4-4-2 Steam Locomotives in Great Britain

Class 1300 (Locobase 2274)

Data from November 1908 American Engineer and Railroad Journal (AERJ) for data and details of comparative trials. See also "Four Cylinder Balanced Compound for the Great Northern Railway, Vulcan Foundry Locomotive Catalogue, No. 5 at [], (Many thanks to Jorge Cerezo Toledo for his 26 June 2021 email containing links to several sites including the Vulcan Catalogue referred to above.) Works number was 2025 in 1905.

De Glehn compound devised by Vulcan Foundry, which shortened the tubes and lengthened the firebox by moving the tube plate forward. Ivatt also fitted the boiler with larger-diameter Serve tubes.

Trials with #292, a four-cylinder compound, and #294 suggest to the objective eye that none of the three really stood out from the other two. Although firebox heating surface grew by more than 30 sq ft (2.79 sq m) compared to the Ivatt designs, British railroads soon moved to the 4-6-0 to gain more adhesion weight. Later superheating involved a 22-element Robinson superheater that provided a modest 15.4% (280 sq ft/26.01 sq m) of total heating surface of 1,814 sq ft (168.53 sq m).

Acording to Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia [] (26 Sept 2004), in fact, "1300 quickly acquired a bad reputation." Despite being fitted with a Robinson 22-element superheater and being rebuilt as a two-cylinder simple locomotive, the 1300 never met with success and was retired in 1924 after amassing only 390,798 miles (692,185 km) in service.

Class 1421 (Locobase 2273)

Data from George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 205-206.

HA Ivatt-designed Atlantic four-cylinder compounding on the Webb model; this variant is smaller than the earlier 292. Marsden says it was fitted with Stephenson valve gear for the outside cylinders, Walschaert gear for the inside set. (Locobase thinks that sounds backwards; in most instances, the Walschaert gear would be outside. Bird's sketch shows that none of the valve components could be seen.

In 1914, Nigel Gresley added the 22-element Robinson superheater. Six years later another rebuild created a standard C1 superheated, two-cylinder locomotive.

Class 251/C1 - Robinson superheater (Locobase 2294)

Data from Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia--[], last accessed 2 April 2015. See also "Auxiliary Driving Motor on Atlantic Type Engine, London & North Eastern Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXIX [29], No 372 (15 August 1923), pp. 222-221.

Once Gresley had experimented with Robinson's variant of the firetube superheater originally developed by Wilhelm Schmidt, he stopped procuring the latter and converted all of the Schimdt engines to Robinson superheaters from 1914-1927. The best version of the Robinson rebuilds, according to Marsden, was the 32-element superheater shown in these specifications.

In the early 1920s, the LNER tested an auxiliary engine on the trailing truck. According to LM, the American term "booster", "though inelegant, conveys not inaptly its function." Whether starting with heavy loads or climbing "severe gradients", a booster added tractive effort by engaging the booster's gears with a steam-powered actuator.

Class 251/C1 - Schmidt superheater (Locobase 16008)

Data from "Great Northern Railway", The Locomotive Magazine, Volume 16 (15 September 1910), p. 182. Doncaster works numbers were 1276-1285 in 1910.

This class, which introduced superheaters to Ivatt's original 1903 design. used Schmidt superheaters and 8" (203 mm) piston valves.

Interestingly, all of these Schimdt engines were gradually rebuilt with Robinson superheaters; see Locobase 2294.

Class 251/C1 superheated 4-cylinder (Locobase 1493)

Data from Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia [] (26 September 2004) for data and information, supplemented by "Four-Cylinder Atlantic Type Locomotive, Great Northern of England," Railway Mechanical Engineer, Volume 90, No 10 (October 1916), pp. 502-504 and "Great Northern Railway Four-Cylinder Engine, No 279", Volume XXI No. 275 (15 October 1915), pp. 217-218.

Gresley's superheating of the original 251s occurred in two principal stages. After an initial flirtation with the Schmidt superheater on five Atlantics, Gresley fitted one of the class with the 24-element, 427 sq ft (39.67 sq m) Robinson superheater in 1914. Over the next thirteen years, the GNR and later the LNER outfitted the rest of the class similarly. It is this configuration, fitted with 8" (203 mm) piston valves, that is shown in the specification. As the last Atlantic was modified to this standard, the LNER began another upgrade; see Locobase 6310.

