GCR Class 9N

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GCR Class 9N
LNER Class A5
Marylebone Station geograph-2358841-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
A5/1 No. 9828 outside Marylebone station 1947
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
Designer John G. Robinson
Builder
Serial numberHL: 3616–3628
Build date1911–1926
Total produced44
Specifications
Configuration:
   Whyte 4-6-2T
   UIC 2′C1′ h2t
Gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Leading dia. 3 ft 6 in (1.067 m)
Driver dia.5 ft 7 in (1.702 m)
Trailing dia. 3 ft 9 in (1.143 m)
Length42 ft 11+78 in (13.103 m)
Loco weightA5/1: 85.90 long tons (87.28 t; 96.21 short tons)
A5/2: 90.55 long tons (92.00 t; 101.42 short tons)
Fuel type Coal
Fuel capacity4.15 long tons (4.22 t; 4.65 short tons)
Water cap.2,280 imp gal (10,400 L; 2,740 US gal)
Boiler pressure180 psi (1.24 MPa)
Cylinders Two, inside
Cylinder size 20 in × 26 in (508 mm × 660 mm)
Valve gear Stephenson
Valve type10-inch (254 mm) piston valves
Performance figures
Tractive effort 23,750 lbf (105.6 kN)
Career
Operators
Power classBR: 4P, 3P from May 1953
Axle load classLNER/BR: Route Availability 5
Withdrawn1942, 1957–1961
DispositionAll scrapped

The Great Central Railway Class 9N, classified A5 by the LNER, was a class of 4-6-2 tank locomotives designed by John G. Robinson for suburban passenger services. They were fitted with superheaters, piston valves and Stephenson valve gear.

Contents

Construction and numbering

The GCR built 21 locomotives at Gorton Works in three batches between 1911 and 1917. [1] They ordered a fourth batch of ten from Gorton, but this was not built until after the 1923 Grouping, under which GCR became part of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). [1] The LNER then ordered a fifth batch of 13 to a modified design, incorporating reduced boiler mountings and detail differences, and these were built by the outside contractors Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. during 1925–26 (works numbers 3616–28). [2]

YearGCR Nos.LNER Nos.LNER 1946 Nos.
1911165–170, 23–24, 447–4485165–70, 5023–24, 5447–489800–07, –, 9808
1912449–452, 128–1295449–5452, 5128–51299809–9814
1917371–374, 4115371–5374, 54119815–9819
19233, 6, 7, 30, 45,
46, 88, 154, 156, 158
5003, 5006, 5007, 5030, 5045,
5046, 5088, 5154, 5156, 5158
9820–9829
1925–261712/19, 1738, 1750/56,
1760/66–68, 1771,
1782/84, 1790
9830–9842

No. 5447 was withdrawn in 1942 because its frames were badly cracked. [3] In 1943, the remaining engines were allocated new numbers in the 9800–42 block, but these were not applied until 1946. [4] Forty-three locomotives passed to British Railways in 1948, and between 1948 and 1951 their numbers were increased by 60000. [5] The class was divided into two parts in December 1948 as follows: [2]

None have been preserved.

Table of withdrawals [6]
YearQuantity in
service at
start of year
Quantity
withdrawn
Locomotive numbers
19424415447
195743269815/33
1958412369802/04/07/10–11/18–19/22/24/26/28/30–32/34–42
195918869800/03/05/09/12/16/25/27
1960101069801/06/08/13–14/17/20–21/23/29

Modelling

A 7 mm scale kit is available from MSC models. [7]

In 2023, Sonic Models released a ready-to-run OO scale model in GCR, LNER, and BR variants. [8]

Related Research Articles

John George Robinson CBE, was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Central Railway from 1900 to 1922.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 9F</span> British steam locomotive

The Great Central Railway (GCR) Class 9F was a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive built between 1891 and 1901. From 1923 the locomotives were redesignated Class N5.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NER Class Y</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NER Class X</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 8A</span>

The Great Central Railway (GCR) Class 8A was a class of 0-8-0 steam locomotive built between 1902 and 1911 for handling heavy coal trains over the Pennines. They all passed to the LNER in 1923, who redesignated them Class Q4. They were withdrawn from service between 1934 and 1951.

