

SD Holden designed these, the last 2-4-2Ts for the GER. They were very similar to the F5 conversion of the F4, which began in the same year. Like many of the GER 2-4-2Ts, the G69s began in London suburban service, later moving to East Anglia. Retirement of the class began in 1955 and was completed in 1958.

Class M15 - Holden / F4 & F5 (Locobase 5891)

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

Known as "Gobblers" for their high coal consumption, the first 30 light tanks were designed by TW Worsdell (see Locobase 9978). When James Holden added a total of 120 locomotives to the class in 1903 (with production continuing until 1909), he used the Stephenson link motion to reduce fuel consumption. Thirty of the total were converted to a 180-psi boiler in 1911-1920. Those engines were classed F5 by the LNER.

Marsden says the M15s spent most of their careers serving London suburban traffic, then in East Anglia. By 1923, 42 M15s had already been withdrawn. The rest of the Worsdell-era, Joy-gear engines followed by 1929. The Holden engines lasted a good deal longer; the last of these went in 1956. Fifteen of these were drafted by the military to pull armored coastal defence units in 1940-1943.

The 180-psi engines weren't retired until 1955 -- all 30 were gone three years later. In 2001, a group of enthusiasts joined together to raise the funds necessary to build a new F5 with delivery in 2012 (almost 100 years after the last original was converted in 1920).

Class M15 - Wordsell/F4 & F5 (Locobase 9978)

Data from Frederick Colyer, A treatise on modern steam engines and boilers: Including Land, Locomotive, and Marine Engines and Boilers (London: E & F N Spon, 1886), pp. 96-99. See also the Great Eastern Railway Society's website engineers' menu selection "T W Worsdell -- M15/M15R Class 2-4-2T 1884-1886, 1903-1909", last accessed "Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway," Locomotive Magazine, Volume 18 (15 April 1912), pp. 73-74; and Volume 19 (15 February 1913), pp. 39-40.

Colyer acknowledged his debt to T W Worsdell, who designed this class. The author then went on to establish the particular kind of service for which these tanks were intended: "These engines are a new class, designed by Mr. T. W. Worsdell, M.Inst.C.E., for this particular traffic; they have been in use for some time and have been very successful in working; the traffic is a very severe kind, as the start has to be made at a good speed, and while the engines are in full running, they are rapidly pulled up as they enter the platform of the stations; this would not be possible without the aid of the powerful Westinghouse brakes."

The first ten had ten-spoke cast steel wheels, the remaining 20 rolled on wrought-iron wheels with twelve spokes.

Colyer pronounced a very positive verdict: "It will be noticed that the engines are very compact and all parts well balanced, only construction of the highest class could stand the work they have to perform, the service is not only rapid but constant, the engines have but short spells of rest; the time is kept very exactly, otherwise the frequent trains during each hour, if not punctual, would soon throw the entire system out, and considerable time might be lost before the trains could be got into regular running again."

But the locomotives soon acquired the nickname of "Gobblers", in testament to their eager appetite for coal and water. In fact, when Holden took over the GER's reins, he modified the design in several important respects; see Locobase 5891.

Class Y65/F7 (Locobase 5893)

Additional data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (Jan 2004) as well as "2-4-2 Tank Engine, GER", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XV (14 August 1909), p. 150; "Locomotives of the Great Eastern Ry", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 19 (15 February 1913), p. 40; and "Y65 Class 2-4-2T 1909-1910" from the S D Holden menu selection on the Great Eastern Railway Society's website at [], last accessed 28 March 2017.

Designed by SD Holden to replace the J65 0-6-0Ts in passenger service, these little tanks proved less popular although they could work hard when called upon, says Marsden. The GER Society reports that the dozen engines were the first GER tanks to have "second generation" details like those of the Claud Hamilton 4-4-0s such as the rimmed caps on the stacks (instead of straight "stovepipes"), although these were tapered on the Y65s.

But the relatively generous, even outsized, cabs led to a series of irreverent nicknames, the GER Society adds. These were called "Glasshouse Gobblers" (derived from the ineradicable type nickname originally disparaging earlier Worsdell 2-4-2Ts [Locobase ]), "Crystal Palace Tanks" (almost any moving or stationary object in Britain was a candidate for that nickname, which commemorated the great glass exhibition hall of 1851), and "Tomato Houses", a Scottish innovation.

Although the Y56s fell short in their original assignments on various GER branch lines, where 0-6-0Ts were preferred, the GER Society notes that they proved handy ("found their niche") in World War One for serving in push-pull service among several munitions on the Churchbury Loop between Lower Edmonton and Cheshunt north of London. The class undertook similar duties on the short spur between Seven Sisters on the GER main line and Palace Gates to its northwest.

Retirements began in 1931 with all gone by November 1948.