Furness Railway K2

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The Furness Railway K2s, or "Larger Seagulls", were built to supersede the Furness Railway K1 on the heavier and more important trains. They each have a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement. They were built by Sharp Stewart and Company of Manchester in 1896 as a batch of six. Their Works Numbers were 4174-9, and the Furness Railway numbers issued to them were 21, 22, 34, 35, 36 and 37. They had 6' diameter driving wheels with 18" x 24" cylinders. In 1900, two extra engines were added to the class, Works Nos. 4651/2 and FR numbers 124/5. In 1913, two engines, FR Nos. 34/7, were fitted with experimental Phoenix smokebox superheaters, however, these were removed the following year.

By 1923 and the grouping of the FR into the London, Midland & Scottish Railway, all eight engines were still in service, and received LMS numbers, these being 10135-42. They lasted until the late 1920s and early 1930s, performing secondary duties on the home turf, between Barrow-in-Furness and Whitehaven.

A K2 also pulled the Orient Express from 1883-1914.

The six-wheeled tenders that this class used were also used by the Furness Railway D3 0-6-0 tender engines. They carried 2,500 gallons of water and 3.5 tons of coal, their weight being 28.25 tons.

[edit] The K2 in fiction

In the Reverend W Awdry's The Railway Series, the character of Edward the Blue Engine is described as a "Modified Larger Seagull" to cover up an illustration blunder by the original artist.