Part 39 – Works Engine Classification

Bird came across a locomotive classification which had been hitherto unreported.  It is almost certainly a system devised in the Works to segregate drawings to match new engines they were building.  The construction of a particular class could be spread over a lengthy period, 8 years for example in the case of E3, whilst over the course of any one year several classes could be built.   So a system was devised for locating the necessary drawings.  They had no interest in locomotives purchased from contractors so they were ignored.  So if any other shop wished to take advantage of this classification system they would have to allow for contractors’ drawings.  Details of drawings have been inserted in the table below, to match where possible a new class or sub-class with an appropriate drawing reference.

Note Class E2.  Norman Groves in his “GREAT NORTHERN LOCOMOTIVE HISTORY” placed Stirling 0-6-0 Nos. 171 and 193 with Nos. 372 et seq, and thus the 373 Series became the 171 Series in error.   This error originated in LOCOMOTIVES OF THE LNER, PART 5 (RCTS 1966), under Classes J3 and J4 (page 16). The origin of this mistake stemmed from the entry in the P register of Goods Engines General Plan drawings which read P22 July 1872 6 wheels coupled Goods – 17½ x 26, 171, 193 &c &c.  With the benefit of hindsight it is obvious that the initial entry was made seventeen months before Nos. 171 and 193 appeared (December 1873), and as engines numbers were being selected rather arbitrarily these numbers must have been added in the register after this later date.  In fact the surviving drawing register was compiled around say 1874 from an older register and the engine numbers may have been added during the copying process. 

The person making the copy (back in 1873 or thereabouts) probably knew Nos. 171 and 193 were 0-6-0s that had just been built, without worrying about whether or not they conformed to this particular drawing, and covered his vagueness by adding &c &c.  This confirmed the intention of the drawing as there were currently two significantly different classes of 0-6-0s with 5ft coupled wheels, C and E.  However, the engine class list clearly shows Nos. 372/73 as the first two engines in Class E2 and this version is accepted as being accurate.

Wheel diameters.  There is nothing significant about the variations in wheel diameters. The Drawing Office tended to show 5ft., 5ft-6in, 6ft, etc in the registers ignoring the slight differences over a period of time resulting from different tyre thicknesses, and different dimensions could appear on the actual drawings which were redrawn several times during their lifetime. There could be differences in cylinder diameters, to allow for successive reboring to extend their life.

Boilers noted (for example) N27/1 and N27/2. Two copies of the drawing exist for different classes, with both marked (for example) N27.  Segregated with a “forward slash” in the table above to stress this difference.