Great Eastern 4-2-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 245 Class (Locobase 3169)

Data from Ahrons (1927) and J. Pearson Pattison, British Railways: Their Passenger Services, ... (London: Cassell & Co, 1893), p 73.

A Massey Bromley design, based in many respects on Patrick Stirling's bogie singles. Certainly it fit the pattern of English express engines with a tall set of drivers, outside cylinders and midline running board with arch over the outside connection, and front bogie striding well ahead of the smokebox. The long front Adams sliding bogie induced, says Ahrons, a lateral swaying motion that was "a gentle movement of long amplitude, very unlike the short sharp jerky motion of [the Lady of the Lake class, which had no bogie]." Ahrons also comments on the valve operation, which was inside Stephenson link communicated to the outside valves through rocking shafts, "a distinctly American feature."

Reder (1974) reproduces a Hamilton Ellis painting of #606 in dark blue livery with red lining and a solid splasher. Glover (1967) describes the same engine and illustrates it with a photograph of #246, which has slotted splashers and a smaller steam dome. Glover's photo shows one of the original 15. Ellis's painting shows one of the ten that was delivered with 17 1/2" diameter cylinders and less heating surface.

Class 51 - rebuilt (Locobase 10685)

Data from "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Ry," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XV (15 January 1909), p. 4.

As noted in Locobase 10864, Johnson rebuilt some of the singles originally put into service by Sinclair ten years earlier (Locobase 2206). In this pair, he adopted a bogie truck to smooth out the curves, which lengthened the wheelbase and slightly increased the weight.

Class P43 (Locobase 2246)

See Ahrons (1927) for data. See also "The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 18 (15 June 1912), p. 120.

James Holden design originally set to work on the non-stop London to North Walsham run. Holden's experiments with oil-firing led to his application of the technology to these ten single-wheelers. Combined with water scoops, the increased capacity of the oil-carrying tenders permitted the non-stop, 130.5 mile (210 km) running described above.

They were overmatched by mainline traffic demand and soon gave over their duties to the Claud Hamilton 4-4-0s.