The NER Class W1 was a 4-6-2T steam locomotive of the North Eastern Railway. The class was introduced in 1914 as a rebuild of Wilson Worsdell's NER Class W 4-6-0T. At the 1923 Grouping, they all passed to the London and North Eastern Railway, who placed them in their Class A6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 1B</span>

The GCR Class 1B was a class of 2-6-4T (tank) locomotives on the Great Central Railway. They were notable as the first locomotives of the 2-6-4T wheel arrangement to be used by a British standard-gauge railway; there had been two narrow-gauge examples on the Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway since 1904.

Although overshadowed by the later and more famous steam locomotives that John G. Robinson would go on to design, the Great Central Railway Class 11B 4-4-0 Express Passenger engines were a successful class which totalled 40. Built from 1901 to 1903, in later rebuilt form as 11D, some 11Bs would last in service until 1950. Railwaymen continued to refer to the class as "11B" even after all were rebuilt to 11D. Being contemporary with and to some extent the 4-4-0 version of Robinson's much more numerous 0-6-0 goods class 9J, which were known as "Pom-Poms", the 11Bs acquired the nickname "Pom-Pom Bogies". The London & North Eastern Railway classified the 11Bs, along with their 11C and 11D rebuilds, as Class D9.

The LD&ECR Class D was a class of nine 0-6-4T steam locomotives supplied to the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway in 1904 and 1906 by Kitson & Co. of Leeds. They later became the property of the Great Central Railway and finally the London and North Eastern Railway, upon which they were known as Class M1.

GCR Classes 8D and 8E were two pairs of three-cylinder compound steam locomotives of the 4-4-2 wheel arrangement built in 1905 and 1906 for the Great Central Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 11E</span>

The GCR Class 11E was a type of 4-4-0 steam locomotive used by the Great Central Railway for express passenger services. Ten were built in the railway's own workshops at Gorton, Manchester during 1913; they remained in service until the mid-1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 9Q</span>

The GCR Class 9Q, classified B7 by the LNER, was a class of 4-6-0 mixed traffic locomotives designed by John G. Robinson for fast goods, relief passenger and excursion services on the Great Central Railway. They were a smaller wheeled version of Robinson's earlier Class 9P "Lord Faringdon" express passenger class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 9J</span>

The GCR Class 9J was a class of 174 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed by John G. Robinson for freight work on the Great Central Railway (GCR) in 1901. They were a part of the Railway Operating Division during World War 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 1A</span>

The Great Central Railway Class 1A, classified B8 by the LNER, was a class of 4-6-0 mixed-traffic locomotives designed by John G. Robinson for fast goods, relief passenger and excursion services. They were known as the ‘Glenalmond Class’ and were a smaller wheeled version of Robinson's earlier Sir Sam Fay express passenger class, which they closely resembled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 9A</span>

The Great Central Railway (GCR) Class 9A was a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive built between 1889 and 1892. From 1923 the locomotives were redesignated Class N4.

The GCR Class 8C was a class of a pair of 4-6-0 locomotives built for the Great Central Railway in 1903–1904 by Beyer, Peacock and Company. They passed to the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 grouping and received the classification B1 They were reclassified B18 in 1943 and both were retired in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCR Class 8F</span>

The GCR Class 8F was a class of ten 4-6-0 locomotives built for the Great Central Railway in 1906 by Beyer, Peacock and Company to the design of John G. Robinson for working fast goods and fish trains. They passed to the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 grouping and received the classification 'B4'.

The NER Class W was a class of ten 4-6-0T locomotives built by the North Eastern Railway at their Gateshead Works between 1907 and 1908. They were all rebuilt as Class W1 4-6-2T locomotives between 1914 and 1917.

References

  1. 1 2 Fry 1964, p. 4.
  2. 1 2 Fry 1964, pp. 4, 7.
  3. Fry 1964, p. 7.
  4. Fry 1964, pp. 4, 10–11.
  5. Fry 1964, pp. 8, 10–11.
  6. Fry 1964, pp. 10–11.
  7. "MSC models GCR/LNER/BR Robinson A5 4-6-2T". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
  8. "Rails of Sheffield 'SONIC ANNOUNCE OO ROBINSON LNER CLASS A5' Posted by Oliver Davies on August 11, 2021" . Retrieved 11 August 2021.

Further reading