Front view with the Wootten firebox clearly visible

F.S. Hartnell, All About Railways

Rebuilt A55R as an eight-coupled tender locomotive

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, July 1907

Schematic drawing of the A55 with dimensions

Railway and Locomotive Magazine, April 1903

Schematic drawing of the A55R with dimensions

Locomotive Magazine, December 1906

In view of the plans for a new electric line, the Great Eastern tried to counter with a particularly powerful passenger tank locomotive. In order to be able to keep up with future electric railcars, the greatest attention was paid to comparable acceleration in order to achieve a reasonable travel time on the network with many closely spaced stations. Thus it was defined that a passenger train with a weight of 315 long tons must be brought to a speed of 30 mph within 30 seconds. To meet these requirements, James Holden developed a machine of which only a single example was built.

The result was the first ten-coupled steam locomotive in Great Britain, which also had a very small coupling wheel diameter for a passenger locomotive. If two cylinders were used for the required tractive effort, the loading gauge would have been exceeded, so the engine was designed with three slightly smaller cylinders. While the outer cylinders acted on the third axle, the middle cylinder drove the second axle. Since the inner cylinder was also level with the axles, the connecting rod was wrapped around the first axle in a special, fork-shaped arrangement patented by Holden.

The boiler was designed as large as the loading gauge allowed. For this reason, the chimney, the steam dome and the safety valves had to be as low as possible. The Wootten firebox based on the American model allowed a large grate area and had to be divided into three areas because the wheels of the last two axles protruded directly into it. To achieve the necessary running characteristics, the first and last axles were installed with half an inch play on both sides and the middle one had no wheel flanges. 

Although the axle load of the “Decapod” was within the permitted values, the five axles lying closely behind each other represented too great a load for the bridges. Since upgrading all the bridges on the routes used was not an option, there was no series production of the A55. The locomotive was converted in 1906 to an eight-coupled tender locomotives known as the class A55R.

It got a significantly lighter boiler with a conventional Belpaire firebox and the middle cylinder was removed. Since the length of the locomotive was still large, the axles were spaced farther apart. In order to still be able to run through all curves without any problems, the first and fourth axles were fitted with radially adjustable bearings. This locomotive was now used to haul coal trains, although it did not display significantly greater efficiency than the three-coupled G58 class locomotives. So it was scrapped in December 1913.

Between 1884 and 1886, Worsdell had 40 tank locomotives built for the Great Eastern Railway for passenger service, which were called class M15. This first batch got Joy valve gear and due to their high consumption, they got the nickname “Gobblers”. Holden made 120 more between 1903 and 1909, which received Stephenson valve gear for lower fuel consumption. Many were fitted with a condensing gear for London traffic.

Locomotive Magazine, February 1913

Between 1911 and 1920, 32 of the original batch were rebuilt to class M15R by adding a new boiler with a higher pressure and by installing Stephenson valve gear. At the LNER, the unrebuilt locomotives became the class F4 and the rebuilt ones became the F5. The first locomotives had already been withdrawn from 1913, but some F4s remained in service until 1956. In 1949, seven F5 were equipped with push-pull apparatus. The F5 was only withdrawn between 1955 and 1958.

The Great Eastern Railway's P43 class was the penultimate single-driver express locomotive built in Britain, before the GCR class 13. Although the GER was already using four-coupled passenger locomotives, its seven-foot wheels were used to pull light express trains. The usual area of application included the fastest possible transport of wealthy customers from the City of London to the North Sea coast in Norfolk.

Its designer James Holden is considered one of the pioneers of oil firing, and so the P43 also had oil firing. This could be seen in the different shape of the tender, which was also prepared for conversion to coal. As an oil tender, it held 715 gallons of oil and 2,790 gallons of water. The necessary pre-heating of the oil was accomplished by feeding the oil in the tender through a tube through which the exhaust steam from the brake system ejector was also fed.

Schematic drawing

Locomotive Magazine, June 1912

Even if they had slightly smaller driving wheels compared to other British singles and the adhesive weight was low for the time around the turn of the century, they were initially able to hold their own with their light trains on the relatively flat line. Nevertheless, the first two of the ten locomotives were retired in 1907, followed by five in 1908, one in 1909 and the last two in 1910. They were replaced by the 4-4-0 locomotives of classes S45, D56 and H88, also designed by Holden, which were called “Claud Hamilton”.

