LNWR G Class

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G2 class 49428 standing at Rowsley MPD, May 1950.

The preserved G2a class No. 49395, 2 October 2005. It is part of the National Railway Collection.

The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) G Class along with modifications that made them into G1, G2 and G2a classes, is a class of 0-8-0 steam locomotives designed for heavy freight work. They are known to railway enthusiasts as "Super Ds". Apparently, this is a contraction of "Superheated Duck Eight", a West Midlands nickname for the engine.

1 Overview
2 Preservation
3 Dimensions
4 Sources
5 External links

[edit] Overview

The LNWR built eight-coupled locomotives under Webb, Whale, Bowen-Cooke and Beames between 1892 and 1922. The G class were originally introduced in 1906 as modifications of the 4-cylinder compound B Class 0-8-0s by removing their outside cylinders to give an improved two cylinder layout. From 1912 superheating was introduced and most of the B class were converted into G1 Class, not G Class. The G2 class were new builds with increased boiler pressure from 160lbf/in² to 175psi. Some G1s were converted to G2a classes after their boiler pressure was increased.

After grouping in 1923, they were acquired by the LMS who gave them the power classifications 6F for G1 and 7F for G2 and G2a locomotives. The design of the LMS 7F 0-8-0 (known as the "Austin 7") was derived from the G2 but the former was a poor engine in comparison and the "Super Ds" outlived the "Austin 7s". For further information see the LMS 7F 0-8-0 article.

Many of the G1, G2 and G2a Class locomotives passed into British Railways (BR) ownership in 1948 and were numbered as follows:

G1 Class, (98 locos), BR numbers 48892-49384
G2 Class, (60 locos), BR numbers 49395-49454
G2a Class, (320 locos), BR numbers 48893-49394

The G1 and G2a numbers are intermingled (probably because the G2a is a rebuild of the G1) and there are some gaps in numbering.

[edit] Preservation

One G2a, LMS 9395, BR number 49395, has survived as part of the National Railway Collection and has been returned to working order thanks to lots of money from Pete Waterman.