The GER Class C72 was a class of thirty
steam locomotives designed by
A. J. Hill for the
Great Eastern Railway. They passed to the
London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at the
1923 grouping
The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...
and received the LNER classification J68.
History
These locomotives were an improved version of the
Class S56 tanks, and the final development of
James Holden's
Class T18 tank locomotives, sharing the same cylinders, driving wheels, and wheelbase. There were three orders, each of ten locomotives, all built at
Stratford Works between 1912 and 1923. The first batch were built as suburban passenger tanks and were fitted with
Westinghouse air brakes. The second and third batches were built as shunting tanks and were fitted with steam locomotive brakes and vacuum train brakes.
The last batch did not emerge from Stratford until after the grouping.
One locomotive was lent to the War Department in October 1939,
and sold 12 months later,
[.] It was used on the
Longmoor Military Railway
The Longmoor Military Railway (LMR) was a British military railway in Hampshire, built by the Royal Engineers from 1903 in order to train soldiers on railway construction and operations. The railway ceased operation on 31 October 1969.
Route
...
before being moved to the
Bicester Central Ordnance Depot,
and then the
Military Port No. 1, Faslane.
The remaining locomotives were renumbered 8638–8666 in order of construction. At nationalisation in 1948 they passed to
British Railways, who added 60000 to their numbers. Post war withdrawals started in 1958, and all were gone by 1961.
References
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External links
— Great Eastern Railway Society
The Hill J68 (GER Class C72) 0-6-0T Locomotives— LNER Encyclopedia
{{LNER Locomotives
Great Eastern Railway locomotives, C72
0-6-0T locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1912
War Department locomotives
Scrapped locomotives
Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Mixed traffic locomotives