The Class S46 “Claud Hamilton” designated 4-4-0 express locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway, which were named after its chairman. Although James Holden was actually responsible for the design, he was out of the country at the time and handed over the actual work to Frederick Vernon Russell.

The 41 S46s built between 1900 and 1903 were all built with oil firing. The oil came as a waste product from the GER gasworks. Other features included the variable blast pipe, a power reverser and a tender with scooping device. Between 1903 and 1911 a total of 70 D56 “Belpaire Claud” were built, which had a Belpaire firebox. The first ten were again built with oil firing, which was later replaced with coal firing in these and all S46s. The last four D56s were already delivered with two different superheaters. 

In 1923, ten H88 “Super Claud” models followed, which had a superheated boiler. They were designed by Alfred John Hill and were taken over directly by the LNER. The predecessors also received the same boiler. The LNER designated the three classes as D14, D15 and D16. As early as 1911, they were replaced in front of the heaviest express trains by the 4-6-0 S69, which in turn was based on the Claud. The services now increasingly took place in front of passenger and freight trains. The locomotives were withdrawn between 1948 and 1960 and scrapped without exception.

Shortly before the First World War, the Great Eastern was looking for a replacement for the existing 4-4-0 locomotives, which were to pull the heavy express trains over the Great Eastern Main Line to the North Sea, especially during the holiday season. Due to the low permitted axle load, it was not possible to build a more powerful 4-4-0 locomotive, which is why the choice fell on a ten-wheeler. Since space on the existing turntables was also limited, Steven Dewar Holden developed the locomotive with a particularly short wheelbase. It had a Belpaire firebox and was the Great Eastern's first locomotive with piston valves.

Schematic drawing

January 1913

A first production lot of 39 engine was built between 1911 and 1915 in the Great Eastern's own workshops in Stratford. Two more were not completed until 1917 due to the war. Ten more were made in Stratford in 1920 and 20 at Beardmore between 1920 and 1921. After the grouping, the LNER placed another order with Beyer, Peacock in 1928 for ten examples of the class now known as B12. This can be explained by the fact that the development of the B17 “Sandringham” class was delayed and the development of a new 2-6-4T was discontinued and reinforcement was needed promptly.

No. 8572 in January 2018 in Leicester North station

Peter Skuce

The ACFI feedwater heater was later tested on some engines, but these were later removed. The locomotives originally had the Westinghouse air brakes that were used on the GER. The ten newest engines were already equipped with vacuum ejectors ex works and others were retrofitted. In addition, the last ten got a Lentz valve gear, which was also retrofitted to six more. These were referred to by the LNER as B12/2, but the Lentz valves were later exchanged for the original piston valves in all of them.

When new, heavier locomotives became available on the network of the former GER, a total of 25 B12s were relocated to Scotland between 1931 and 1942. With the low axle loads permitted there, they could now pull heavier trains. From 1932, the locomotives remaining in England received a larger boiler with a conventional firebox and thus became the B12/3. Since these boilers would have been too heavy for the Scottish network, the locomotives there received a slightly lighter boiler between 1942 and 1946, after which they were designated B12/4.

During the Second World War, suitable locomotives with Westinghouse brakes were required for hospital trains that were also to be used on the European mainland. The B12 was selected for this, which could also be used freely due to its low axle load. When British Railways was founded, 72 of the 81 examples were still in existence. In the years that followed, only a few engines were retired, but their number decreased rapidly in the years 1957 to 1959 until only the 61572 was available. It was retired and preserved in 1961, so today it again carries her LNER number 8572 and belongs to the North Norfolk Railway.

Conversion with larger boiler and new cab

Die Lokomotive, December 1909

No. 1035 rebuilt with bogie

Locomotive Magazine, February 1905

Schematic drawing of the original version with an oil tender

Locomotive Magazine, July 1912

The T19 was one of James Holden's first designs in his service on the Great Eastern Railway. It was created as an express locomotive in the then classic 2-4-0 wheel arrangement with very large drivrs with a diameter of seven feet. Because the cylinders, connecting rods and valve gear were all inside the frame, the locomotive made a very tidy impression. Very large, completely closed splashers for the drivers were attached to the outer frame above the running boards. Half of the coupling rods and the cranks disappeared under the splashers. While the coupled axles were mounted in an inner frame, the leading axle was mounted in an outer frame. Between the years 1886 and 1897 a total of eleven batches of ten engines each were built for the GER.