Class 271 (Locobase 9923)

Data from George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 183-186. Doncaster works number was 974.

This may have been the only four-cylinder, simple-expansion locomotive ever produced for the GNR and it cannot have been a great success. For some reason, H A Ivatt provided too small a boiler for the four cylinders. Delivered with Stephenson gear and piston valves, the engine was converted to balanced slide valves and Walschaert radial valve gear.

Several years later, the GNR rebuilt the locomotive by removing the two outside cylinders, increasing the diameter of the inside cylinders, which were supplied by piston valves, and actuating them with Stephenson link motion. Steam was now supplied by a 990-class boiler (see Locobase 1491).

Class 292 (Locobase 2272)

See the November 1908 American Engineer & Railroad Journal (AERJ) for comparative trials of the 1300 and the 292 class. See also Joseph Gregory Horner, Henley's Encyclop'dia of Practical Engineering and Allied Trades: A ... (London: N W Henley, 1907), p 132.

HA Ivatt-designed Atlantic 4-cylinder compounding on the Webb model. The outer, HP cylinders were actuated by Walschaerts gear, the inner, LP cylinders by Stephenson; all four cylinders lay in a row under the smokebox. (Doncaster also produced the 294 for the trials -- a simple-expansion locomotive with 18 1/2" x 26" cylinders that was otherwise identical.) An intercepting valve allowed the engineer to admit live steam to all 4 cylinders for starting.

Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia [] (26 Sept 2004) notes that the boiler was rated at 225 psi, but probably never pressed that hard. This locomotive remained a solo example until its retirement in 1928.

Class 990 / Klondykes (Locobase 1491)

Data from [], accessed 12 March 2006; and "Great Northern Railway Engine No. 990", Railway Magazine (December 1898), p.569. See also Henley's Encyclop'dia of Practical Engineering and Allied Trades: A ... By Joseph Gregory Horner (London: N W Henley, 1907), p 132.

An early HA Ivatt-designed Atlantic with the narrow firebox and small boiler. They owned the distinction of being the first Atlantics in British service and of being the first named engines on the Great Northern. (The lead engine was dubbed "Sir Henry Oakley" after the railway's chairman.).

The estimable steamindex.com website, which summarizes volumes and volumes of discussion about (mostly ) British locomotives, offers a detailed discussion of this class.

Among the tidbits: The connecting (in the US, main) rod drove on a pin that was set 1/2" (12.7 mm) off from the coupling rod's pin, thus shortening the circle traced by the connecting rod to 23" (584 mm) and reducing stresses at high speed.

OS Nock and Cecil Allen disagreed on the riding qualities of the Klondikes, Nock saying that they rode smoothly and were easy on the track while Allen said they rolled at high speeds, sometimes to the point of discomfort for the engine crew. Allen observed the very short driving-wheel wheelbase, thin flanges, and a stiffly mounted trailing axle setup.

Nock notes that the boiler was shorter than it looked, the difference representing an extension of the smokebox back. After the prototype's narrow water legs (1 3/4"/ 44.5 mm on either side of the firebox) suffered a rapid build-up of sediment, the production variant had 3"/76.2 mm water legs

The history of the class shows that 20 were ordered in January 1899, but only ten were turned out in March-June 1900. Ten more were ordered with a frame capable of taking the wide firebox that Ivatt would soon fit in all of his Atlantics, but none of this class ever received them.

Interestingly, although Allen was critical of their performance, he describes their work sound at speed as a "merry chirrup" and blessed with "... short stroke and an unusual arrangement of eccentric crankpins [that] gave the engines an economical gait that always made their pace look effortless."

Later superheated; see Locobase 6308.

Class C2 / C12 (Locobase 5926)

Data from Richard Marsden's [] (22 Feb 2004). See also Henley's Encyclop'dia of Practical Engineering and Allied Trades: A ... By Joseph Gregory Horner (London: N W Henley, 1907), p 132 and George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 157-159.

Built to replace the older 0-4-4Ts designed by James Stirling, the first 10 of Henry Ivatt Atlantic tanks originally served the West Riding, but the class soon took over most London suburban traffic as it grew from 1898 to 1907.

