4-6-0 Steam Locomotives in Great Britain

Class 1A (Glen Almond) /B8 (Locobase 6302)

Data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (26 September 2004). See also "Superheater Mixed Traffic Locomotives-Great Central Railway", Locomotive News and Railway Contractor, Volume XII [12], No. 13 (10 July 1922), p. 129.

Following on the heels of the Sir Sam Fay express passenger locomotives(Locobase 2304), this mixed-traffic design had 14" (356 mm) smaller drivers. They gained their name from the Glen Almond, the lead engine of the class. Like the other GCR Ten-wheelers, these had Belpaire fireboxes and, eventually, 10" (254 mm) piston valves.

Marsden is puzzled by the decision to build a class so close in particulars to the less-than-successful 1s.

Once built, however, they served for decades, being refitted along the way with new boilers. This version is the one shown in the specifications. Withdrawals came quickly after the end of World War II.

Class 8 (Fish) /B5 (Locobase 6301)

Additional data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (26 Sept 2004) and "New Engines, Great Central Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VIII (3 January 1903), p. 3.

The first of Robinson's 4-6-0s, these were built along the same general lines as the co-incidental Atlantics and shared the Belpaire firebox design of the latter. Neilson supplied the first 6 in 1902 and Beyer, Peacock added 8 more in 1904.

These were mixed-traffic engines and one of the regular duties was the hauling of Robinson's specially designed fish vans from Grimsby to market, hence "fish engines".

Superheating the class only began once the LNER took over the GCR's stock. All 14 were fitted with a superheated boiler of the same diameter between 1926 and 1936. Seven later received cylinders based on the O4 design, which measured 21" in diameter and 10" piston valves. Richard HN Hardy (see Locobase 2314 for a discussion of this photographer and his extensive collection of LNER images; see [], accessed 8 May 2006) says the class were "excellent engines with ...a very fair turn of speed on level track whilst being strong on a bank and free running downhill especially the slide valve engines." (This latter comment Locobase takes to refer to the free running downhill.)

All but one entered World War II and operated trains between Sheffield and Hull. Despite their age, the class did well, says Marsden, "...easily handling the heavy wartime traffic over this difficult route." Some of the class survived nationalization as helper engines, but the last was retired in 1950.

Class 8C/B1 (Locobase 2299)

Data from Charles Rous-Marten, "New Express Engines - Great Central Railway"Engineer (6 May 1904), pp. 469-470. Additional data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (Jan 2004).

JG Robinson design with outside cylinders and 10" (254 mm) piston valves. Rous-Marten's evaluation of the trips he took on the new locomotives noted that the locomotives could not be exercised to their full capability and concluded "Evidently, Mr Robinson's splendid engines have a great deal 'in hand,' and extensive accelerations [of average speed] will be easily feasible so soon as this shall be deemed advisable."

Marsden shows both locomotives because 195 had the 19 1/2" diameter cylinders and 196 had 19" -- otherwise the data are identical. Building Ten-wheelers was an experiment to see if "big engines" (a la Churchward on the Great Western) were the answer to traffic demands. The answer came back "not quite". Because the Belpaire firebox rested above the last driving axle, it was actually quite shallow and offered a challenge to the fireman. But, Marsden notes, the very shallow ashpan (only 7" deep) is not recorded as being a problem and the design was repeated on the later Class 8F 4-6-0 class.

Superheating came after Grouping when LNER came up with a boiler using a shallow firebox. Although different from the later GCR 4-6-0s, the pair of 8Cs (B1 in LNER parlance) remained in steady, if varied, service right through World War II. Reclassified B18 to clear the way for Thompson's B1 class, the pair were retired and scrapped in 1947.

Class 8F (Immingham) / B4 (Locobase 5900)

Data from "New Designs of Locomotives", Mechanical Engineer, Volume XVIII, No 459 (10 November 1906), p. 645

Known as the Immingham class, these Ten-wheelers were essentially repeats of J G Robinson's 8C class (Locobase 2299). They too had the shallow Belpaire firebox. ME reported that they were seen to be "equally serviceable for working the Great Central Company's important and persihable freight trains from Grimsby Docks, or for long-distance excursion traffic."

The last of this durable class, rebuilt in the 1920s with supeheaters, was retired in 1950.

Class 8G / B9 (Locobase 6303)

Data from Charles Lake, in his Locomotives of 1907 (London: Percival Marshall & Co, 1907), presented on [], last accessed 31 January 2009.

Like the Great Western goods Ten-wheelers, says Lake, the Great Central class were "... powerful locomotives, of simple and straight-forward design, admirably suited for giving reliable service under varying conditions in hauling heavy trains at moderate speeds on all sections of the railways over which they have been designed to work."

