Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era 1902 – Earlier Robinson 4-6-0s Great Central Railway

Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era

1902 – Earlier Robinson 4-6-0s

Great Central Railway

6100 – One of the 6′ 7″ engines in 1926

In all, J.G.Robinson designed nine classes of 4-6-0 for the Great Central Railway during his period of office from 1900 to 1922, the first four of which conformed to one general pattern and can be considered here.  The later classes differed very considerably.

The arrangement common to all four of the earlier designs was the two outside cylinders driving the centre pair of wheels, with the framing raised to clear the coupling rods and separate splashers for each pair of driving wheels.  The main variations between the four classes lay in the sizes of the driving wheels and the boilers.

The first batch consisted of fourteen engines, No. 180-7and 1067-72, built between 1902 and 1904.  These had 6’ 1” wheels and were intended mainly for the fast fish traffic between Grimsby and London, hence they were usually known as the ‘Fish’ class.

Nos. 195 and 196, which appeared in 1903, were intended for express work and had 6’ 9” driving wheels.  Apart from the six-coupled wheels, they were identical with the ‘Atlantics’ which appeared at the same time, and were built for the sake of comparison between the two types.  Neither class was ever converted, however, unlike the similar situation on the Great Western, where the 4-4-2 type was eventually altered to 4-6-0.

1906 saw ten somewhat similar engines but with 6’ 7” wheels, Nos. 1095-1104, of which 1097 bore the name ‘Immingham’.

Lastly, in the same year, were ten engines, Nos. 1105-14, with 5’ 3” wheels for fast freight traffic.  All of these classes had 5000 added to their numbers at the grouping, and in 1946 they were renumbered from 1469089 and 1678-90 (two engines already withdrawn were not included here).  They were scrapped between 1947 and 1950, and although some passed into BR hands, only two, old 1105 and 1111 actually carried BR numbers, which they did as Nos. 61469 and 61475.

B1 later B18 – Driving wheels – 6’ 9”,  Cylinders – 21”x 26”,  Pressure – 180 lb.,  Tractive effort – 21658 lb.,  Weight – 72 tons 18 cwt,  GCR classification – 8C,  LNER classification B1, later B18

B4 – Driving wheels – 6’ 7”,  Cylinders – 21”x 26”,  Pressure – 180 lb.,  Tractive effort – 22206 lb.,  Weight – 71 tons 15 cwt,  GCR classification – 8F,  LNER classification B4

B5 – Driving wheels – 6’ 1”,  Cylinders – 21”x 26”,  Pressure – 180 lb.,  Tractive effort – 24030 lb.,  Weight – 65 tons 4 cwt,  GCR classification – 8,  LNER classification B5

B9 – Driving wheels – 5’ 3”,  Cylinders – 21”x 26”,  Pressure – 180 lb.,  Tractive effort – 27410 lb.,  Weight – 66 tons 1 cwt,  GCR classification – 8G,  LNER classification B9

The cylinder dimensions were originally 19”x 26”, with less tractive effort in consequence.