4-4-0 Steam Locomotives in Great Britain

Class 11A/ D6 (Locobase 7475)

Data from [], the 4-4-0 entries in Richard Marsden's online LNER Encyclopedia, last accessed on 1 March 2006.GCR Rolling Trust website -- [], accessed 31 May 2007 -- for weights and wheelbases.

See Locobase 8971 for the original, saturated-boiler 11A. When the class began refitting with superheated boilers in 1912, a 15-element superheater was fitted. This was replaced over time by the 18-element version shown in the specs, but not all 11s were so fitted. The Smith-design piston valves that originally fed steam proved troublesome and several replacements failed to satisfy until a Robinson-design 8" (203 mm) piston valve first installed in 1912 became standard.

Marsden describes the 11's work on the newspaper trains that ran from London to Manchester to supplant the unpopular Manchester Guardian (which opposed the Boer War then in progress). In 1899, one train covered the 206 miles in 220 minutes including stops, a brisk 56-mph average.

As Cheshire-based locomotives (from about 1910 on), Marsden says, the class "...acquired a strong reputaton as a reliable locomotive that could maintain punctual timings. On a number of occasions, bookings had minutes trimmed off or extra stops inserted. It is telling that the D6s [as the LNER would classify them] were capable of maintaining these tight timings on a regular basis."

Although withdrawals began in 1930, nine of the class served into the World War II years. The last retired on the last day of 1947.

Class Belpaire Claud D56/D15 (Locobase 9443)

See table on Locomotive Cyclopedia of American Practice, p 506 for data, supplemented by A T Taylor, Modern British Locomotives (London: E & FN Spon, Ltd, 1907), p. 14. See also"D56 Class 4-4-0 1903-1911 (plus rebuilds)" on the Great Eastern Railway Society website at [], last accessed 18 May 2021. See Locobase 2277 for a fuller description of both the Claud Hamilton class locomotive and the performance of which it was capable.

Beginning in December 1903, the GER put a Belpaire-boilered variant of the Claud Hamilton (Locobase 2277) that had more boiler tubes and a slightly larger grate. The firebox didn't quite match the boiler heating surface increase, but the class merited series production nonetheless. They came out of the shops burning only coal after the railway decided to remove the oil burners from the earlier batches.

To sample the effects of superheating on the Claud Hamiltons, Stratford Works delivered two of the last four D56s outfitted wth 18 flues holding 18 element Schmidt superheaters to go with 158 1 3/4" small tubes.. The other two tried out Swindon's 72-element superheater, which bundled six elements into each flue. Although maintenance was said to have been simplified in some respects, the amount of superheat it generated was only moderate.

. The railway adopted Robinson's 18-element version of a basic Schmidt design for later superheater upgrades.

Class Claud Hamilton S46/D14 (Locobase 2277)

See Ahrons (1927) for data; Marsden has slightly lower numbers. See also"D56 Class 4-4-0 1903-1911 (plus rebuilds)" on the Great Eastern Railway Society website at [], last accessed 18 May 2021.

James Holden American-type Eight-wheeler design (well, Chief Draughtsman Frederick V. Russell actually, because Holden was out of the country) that Hollingsworth (1982) describes as "really superb." He notes that the engines had many advanced features such as the exhaust steam injector and a variable blast pipe as well as a water scoop (for refilling the tender at speed) and a power reversing gear.

Holden's oil burner usefully supplemented the tender's 1 1/2 long ton (1.65 tons) of coal. Before very long, however, the GER started converting this batch to all-coal fuel supply. By the time the 1903 Belpaire Clauds continued the class, their tenders held and burned only coal.

GER Society's assessment also mentions an often-underappreciated (except by the footplate crew) design innovation: "[The] new 4-4-0s had air-operated reversing gear of a type that proved to be one of the most reliable and positive in action." It overlaid the operating gear on the conventional reversing gear, which meant that once set it remained in position and did not `creep', and it could be operated by hand even if there was no air supply available"

Even the sanding gear offered its own benefits. The crew operated it "by a twist sleeve on the regulator handle, and forward or reverse sanding was automatically selected according to the setting of the reversing gear."

As many served for over four decades, changes were inevitable.

