The O4s were added to when the LNER purchased 273 ex-Railway Operating DivisionROD 2-8-0s to the same design between 1923 and 1927. Meanwhile, the 19 GCR Class 8M (LNER Class O5) were rebuilt as O4 standard during the 1920s and 1930s. 92 O4 locomotives were requisitioned by the War Department during World War II and shipped during late 1941 for operation in the Middle East.
The O4 class were used to haul heavy freight trains throughout the LNER system. 329 engines remained in operation at 1 January 1948.[1]
Sub-classes
The LNER rebuilt many, allotting them into eight subclasses. Sub-class details:[2]
Westbound freight struggling up Worsborough Bank approaching West Silkstone Junction headed by an ex-LNER Class O4, ex-GCR Class 8K
The surviving 329 Class O4 locomotives passed to British Railways (BR) on 1 January 1948. They were then widely operated on freight trains throughout the Eastern and North Eastern regions of BR. The locomotives were given BR numbers in the range 63570-63920, but this range included 58 locomotives which had been rebuilt as Class O1. Withdrawal of O4 engines by BR commenced in 1959 and the last engine was taken out of service in the Doncaster area in April 1966.
Preservation
An O4/1, GCR No. 102, BR No. 63601, is part of the extensive National Collection. Since 1996, this locomotive has been kept at the preserved Great Central Railway at Loughborough, Leicestershire. The locomotive was overhauled in the late 1990s and returned to working use in January 2000. A further three Robinson 2-8-0s were exported and survive in preservation in New South Wales, Australia.[3]
References
↑ Casserley, H.C., Locomotives at the Grouping - 2 - London and North Eastern Railway, 1974, Ian Allan Ltd, ISBN0-7110-0553-2
↑ Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, summer 1961 edition, part 4, pp 36-37
↑ Green-Hughes, Evan (July 2010). "The Robinson 'O4' 2-8-0s". Hornby Magazine. No.37. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. pp.72–75. ISSN1753-2469. OCLC226087101.
Gallery
LNER Class O4/1 63664 was built by the GCR at Gorton works in 1912 as their Class 8K. Photo in service at Langwith Junction on 7 August 1960
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