Class 8G/B9 (Locobase 10609)

Data from "Mixed Traffic Locomotive, Great Central Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XIII (15 February 1907), p. 34

This class had a big-enough boiler for its cylinders, but its grate area was surprisingly skimpy for the time. The design would gain a few tubes over time and be superheated as well.

Class 8N/B6 (Locobase 20681)

Data from "4-6-0 Mixed Traffic Enginers, Great Central Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 24 (15 November 1918), pp. 175-176. See also Richard Marsden, "The Robinson Class B6 (GCR Class 8N) 4-6-0s", on the LNER Encyclopedia website at [], last accessed 29 December 2019.

JG Robinson's Great Central two-cylinder (outside) Consolidation's boiler, Belpaire firebox, and and outside cylinders with 10" (254 mm) piston valves (Locobase 2347) was the exact model for the same components in this prototype. Richard Marsden suggests that Robinson planned a series of trials between this engine and the 9Q class (Locobase 2344).

Since the GCR decided in 1920 to continue production of the 9Q (later B7), the 8N class stopped at three. Nevertheless, both the GCR and successor LNER kept them in service throughout World War II from sheds at Woodford to Gorton to Sheffield and West Riding.

Class 9P (Lord Faringdon) / B3 (Locobase 2332)

See Ahrons (1927) for data. Additional data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (January 2004); and "4-cylinder 6-coupled locomotive, Great Central Railway," Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXIV [24], No. 305 (15 January 1918) and No 307 (15 March 1918), pp. 43-44.

Elaboration of JG Robinson's Sir Sam Fay design with four cylinders. The four sets of 8" (203 mm) piston valves, laid out line abreast, were driven by two sets of motion placed inside. On each side of the engine a Y-shaped pendulum connected the outer and inner valves so that as one was letting steam in the outer end, the other was admitting to the inner end, thus balancing the motion.

Marsden's LNER site shows all had the Belpaire firebox, but that the lead engine -- Lord Faringdon (1164, completed in 1917) -- had a different boiler with 139 2 1/4" tubes and 24 5 1/4" flues. (Total EHS was therefore 2,020 sq ft and the superheater added 294 sq ft.) The other five were all completed in 1920.

Engine 1165 (LNER 6165, later 1496) was renamed Valour "In memory of GCR Employees to Gave their Lives for their Country." The others in the class were named, respectively, Earl Beatty, Earl Haig, Lloyd George, Lord Stuart of Wortley.

Four out of five were rebuilt as B3/2 with Caprotti valve gear and 1 (6166) was rebuilt again in 1943 as B3/3, a 2-cylinder locomotive with the B1's boiler. 1499 (ex-6168, ex-1169) went in September 1946, 3 others in 1947, and 1497 (ex-6166, ex-1166) in April 1949.

Richard HN Hardy (see Locobase 2314 for a discussion of this photographer and his extensive collection of LNER images; see [], accessed 8 May 2006) notes that these engines carried a notice in the cab that told them to run with the regulator (to Americans - throttle) wide open "- necessary with steam-operated poppet valves." In his caption RH264, Hardy describes the B3s as "Very powerful engines which could run well up into the 80s but had no need to do so if the driver gave them their head uphill." Hardy continues with the ideal jobs for the class:"...the 0232 Paper train, the fastest of all the down trains, or the Night Mail loaded up to 14 coaches, a load rarely, if ever, exceeded in the days of the Pacifics in later years."

Class 9Q/B7 (Black Pigs) (Locobase 2344)

Data from E L Ahrons, The British Steam Locomotive from 1825 to 1925 (London: Ian Allan, 1926); Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia - [], last accessed 26 Sept 2004). See also "Four-Cyllinder Express Freight Locomotive, Great Central Ry", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXVII [27] (15 August 1921), pp. 197-198.

Freight version of JG Robinson's 1917 express passenger Sir Faringdon class, complete with Belpaire firebox.The four sets of valves, laid out line abreast, were driven by two sets of motion placed inside; to coordinate with the 108 deg, inside valves used inside admission, outside valves used outside admission. The inside cylinders sloped at 11 1/2:1, outside pitched less steeply at 14 1/2:1. On each side of the engine a Y-shaped pendulum connected the outer and inner valves so that as one was letting steam in the outer end, the other was admitting to the inner end, thus balancing the motion.

Marsden commented that this design's was based on the Lord Faringdon (Locobase 2322), ut its smaller drivers led to several improvements including a deeper ashpan.

GCR built 28 9Q and LNER added 10 in 1923-1924; the former were reclassified B7/1 and the latter B7/2 to mark their smaller extreme dimensions adopted to fit the composite loading gauge of the Grouped LNER lines.