Richard Marsden, of [] (27 May 2004) comments "During their days as the prime express locomotives of the GER, the original Clauds could handle a 14-car Norfolk Coast Express non-stop from the Liverpool Street terminus in London to North Walsham. The schedule provided for hauling loads up to 430 tons and running the 130 miles (208km) in 159 minutes, quite an amazing feat for so small a locomotive"

Marsden offers a summary of subclasses from which the following table is drawn:

# 1st remarks LNER class withdrawn

41 1900 original; most refitted with Belpaire fireboxes beginning in 1915.

D14 1931

66 1903 Belpaire firebox D15 1933 See Locobase 9443.

9 others rebuilt

4+70 1911 Superheaters D15/1 1935 Locobase 3119

0+80 1914 Extended smokebox D15/2 1952

10 1923 Super Claud D16/1 1934 Locobase 7470

with larger boiler

0+40 1926 Rebuilt as SuperClaud D16/2 1952

0+104 1933 Splashers off, D16/3 1958

round-top boilers

Class D56/D16 Super Claud (Locobase 3119)

Data from Richard Marsden, LNER Encyclopedia [] (27 May 2004). See also "Four-Coupled Superheater Express Engine, with Top Feed Water Heater, Great Eastern Ry", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 28 (15 November 1922), p. 327.

Locobase 9443 shows the original Belpaire-boiler variant of the very successful James Holden Claud Hamilton design that began with the 1900 round tops described in Locobase 2277.

Beginning in 1911, the Great Eastern began superheating its locomotives. Marsden's D56 entry gave only 155 sq ft (14.4 sq m) for the superheater, but the 1922 LM article reported the 226 sq ft shown in Locobase's specs. The 1922 engines used A J Hill's design of feed water heater, which added "largely to its efficiency and economical working."

Hill's system featured clack boxes on each side of the dome that fed water to shallow trays located in the boiler's steam space and drilled with about 40 1/2" (12.7 mm) holes in each side of the tray. The steam heated the water before it ran down to join the water in the boiler. Another benefit had the solids that came in with the water fall to the bottom of the boiler "in a state of fine mud which is readily washed out in the ordinary way."

In this configuration, the class served "a fair share of the express work" as well as "almost exclusively" handling the "very arduous" run to Southend, "on which they acquit themselves with great credit."

Class G16 (Locobase 2930)

Data from "Locomotives from the Great Eastern Railway," Locomotive Magazine, Volume 18 (15 May 1912), p. 99; E L Ahrons, The British Railway Locomotive, 1825-1925 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1926); supplemented by data from J. Pearson Pattison, British Railways: Their Passenger Services, ... (London: Cassell & Co, 1893), p 73..

Essentially duplicates of the G14 2-4-0s described in Locobase 2998, this class adopted a Worsdell-von Borries two-cylinder compound layout. According to TW Worsdell's successor, James Holden, compounding achieved a 14% savings over similar non-compound engines at 160 psi. When pressure was reduced to 150 psi (10.34 bar), the savings virtually disappeared. Reder (1974, p 187) notes that the von Borries compound design was the only one adopted by the Great Eastern as Worsdell left the GER for the North Eastern in 1885.

After ten years in service, the class was simpled in 1892 to match the G14s' 18 x 24" cylinder volume. Two years later they were fitted with the same boilers as those adopted for eight of the G14s (see Locobase 20064).

Class Ironclads (Locobase 3204)

Data from "Fast Goods Locomotive, Great Eastern Ry," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol IX (12 September 1903)., p.154. See also Graham Glover, British Locomotive Design 1825-1960 (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1967). Dubs built the first batch (works number 893-902 in 1876) and R & W Hawthorns (works numbers 1705-1714 in 1877).

These were produced by William Adams as outside-cylinder engines that were larger than the run of 4-4-0s then being built in Great Britain. "[B]ut," wrote Glover, "it is understood they were not a success, and were ultimately relegated to goods work."

Locomotive Magazine later published a history of Great Eastern locomotives that included a description of the Ironclads (Volume XVI, 15 November 1910, p. 239). Almost everything matched the earlier article except for the boiler having 177 1 7/8" (47.6 mm) tubes and a tube evaporative heating surface of 1,009 sq ft (93.74 sq m).