When a "translating" rigid trailing axle (Marsden doesn't define, but Locobase suspects it had only lateral play) didn't work as expected, a radial axle design was substituted. The domed boiler was characteristic of this and several GNR designs.

As traffic grew in size and weight, the C2s were moved to lighter duties. During the LNER period, when they were redsignated C12, the class served mostly Lincolnshire and West Riding, with some still serving London and 10 moving to Hull in 1930.

World War II stopped class retirements at 10 locomotives and they were distributed widely. Marsden comments: Although disliked by the Great Central ... men on these services, they performed admirably pulling trains heavier than their design capacity."

Withdrawals recommenced after World War II, but the last 16 weren't retired until 1958.

Class Class 251 / C1-large boiler (Locobase 1492)

Data from Henley's Encyclopaedia of Practical Engineering and Allied Trades: A ... By Joseph Gregory Horner (London: N W Henley, 1907), p 132. See also OVS Bulleid, "Locomotives I have known," p 342 and Cecil Poultney, British Express Locomotive Development, 1896 to 1948 (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd, 1952). p. 42.

HA Ivatt-designed Atlantic with the wide firebox and large boiler.

OS Nock (RWC III, pl 139) offers the following subtle criticism: "...while it could not be said that the performance of the new engines was disappointing, they did not come into their own until many year later ...[i.e., 1911, when Nigel Gresley applied] high-degree superheating."

OVS Bulleid claimed the results obtained in service were "very good, both as regards speed and hauling capacity." Specifically, he notes: "They readily met Mr. Ivatt's requirements of a sustained drawbar pull of not less than 2 tons [4,480 lb] at 60 mph."

Bulleid quotes Ivatt's comments about the philosophy influencing the design of these Atlantics: "It's no good having a large purse and nothing to put in it", a reference to the practice of using large cylinders and small boilers, and "The difficult thing is to get the steam out of the cylinders.", which accounted, Bulleid said, for the care Ivatt took in designing the exhaust passages. Balanced slide valve arranged to work vertically contributed to the "very direct exhaust."

Poultney notes that the inside valves allowed direct connection to the valve gear. Acknowledging the easier accessibility of outside valve gear, he implies through citation to Sir John Aspinall's experiments on the Lancashire & Yorkshire that the cost is greater friction in horizontal valves than those set up vertically.

(Later replacement with piston valves achieved such good results that it seems likely the the slide-valve design was a principal culprit in the early version's performance limitations.)

Regarding firebox design, Bulleid noted two important features. One was the inward slope of the firebox side of the water legs, which theoretically "...allowed the bubbles of steam to pass through the water instead of creeping up the plate as in the narrow box." The other was a "rather flat" brick arch, achieved through the use of quarried stone rather than ordinary firebricks.

Even with all the good attributes in the original design, Bulleid acknowledges that "it was in their altered form that they did their finest work." See Class 251s for further information at Locobases 16008 and 2294.

Class Klondykes / 988 (Locobase 9929)

Data from Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia ([], viewed 26 Sept 2004) and George Frederick Bird, The Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway 1847-1910 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1910), p. 210-211.

In 1909, H A Ivatt took one of his early Klondyke Atlantics and installed a Schmidt superheater to evaluate the value of the drier steam. The trials confirmed the value of superheating and the GNR began a railway-wide update program. Production engines would use the similar, but British, Robinson design; see Locobase 6308.

Class Klondykes / C2 (Locobase 6308)

Data from Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia ([], viewed 26 Sept 2004).

Beginning in 1914, the GNR began superheating its Klondyke Atlantics with Robinson superheaters (A 1909 experiment with the Schmidt superheater was not repeated.). Marsden notes that of the 21 original Klondykes, 12 were fitted with both the Robinson superheater and 8"(203 mm) piston valves. Eight others had slide valves and 19" x 24" cylinders.

Small and lightly built, the Klondykes were soon replaced in heavy express passenger service by the larger 251s. They soldiered on in less demanding runs such as fish trains and secondary passenger service. By the mid-1930s, the LNER began retiring the class as their boilers hit their lifetimes. Five survived long enough to be caught up in World War II's demand for all available motive power, but they were withdrawn immediately after the war.