Part 6 – Ivatt Boilers Rebuilt by Gresley (1912-27)

For various reasons there can be a larger number of a particular boiler type than is acceptable, and one solution is to rebuild the surplus to make them suitable for another class.

After Ivatt had rebuilt his Class L1 0-8-2T with larger diameter boilers, there remained a considerable number of 4ft.-2in. diameter boilers for which there was no further use.  Gresley partly solved the problem by shortening the barrels of 37 of them (from 11ft.-5in. to 10ft.-6in.), to suit his new Class J23 (LNER J51) 0-6-0T.  This was really a short term measure as in due course these same tank engines were rebuilt (to LNER Class J50) with what was termed Ivatt’s “standard” boiler.  Altogether there were 43 Class L1 small boilers as follows:

Boiler 872 is of interest as it had been originally fitted to Stirling Class B4 2-2-2 No. 872 (5/1901-6/1907).  Also, this was the last boiler of this particular Boiler Order to survive (on LNER Class J51 No. 3175) until September 1932.  The only sure evidence of later use, seems to be Boiler 6759 (unrebuilt) which became SB390 for use in the Carriage Paint Shop (10/1925-), and 6783 (rebuilt) which was a spare Stationary Boiler (8/1927-8/1928) then scrapped. 

Less certain, SB326 (1/1920-12/1924) at Essex Street Hydraulics, Bradford, was noted as being a 4ft.-2½in. x 10ft.-6in. x 6ft.-2in. boiler built 1905.  Neglecting the ½in. discrepancy in the barrel diameter, this is clearly a rebuilt-L1 boiler, and “1905” indicates probably from BO566.  This has yet to be solved.

In 1921, one of the Ivatt domed boilers made for Stirling Classes F6 0-4-2T and G2 0-4-4T was rebuilt with a 5ft.-6in. length firebox in place of its 4ft 10in original, effectively making it an Ivatt “standard” boiler.  It was subsequently fitted to the following engines:

Shortly after the afore-mentioned conversion to a “standard” boiler, between 1921 and 1930, 54 surplus “standard” boilers had their barrels lengthened from 10ft-1in to 10ft-6in (to Dwg.  N395) to provide spares for Class J14 0-6-0ST.  This also enabled 29 Class J14 (LNER J53) to be rebuilt as J13 (LNER J52) between 1922 and mid-1927.  In the same period 5 other J14’s were similarly rebuilt (Nos.  3111, 964/70, 4052/56) by receiving second-hand boilers from existing J13’s.  A further 17 Class J53 were rebuilt between mid-1927 and 1932, receiving new boilers (to Drawing  N575), making a total of 51 rebuilds.  This left one engine which was not rebuilt, No. 3928, though it did acquire a 4ft.-2½in. diameter domed boiler in 1929.  The allocations of these boilers after being altered are shown below, in order of rebuilding. 

For convenience, LNER post-1924 numbers are quoted for all dates from 1/1923.  A hyphenated Engine Class (e.g.  J14 – J13 pre-1923 or J53 – J52 post-1923) denotes the engine classification changed as the result of the boiler change.

** According to Doncaster Repairs to Engines (Volume 2), No. 3970 was shopped 5/7/1929 – 27/7/1929 going out with Boiler 7084, whilst No. 3978 was shown shopped 24/10/1929 – 9/11/1929 coming in with Boiler 7084.  This overlapping problem has not been solved.

Shortly after Grouping 3 surplus Ivatt domed boilers made for Stirling Class G1 0-4-4T had their fireboxes shortened from 5ft.-6in to 4ft.-10in., and were subsequently used as follows:

Shortly after Grouping 3 surplus Ivatt domed boilers made for Stirling Class G1 0-4-4T had their barrels lengthened from 10ft.-1in. to 10ft.-6in., and were subsequently used as follows: