Steam locomotives of British Railways

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ex-Great Western Railway No. 6833 Calcot Grange, a 4-6-0 Grange class steam locomotive, at Bristol Temple Meads station, Bristol, England

British Railways (BR) inherited a number of locomotives from its constituent "Big Four" companies, the vast majority of which were steam locomotives. BR built 2537 steam locomotives in the period 1948-1960, 1538 to pre-nationalisation designs and 999 to its own standard designs. These locomotives were destined to lead short lives, some as little as five years against a design life of over 30 years, because of the decision to end the use of steam traction in 1968.

For an explanation of numbering and classification, see British Locomotive and Multiple Unit Numbering and Classification.

[edit] Background

British Railways was created in 1948 by the merger of the big four grouped railway companies; the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). It therefore inherited a wide legacy of rolling stock, much of which needed replacing due to the ravages of World War II.

[edit] Classification

BR adopted a slighlty modified version of the LMS classification system, itself based on the Midland Railway's system. Each locomotive class was given a number 0-9 that signified its power, 0 for the least powerful and 9 for the most, with a suffix of F or P, indicating freight and passenger roles respectively. Freight power ranged from 0-9, passenger from 0-8. Many locomotives were used for both roles, in which case they were given two class numbers, the P first e.g. 3P4F or 6P5F. A slight change from the LMS system saw those where the freight classification equalled the passenger classification, e.g. for the LMS black fives 5P5F, reclassified as 5MT. Mixed traffic locos had power in the range of classes 2-6.

[edit] Locomotives acquired from constituent companies and the War Department

An ex-LMS Jubilee Class locomotive

A wide variety of locomotives were acquired from the four constituent companies. These had generally standardised their own designs. See:

• Locomotives of the Great Western Railway
• Locomotives of the Southern Railway
• Locomotives of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
• Locomotives of the London and North Eastern Railway

After initially using letter prefixes (E for ex-LNER, M for ex-LMS, S for ex-SR, and W for ex-GWR locomotives), it was decided to add 30000 to the Southern numbers, 40000 to the LMS numbers and 60000 to the LNER numbers, the GWR numbers remaining unchanged since they had number plates.

The 1948 Locomotive Trials pitted locomotives from each company against each other.

In addition, two types purchased from the British War Department following their use during World War II on railways in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe.

• WD class 8F 2-8-0: 90000-732
• WD class 8F 2-10-0: 90750-774

BR also bought some ex-WD 8Fs.

[edit] Locomotives built by BR to Big Four designs

Initially, the newly nationalised network continued to be run as four different concerns, and pursued the policy of building of well-estalblished designs. Some of these were already quite old, one class (the J92 tank engines) being a pre-Grouping design.

[edit] GWR designs

A 1600 Class pannier tank built by BR

The Great Western management was opposed to nationalisation and built many pannier tanks, resulting in a surplus of them. 452 locomotives were built to ex-GWR designs, of which 341 were pannier tanks.

[edit] SR designs

The SR designs built by BR were 50 Bulleid Pacifics. Many of these were later rebuilt as conventional engines.Also BR completed the unique Leader (locomotive)

[edit] LMS designs

Designed by H. G. Ivatt of the LMS, but built by BR in 1949, 41241 is preserved on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. She has a 2-6-2T wheel arrangement and a 2MT power classification

640 locomotives were built to LMS designs. They were built across the works, not just at Crewe, Derby and Horwich. Many of the later BR standard designs were based on the LMS designs.

[edit] LNER designs

BR-built LNER Thompson Class B1 61306 at Leeds City in 1966 or 1967.

BR built 396 locomotives to LNER designs. One of these, the J72 Class was a North Eastern Railway design, dating from 1898.

[edit] BR standard classes

A Standard Class 5MT in preservation

From 1951, BR started to build steam locomotives to its own standard designs, which were largely based on LMS practice but incorporating ideas and modifications from the other constituent companies and America.

Characteristic features of these were taper boilers, high running plates, two cylinders and streamlined cabs.

Although more were ordered, a total of 999 BR standards were constructed, and the last, 92220 Evening Star, was built in 1960. Most never saw the end of their usefulness and being in good condition, several are preserved.

[edit] Withdrawal

A line of withdrawn standard 4 tanks at Barry

The 1955 Modernisation Plan called for the phasing out of steam traction. Major withdrawals occurred over the period 1962-1966, and steam traction finally ended in August 1968, coinciding with the Beeching Axe.

Some were sold to London Transport, where steam remained until 1971. Steam on industrial lines remained until the early 1980s.

[edit] Preservation

Withdrawn locomotives were sent for scrap. Many went to Woodhams' Scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. Some have since been saved from Barry and elsewhere. Former main line locomotives, along with various smaller industrial shunters form the backbone of steam motive power for heritage railways. Main line running on charter trains is possible and in this they run under TOPS code as Class 98.

[edit] Vale of Rheidol

One notable exception to the standard gauge rule was the narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway in Mid-Wales, which remained part of British Rail until 1987 and which used three steam locomotives. After 1987 it was run as a heritage railway.

[edit] See also

For a list of Diesel and Electric locomotives of British Railways:

• List of British Rail classes

www.britishsteam.com for complete lists of all British Steam Locomotives from 1923 onwards, details include Built, Withdrawn and Cut dates, Last Shed and where cut, Locos numbered by Pregroup, Big4 and BR numbers all in easy to search Tables

[edit] References

• Hugh Longworth British Railway Steam Locomotives 1948-1968, Ian Allan. [1] ISBN 0-86093-593-0