As was usual for British steam locomotives, individual engines have undergone various conversion measures over the years. In addition to the conversion to oil firing, these also included changing the tenders to ones with a scooping device to collect water from troughs during the journey. Complete conversions were carried out in two different designs.

Between 1902 and 1904, initially 29 units were rebuilt while maintaining the wheel arrangement. They received a larger boiler with a Belpaire firebox, the dimensions of which corresponded to a 4-4-0 locomotive of the time, and a new cab. However, the result was very top-heavy due to the heavy boiler and was therefore nicknamed “Humpty Dumpty”. These were already phased out by 1920.

60 more were converted to new 4-4-0 locomotives between 1905 and 1908 using bogies from old locomotives with a 4-4-0 and 0-4-4 wheel arrangement. All but two of these made it to the LNER and were listed there under the designation D13. Most of these were retired in the second half of the 1930s, with the last three surviving to 1943 and 1944 respectively.

As a derivative of the T19, James Holden designed the T26, which was intended for mixed service. Accordingly, significantly smaller drive wheels were used, which only had a diameter of 5 feet 8 inches. The boiler pressure was initially reduced from 160 to 140 psi compared to the T19. Beginning in 1898, some got a new boiler, again rated for 160 psi. The last ten engines from 1902, which brought the total number to 100, received the new boiler right away.

Schematic drawing

Locomotive Magazine, August 1912

A special feature of the Great Eastern was that it used air brakes instead of the vacuum brakes which were common in Great Britain. However, since the T26 was also to be used outside of their own network and there it was also to be possible to couple it to foreign cars, it was fitted with both braking systems. The locomotives became class E4 in the LNER and a total of 18 even managed to survive until after the founding of British Railways. Although by this time the era of the 2-4-0 locomotives had long since ended and they were only assigned to the 1MT power class, the last example was only retired in 1959. This made it the last British locomotive with this wheel arrangement. One of the locomotives taken over by the BR is now in the Bressingham Steam Museum at Norfolk.

Due to an urgent need for freight locomotives, Worsdell developed the Y14, which, with its very low axle load and simple design, could be used almost anywhere and was inexpensive to maintain. Because the design was so successful, Worsdell's successors also had a total of 289 locomotives built by 1913.

Locomotive Magazine, October 1912

Changes during production included a sloped instead of a straight grate or a different chimney. Number 127 was the only one built as a compound, while another locomotive was built and under fire in just nine hours and 47 minutes, which was a record. On the LNER the Y14 class became the J15 and 127 were still in use until the formation of British Railways in 1948. Although these locomotives never received a superheater, the last ones lasted until 1958.

Between 1845 and 1847, the Eastern Counties Railway received a total of 17 express locomotives of the 2-2-2 wheel arrangement, which were numbered 51 to 67. They can be divided into two batches, both of which had a driving wheel diameter of six feet. There were a few derailments in the early days because the profile of the tires was horizontal and not conical.

No. 63A

Locomotive Magazine, January 1907

While the first ten had a 13 ft 8 in wheelbase from the start, the last seven were only built with a 12 ft wheelbase. On the latter, the trailing axle spacing was later increased by two feet and nine inches. Soon they received a larger boiler with a higher pressure and a roof for the cab.

The first locomotives that the newly founded Great Eastern procured in 1862 were express locomotives with the 2-2-2 wheel arrangement. They had outside cylinders and double frames made of wood and iron. The 31 locomotives came from four different manufacturers, including Schneider et Cie from France.

Locomotive Magazine, November 1908

From 1872 some were modernized and received a new boiler. Two of them were even rebuilt to a 4-2-2 wheel arrangement. Different designs of the cab were also used. The number 54 was scrapped in 1874 after an accident. The remainder remained in service on the main express trains for over 25 years and were retired between 1883 and 1894.