The short-travel valve gear led to heavy coal consumption, says Marsden, and the class quickly earned the nicknames "Black Pig" and "Collier's Friend". Still, the class was successful in service (Robinson's most successful 4-6-0 design, says Marsden) and was frequently upgraded. As many as 13 received larger steam chests with better steam passage arrangements and 14 were fitted with rebuilt frame front ends that solved a frame-distortion problem.

Steamindex's summary ([], 20 October 2004) of a memoir by Richard HN Hardy (The Poggy Log) in which he takes on the assertion that the B7s couldn't run downhill: "I have never heard such rubbish; they would run like the wind. Certainly, they burned a lot of coal." Steamindex includes its summary of his view "that they were easy to fire, but like the Kings, they needed a big fire, and if this was not provided they failed to produce steam." GCR drivers found the B7s had a smoother ride than the LNER K3s.

Yet Hardy, in the photo captions described in Locobase 2314 (see [], accessed 8 May 2006) opined that the B7 was "a good engine if handled properly and if not a coal scoffer." A later caption (RH186) says the design was "...a magnificent strong engine built like a battleship and sure-footed in starting." In that same caption, Hardy cites a moment that underscores the confidence engineers had in the latter quality. One day, when leaving Penistone, Joe Oglesby "...simply put the regulator right across [floored the accelerator, one might say] and sat down knowing perfectly well that the engine would not slip on the curve and 1 in 60 (1.67%) gradient." Such performance primarily stemmed from the four-cylinder setup.

After World War II service on troop trains and other runs from Gorton, the B7's were taken into the nationalized fleet in 1948 but quickly disposed of.

Class I (20") /B2/B19 (Locobase 5901)

Data from Richard Marsden's LNER Encyclopedia, last accessed 20 March 2017 online at [] . This entry shows the effect of lining the cylinders of three of the 8G express passenger locomotives to reduce diameter to 20" (508 mm). After updating this trio in 1921-1922 and being taken into the London & North Eastern in 1923, the shops relined the 5426 in 1938. (423 had been fitted with new 21 1/2" cylinders.)

Class Sir Sam Fay/1/B2/B19 (Locobase 2304)

See "Great Central Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 19, No 245 (15 January 1913), p. 1. See also the cutaway published a year before in Locomotive Magazine, Volume 18 (14 September 1912), p. 181; and "Locomotives", Engineer, Volume 117, No 1 (2 January 1914), p. 18. Additional data and information from Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (January 2004), last accessed as [] on 20 March 2017; and Wikipedia's unsigned entry "GCR Class 1" at [], also accessed 20 March 2017.

Inside-cylinder passenger and fast-freight design by JG Robinson about which Glover (1967) comments: "If the term 'ungainly' could be used with any of Robinson's designs, this was it." Yet OS Nock (RWC IV, pl 45) describes them as "very handsome".

Marsden summarizes the evidence that damns the class as a failed design: " The piston valves were too close together which resulted in poorly shaped steam passages. Also the firebox was shallow and suffered the same problems as the Class 8C 4-6-0 (LNER B1) locomotives. The boilers were also poorly designed."

The Engineer's report claimed that the engines had been "exhaustively tested with all classes of traffic". They were found to "easily capable" , an endorsement qualified by "in fine weather practically" all of 8-coupled mineral engine's traffic as well as "dealing with goods, or express goods loads largely in excess of those taken by existin classes." Their service hauling "heavy excursion passnenger traffic and ...parcel trains" was pronounced "satisfactory". Ten more were then on order, although their driver diameters were reduced by 14" (356 mm); see Locobase 6302.

Likewise, Wikipedia's author strongly dissents from this indictment in a section titled "Alleged Problems":

"There is similarly no evidence to support the claims that they had problems in service which led to their alleged demotion from express passenger use." The author argues that the fire grate and ash pan was very similar to, for example, the later Gresley K3 2-6-0s. Moreover, the firebox were deep and relatively large. The author discounts the claims of axlebox overheating, although the refutation, which notes that "Robinson in fact took care to make the coupled boxes as large as possible, 9 by 9 inches (229 mm x 229 mm) on the two leading axles and 8 by 12 inches (203 mm x 305 mm) on the trailing set" doesn't disprove the allegation.

But there was a problem with the "marine-type big ends" fitted to the first five, Wikipedia concedes, noting that the sixth reverted to strap and cotter type.

The class was later split in two, this variant including the lead engine -- Sir Sam Fay -- and two cities: City of Lincoln and City of London. All six had Belpaire fireboxes and inside cylinders and 10" (254 mm) piston valves as well as large, long boilers with a diameter of 66" (1,676 mm).

They were later renumbered by the LNER as 5423, 5424, and 5427. In 1946, 5423 became 1490 and 5427 took 1492. 5424 (City of Lincoln) had been withdrawn in November 1944. Of the surviving pair, 1490 went out first in April 1947 followed by 1492 in November of that year.