North Eastern 4-6-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class City of... / A2 (Locobase 2338)

Data from "Three-Cylinder 'Pacific' Type Express Locomotive, North Eastern Railway", Railway Engineer, Volume 43, No. 6 (June 1922), p. 219.

Designed by Vincent Raven at the same time Nigel Gresley premiered his A1, this engine would fade into the background once the North Eastern and Great Northern were grouped. According to Glover (1967) , the design showed " a rigid -- perhaps a too rigid -- adherence to existing practice in the production of a new type." A long, 72"-diameter boiler wasted some of the heat generated in a relatively large, but conventionally arranged firebox of 200 sq ft heating surface. Raven's cast group of three cylinders drove on the front axle, .

All five were named for cities in the NER: City of Newcastle, ..Kingston-upon-Hull, ...York, ...Durham, and ...Ripon, respectively. When they came into the LNER soon afterward, they were classed A2. As odd class out among LNER Pacifics, they lasted only until 1936-1937.

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Class W1 - rebuilt/A6 (Locobase 6323)

Data from "Class 'W' Rebuilt Tank Locomotive, North-Eastern Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXV [25] (15 October 1919), pp. 164-165; and Richard Marsden, "The Wilson Worsdell A6 Pacific Tank Locomotives" from his LNER site -- [] (first accessed January 2004, last accessed 13 June 2020)..

Marsden noted that although the class W 4-6-0Ts (aka Whitby Willies -- see Locobase 2318) were "strong, sure-footed locomotives", they were short on coal and water capacity. The North Eastern rebuilt the class and added a carrying axle under the bunker, making the locomotive shown here. When delivered, the 4-6-0 tanks had 7' 10" (2.39 m) between the last coupled axle center and the rear buffer beam. When the railway increased tank capacity, the frame lengthened to 11 ft (.3.35 m).

A boiler rebuild In 1932 took out tube stays, making room for six more tubes and a tube heating surface of 1,204 sq.ft (11.86 sq m). In 1936, the LNER fitted the A6 with a boiler that was interchangeable with the A7 and A8 4-6-2T, the H1 4-4-4Ts, and the T1 4-80T. Seven were then superheated.

They operated throughout World War II. Except for the class leader, which was withdrawn ni June 1947, the class went onto the British Railways roster in 1948. Retirements began soon afterward, however, and the others were moved to the Hull Botanic Gardens in 1951, from which they were withdrawn later that year.

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Class Y (Locobase 20025)

Data from "4-6-2 Mineral Tank Engines, NER", The Locomotive Magazine, Volume XVII [17] (14 January 1911), p. 4. See also steamindex's summary of literature on this class--"Y class: 1911: LNER class A7"-- at [].

These were designed by Wilson Wordell and produced by Vincent Raven to facilitate two-way working on the lines between the collieries and the ports they supplied with export coal. The three-cylinder layout provided for smoother power, although the extra cylinder taxed the boiler's steam-making power considerably. All three cylinders received steam through 7 1/2" (191 mm) piston valves; the entire assembly was produced as a single casting.

LM reported that the first engines had proved capable of hauling 1,000 tons and more at 20 mph on the level. Steamindex says that O S Nock (in Nock, O.S. Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway. London, Ian Allan, 1954) reported the Y's drawbar pull could be in excess of 10 tons (22,400 lb or 10,160 kg)) with sanding, "but 1126 slipped to a standstill when hauling 864 tons up a gradient of 1 in 185 [a nearly flat 0.54%] near Shildon due to defective sanding apparatus. He added that the 1126 had started the same load on a slightly steeper grade and accelerated to 10 mph (16 km/h) in just over a half a mile.

Soon after they were introduced in 1910-1911, the Ys starting getting superheaters; see Locobase 5910.

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Class Y/A7 (Locobase 5910)

Richard Marsden's LNER site -- [] (Jan 2004) for data.

Vincent Raven introduced these powerful tanks in 1910-1911 with saturated boilers (Locobase 20025). Before too long, Raven started fitting the class with superheaters. Although it took fifteen years to superheat eighteen locomotives, the process seems quite logical. Start with two extra boilers, install the superheaters on them, exchange them for two saturated boilers, and so on. At first the superheaters were Schmidt type, but these were eventually replaced by Robinson's version.

When the LNER reclassified Ys to A7, the class had already moved into its latter role as heavy switcher. In that role, the relatively small boiler counted for less and the smooth power of the engine set for much more. The class moved around in different roles -- two were dedicated chalk-quarry engines in the 1930s, for example -- and ultimately wound up, for the most part, at Hull. Retirements began in 1951 and were complete by 1957.