The GCR Class 5A was a class of seven

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

s designed by John G. Robinson for work in docks operated by the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

. They passed to the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

at the grouping in 1923 and received the LNER classification J63.

History

The class was introduced in 1906 as a replacement for the

GCR Class 4 GCR (or GCRS) may refer to: Science * Galactic cosmic ray, a cosmic ray from outside the Solar System * Geocentric Celestial Reference System, a coordinate system for near-Earth objects like satellites * Geological Conservation Review, a procedu ...

dock shunter :''This article describes UK usage. United States usage may be different.'' A dock shunter, or "dock tank", is a locomotive (formerly steam but now usually diesel) used for shunting wagons in the vicinity of docks. It is usually of 0-4-0 or 0- ...

s, based on his predecessor's

GCR Class 5 The GCR Class 5 (LNER Class J62) was a class of twelve steam tank locomotives designed by Harry Pollitt (engineer) for work in docks operated by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) later renamed Great Central Railway (GC ...

but with side tanks rather than saddle tanks. A seventh locomotive was built in 1914. All seven examples survived into

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

ownership in 1948, at least one being at Immingham in 1952, and at least one at

Connah's Quay Connah's Quay ( cy, Cei Connah), known locally as "The Quay" and formerly known as Wepre, is a town and community in Flintshire, lying within the Deeside conurbation along the River Dee, near the border with England. It is the largest town in ...

in 1954. They were all withdrawn between 1953 and 1957.

References

Sources

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External links

The Robinson J63 (GCR Class 5) 0-6-0ST Locomotives
LNER Encyclopedia
Images of J63s, with random others, via ''Yahoo''
05A 0-6-0T locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1906 Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain {{England-steam-loco-stub Shunting locomotives