Steam Locos of a Leisurely Era 1862 – Outside Cylinder 4-4-0 – Great North of Scotland Railway

Steam Locos of a Leisurely Era

1862 – Outside Cylinder 4-4-0 – Great North of Scotland Railway

No.29 as originally built

From 1862 onwards, until the railway ceased its separate existence in 1923, the standard type in use on the GNOSR for all classes of work except local suburban and shunting was the 4-4-0.  Apart from the 2-4-0s which had preceded them, all future tender engines which the company ever built were of this type, and the line was unique in being the only one, apart from the few which exclusively used tank engines, never to possess a single example of the ubiquitous 0-6-0 tender engine.

The earliest of the 4-4-0s, which were designed by W.Cowan, Nos. 28-30, came out in 1862, and were almost the first engines of that wheel arrangement in the British Isles, having been preceded only by a year or two by a few on the Stockton and Darlington Railway.  They were followed by Nos. 31-6 in 1863-4, and subsequently further batches came out between 1866 and 1879, with progressively increased dimensions, numbers of the whole lot running from 43-62 and 1-3.  All of these were of one basic design, the principal features of which were outside cylinders, domeless boilers and a large brass bell-shaped dome mounted on the raised firebox.  In later years they were rebuilt with domed boilers and other modifications.

All except the first nine lasted into the 1920s, many of them latterly being placed on the duplicate list as 44A, etc. and eighteen of them passed to the LNER at the grouping in 1923.  No.45A took part in the Darlington Centenary procession in 1925.  All had gone by 1927 except No.40, which as No.6840 survived until 1932.

Original dimensions:

Nos. 28-36  – Driving wheels – 5’ 1”,  Cylinders – 16”x 22”,  Boiler pressure – 140 lb

Nos. 43-8 – Driving wheels – 5’ 6½”,  Cylinders – 16”x 24”, Boiler pressure – 140 lb, GNOS classification – K, LNER Classification – D47

Nos.49-50, 52, 54-7 – Driving wheels – 5’ 6½”,  Cylinders – 17”x 24”,  Boiler pressure – 150 lb,  GNOS Class. – L,  LNER Class. –  D47

Nos. 40, 51, 53, 57-62 – Driving wheels – 5’ 7”,  Cylinders – 17½”x 26”,  Boiler pressure – 150lb,  GNOS Class. M,  LNER Class. D45

Nos.1-3 – Driving wheels – 6’ 1”,  Cylinders – 17½”x 26”,  Boiler pressure – 150 lb,  GNOS Class. – H,  LNER Class. – D39

 No.49 Gordon Highlander