GNR Class J23

Last updated

  • GNR Class J23
  • LNER Classes J50 & J51
Doncaster Works geograph-2377759-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
J50/3 No. 68973 0-6-0T at Doncaster Locomotive Depot, fresh from repair at Doncaster Works
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
Designer Nigel Gresley
Builder
Build date1913–1939
Total produced102
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 •  Whyte 0-6-0 T
 •  UIC C
Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Driver dia.56 in (1.422 m)
Loco weight
  • J50/1: 56.3 long tons (57.2 t; 63.1 short tons)
  • J50/2: 57 long tons (58 t; 64 short tons)
  • J50/3 & J50/4: 58.15 long tons (59.08 t; 65.13 short tons)
Fuel type Coal
Boiler pressure175  psi (1.21  MPa)
Cylinders Two, inside
Cylinder size 18+1⁄2 in × 26 in (470 mm × 660 mm)
Performance figures
Tractive effort 23,636  lbf (105.14  kN)
Career
Operators
Class GNR: J23; LNER: J50, J51
Power classBR: 4F
Number in class
  • J50/1: 10
  • J50/2: 40
  • J50/3: 38
  • J50/4: 14
NicknamesSubmarines
Axle load class Route Availability 6
Locale Eastern Region
Withdrawn1958–1965
DispositionAll scrapped.

The Great Northern Railway Class J23 was a class of 0-6-0 T steam locomotive. They had long side tanks that came to the front of the smokebox, which sloped forwards to improve visibility and had a recess cut in to aid maintenance. Forty were built by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) between 1913 and 1922, with a further 62 being added by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) between 1924 and 1939. They were given the nickname "Submarines" due to their long tanks. [1]

Contents

History

For shunting and local goods work, the Great Northern Railway (GNR) had traditionally used saddle-tank engines of the 0-6-0 wheel arrangement; the last of these, of GNR Class J13, having been built in 1909 to the designs of Henry Ivatt, the GNR Locomotive Superintendent. [2] [3]

Nigel Gresley succeeded Ivatt in 1911, [4] and soon identified a need for engines to work the short-haul coal traffic in the West Riding of Yorkshire; the nature of which required that the locomotives also be suitable for shunting. He designed a new class of 0-6-0 T engine, using side tanks instead of saddle tanks. [5] Gresley had recently begun the rebuilding of the GNR Class L1 0-8-2 T locomotives with larger boilers, 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 m) in diameter, [6] which left a number of 4-foot-2-inch (1.27 m) diameter boilers spare. Thirty of these were used in the construction of the new goods tank engines between 1913 and 1919; [5] when ten more were built in 1922, these again used secondhand boilers, but 4 feet 5 inches (1.35 m) in diameter. [7] On the GNR, both varieties were classified J23, but the LNER divided them into J51 with smaller boilers, and J50 with larger boilers. [5] The LNER continued the construction of Class J50, building a further 62 up to 1939, [8] only the first ten of which were given secondhand boilers. [9] Class J51 were rebuilt to class J50 between 1929 and 1935. [5]

J50/1 No. 68896 leading J50/3 No. 68975 at Harringay 9 April 1960. Harringay West station Gresley J50 0-6-0T geograph-2888613-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
J50/1 No. 68896 leading J50/3 No. 68975 at Harringay 9 April 1960.

Each of the two main classes exhibited variations: locomotive brakes could be operated by vacuum or steam pressure; the driving position could be on the right- or the left-hand side of the cab; and there were three sizes of coal bunker. These variations were recognised by class subdivisions: [8]

All were built at Doncaster, except the last fourteen which were built at Gorton. [10] Further orders were placed in 1939 and 1941 totalling 25 more locomotives, but these were cancelled in 1942 after a number of components had been manufactured. [11] Withdrawals began in 1958 with the arrival of diesel shunters and ended in 1963 for the normal stock. 7 of them survived as departmental stock until 1965. The class became extinct in September 1965 when Departmental No. 14 (ex-68961) was withdrawn and scrapped. None of them survived into preservation. [12]

Numbering

On the GNR, the numbers were 157–164, 166–176, 178, 211–230; these were increased by 3000 by the LNER. [13] The first ten engines built by the LNER were numbered 3231–40, following on from the GNR engines; [14] but those built from 1926 were given scattered numbers between 583 and 636, between 1037 and 1086, and 2789–94. [15]

In 1943, new numbers were allotted in a continuous block from 8890 to 8991; these numbers were applied between January and December 1946, [16] but before this could be done, the oldest ten, nos. 3157–64/6/7 were temporarily renumbered 3180–9 in May and June 1945. They duly received their permanent numbers 8890–9 between June and December 1946. [17] Under British Railways, the 1946 numbers were increased by 60000. [18]

Notes

  1. ↑ "The Gresley J50 & J51 (GNR J23) 0-6-0T Locomotives". LNER. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Groves 1987, pp. 260–2.
  3. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, pp. 25–26.
  4. ↑ Groves 1992, p. 3.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Groves 1992, p. 65.
  6. ↑ Groves 1990, pp. 75–76.
  7. ↑ Groves 1992, p. 70.
  8. 1 2 Allen et al. 1970, p. 7.
  9. ↑ Groves 1992, pp. 71, 72.
  10. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, pp. 8, 11, 12.
  11. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, p. 13.
  12. ↑ "The Gresley J50 & J51 (GNR J23) 0-6-0T Locomotives". LNER Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  13. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, pp. 7, 8, 11.
  14. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, p. 11.
  15. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, p. 12.
  16. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, p. 8.
  17. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, p. 19.
  18. ↑ Allen et al. 1970, p. 16.

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References

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