Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era 1908 – 4-6-0 & 4-6-4T Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway

Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era

1908 – 4-6-0 & 4-6-4T

Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 

No. 1658 when new in 1922

The first twenty of these large four-cylinder 4-6-0s were designed by G.Hughes and came out from Horwich works in 1908-9 as L&Y Rly Nos. 1506-25.  In their original form they were unsatisfactory engines and were heavy in coal consumption.  In 1922 No. 1522 was superheated and the cylinder diameter enlarged by half-an-inch.  This effected such a marked improvement that not only were most of the remainder similarly dealt with, but construction of a further 35 engines was put in hand.  They were to have been Nos.1649-83, but No. 1675 was the last to carry an L&YR number and the rest came out as LMS 10447-54.

Meanwhile a tank version of the same design was prepared, of which it was planned to build thirty engines, but only the first ten came out as tanks.  These large 4-6-4Ts appeared in 1924 as LMS Nos.11110-19.  No. 11114 was exhibited at the Wembley Exhibition in 1925 and No.11112 together with the 4-6-0 No. 10474 took part In the Darlington Centenary celebrations in the same year.  For some reason it was decided to bring out the final twenty engines as 4-6-0s after all, and these duly appeared in 1924-5 as Nos. 10455-74.

In 1926 No. 10456 was rebuilt as a 4-cylinder compound with two 16”x 26” high pressure and two 22”x 26” low pressure cylinders, and it seems to have done well in this condition, although no more were similarly treated.  This engine, along with a number of others of the later batch, did some good work on the North Western main line in the early years of the grouping.

Of the original engines, five which were never superheated became LMS Nos. 10400-4 and were scrapped in 1925-6.  The others were renumbered from 10405 upwards, but most of them had disappeared by 1939.  A few, however, survived the war, and seven passed into BR stock in 1948.  The last in traffic became No. 50455 and was scrapped in 1951.

The 4-6-4Ts were taken out of service between 1938 and 1942.  They had been intended for express working, but developed a reputation for being unsteady at speed, and were far too large and powerful to be used economically on local services.

Rebuilt 4-6-0  Driving wheels – 6’ 9”,  Cylinders (4) – 16½”x 26”,  Pressure – 180 lb.,  Tractive effort – 28880 lb.,  Weight – 79 tons 1 cwt,  L&YR Classification – 8,  LMS Classification – 5P

4-6-4T  Driving wheels – 6’ 9”,  Cylinders (4) – 16½”x 26”,  Pressure – 180 lb.,  Tractive effort – 28880 lb.,  Weight – 99 tons 19 cwt,  L&YR Classification – 8,  LMS Classification – 5P