Adams would have better luck on the London & South Western.

Class T19 rebuilts (Locobase 21227)

"T19R Class 2-4-0, 4-4-0, Rebuilt 1902-1904, 1905-1908", Great Eastern Railway Society webite at [], last accessed 16 December 2024; and Richard Marsden, "The Holden Class D13 (GER T19 Rebuilt) 4-4-0 Locomotives", LNER Encyclopedia at [], last accessed 16 December 2024. See also the GERS's spirited defense of the Great Eastern's locomotives at [], also last accessed 16 December 2024.

Locobase 10564 shows the 21 T19 rebuilds in 1902 that kept the original single-truck leading the way, but underwent installation of new 180-psi boilers and Belpaire fireboxes. Beginning in 1905, the GER decided to replace the single leading truck with a leading bogie. To make room, the angle of the inside cylinders' rods increased to clear the leading axle.

In addition, the change required fitting new front-end frames, notes the GERS account, and bogies acquired "]with] typical GER frugality, some of the components for the actual bogies ...[coming] from withdrawn E10 0-4-4Ts." (That is, the rear bogie on the E10 became a front bogie on the T19 rebuild.) Not surprisingly, given the bogie wheels' small diameter, " lubrication of these had to be carefully watched, otherwise the bearings tended to run hot on long, fast runs."

Locobase can't quote the entire argument, but can recommend the essay for its thoroughness and as an object lesson in understanding a given railway's operating environment and traffic profiles.

Class T19 rebuilts/ D13-superheated (Locobase 7476)

Data from "T19R Class 2-4-0, 4-4-0, Rebuilt 1902-1904, 1905-1908", Great Eastern Railway Society webite at [] and diagram displayed on the GERS website, both last accessed 16 December 2024; and Richard Marsden, "The Holden Class D13 (GER T19 Rebuilt) 4-4-0 Locomotives", LNER Encyclopedia at [], last accessed 16 December 2024.

Locobase 10564 shows the 21 T19 2-4-0 rebuilds of 1902 that kept the original single-truck leading the way, but refitted the engines with new 180-psi boilers and Belpaire fireboxes. Locobase 21227 describes the 1905-19078 program to modify 60 more engines by replacing the single truck with a bogie, creating an American-type Eight-wheeler 4-4-0.

Before long the GER began superheating its motive power and looked at the recently rebuilt 4-4-0s. Beginning in 1913 with 12 rebuilt T19s, Stratford fitted a small Schmidt-type system that displaced 131 small tubes in favor of just 18 flues. A relatively meager 11% share of heating surface area was typical of British locomotive designers in the first years of widespread firetube superheating. The latter 36 to be converted by the GER received Robinson superheaters (a variant of the Schmidt design).

Marsden went to the trouble to list all the original T19 numbers that went through the update:700, 704-8, 710, 712-3, 715, 717-9, 728-35, 741-2, 744-5, 747-8, 751, 756, 765-7, 772, 775, 777, 779, 1012-13, 1015-6, 1018, 1020-21, 1023, 1025-33, 1035-37 and 1039. (LNER running numbers added 7000 to all of those it received from the GER.)

When the GER joined the others in the Grouped railway dubbed the London & North Eastern (LNER), 58 of the original 60 remained and they were designated D13. The LNER oversaw equipping four more D13s and disposed of the other six.

According to Richard Marsden, "The D13s had a reputation for being energetic locomotives capable of hard work for short periods of time. They were particularly suited to lighter loads, and could accelerate quickly from a stop." Criticism focused on the engines' relatively short wheelbase, which "esulted in sideways motions when running at high speed."

As D13s, the class ran only in secondary service on "level lines in the Fens and on the GN [Great Northern] and GE Joint Lines. As the 1920s went on, newer locomotives displaced them and the LNER began retiring them until by the end of the 1930s only three remained to work the Cambridge-Ipswich stopping service. These were withdrawn in 1943-1944.

Class unknown (Locobase 2989)

First inside-cylinder, inside-frame 4-4-0s in England with a unique splasher cutout that framed the hubs with a curved edge. Designed by SW Johnson, these engines were delivered with 100-sq ft iron fireboxes that were replaced two years later with copper one.