The LNWR 17in Coal Engine was a class of
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...
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 ...
tender engine
A tender or coal-car (US only) is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood, coal, oil or torrefied biomass) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, ...
s designed by
Francis Webb for the
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom.
In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...
. They were simple locomotives and in
UK service they were very reliable.
"17in" refers to their cylinder diameter in inches. They were called "Coal Engines" because they were used for hauling
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
trains.
Design and Construction
The ''17in Coal'' was the first new design of engine to be built by Webb since he became Chief Engineer of the LNWR in September 1871. A policy of 'low costs' was in force at the LNWR, with running costs per engine mile reduced from
d per engine mile in 1857 to d by 1871. The first 17in Coal was constructed in 1873, the first of almost five hundred built.
Ernest L. Ahrons is quoted as regarding the type as "probably the simplest and cheapest locomotives ever made in this country", and
O. S. Nock
Oswald Stevens Nock, Bachelor of Science, B. Sc., Diploma of Imperial College, DIC, Civil engineer, C. Eng, Institution of Civil Engineers, M.I.C.E., Institution of Mechanical Engineers, M.I.Mech.E., Institute of Locomotive Engineers, M.I.Loco. ...
described them as "splendid".
![LNWR Webb 17in coal engine 1140](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/LNWR_Webb_17in_coal_engine_1140.jpg)
Many aspects of the 17in Coal's design reflected
John Ramsbottom's final design: the
0-6-0 Special Tank, including the identical wheel diameter and cylinder dimensions, but the new engines had a larger, improved boiler. In February 1878, one engine of this design was built from scratch in hours.
Operation
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the
Railway Operating Division
The Railway Operating Division (ROD) was a division of the Royal Engineers formed in 1915 to operate railways in the many theatres of the First World War. It was largely composed of railway employees and operated both standard gauge and narrow g ...
of the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
took many Coal Engines for use overseas, including many to the
British Expeditionary Force in France and 42 to the
Palestine Military Railway. Those in Palestine were reported to have performed badly and
Palestine Railways
{{Infobox rail
, railroad_name = Palestine Railway
, logo_filename =
, logo_size =
, system_map =
, map_caption =
, map_size =
, marks =
, image = AwmB00283.Samakh.jpg
, image_size ...
sold them all for scrap by 1922. This may have been due partly to the poor quality of water used in
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
.
227 Coal Engines passed into
LMS stock after 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 ...
. 35 survived until the
nationalisation of Britain's Railways in 1948 and entered
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 ...
stock. BR numbers were 58321-58361 (with gaps).
References
Bibliography
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{{LNWR Locomotives
Coal engine
0-6-0 locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1873
Railway Operating Division locomotives
Scrapped locomotives
Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
C n2 locomotives
Freight locomotives