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 ...

(LNER) Class O4 initially consisted of the 131 ex-

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 ...

(GCR) Class 8K

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

steam locomotives acquired on grouping in 1923. The engines were designed by

John G. Robinson John George Robinson CBE, (30 July 1856 – 7 December 1943) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Central Railway from 1900 to 1922. Early life Born at Newcastle upon Tyne, the second son of Matthew Robin ...

and built at the GCR's Gorton Locomotive Works, Manchester.

O4 History post 1923

The O4s were added to when the LNER purchased 273 ex-

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 ...

ROD 2-8-0 The Railway Operating Division (ROD) ROD 2-8-0 is a type of 2-8-0 steam locomotive which was the standard heavy freight locomotive operated in Europe by the ROD during the First World War. ROD need for a standard locomotive During the First Wor ...

s to the same design between 1923 and 1927. Meanwhile, the 19

GCR Class 8M 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 ...

(LNER Class O5) were rebuilt as O4 standard during the 1920s and 1930s. 92 O4 locomotives were requisitioned by the War Department during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and shipped during late 1941 for operation in the Middle East. The O4 class were used to haul heavy freight trains throughout the LNER system. 329 engines remained in operation at 1 January 1948.

Sub-classes

The LNER rebuilt many, allotting them into eight subclasses. Sub-class details:Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, summer 1961 edition, part 4, pp 36-37 * O4/1, Introduced 1911.

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...

GCR design with small boiler,

Belpaire firebox The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and squa ...

, steam and

vacuum brake The vacuum brake is a braking system employed on trains and introduced in the mid-1860s. A variant, the automatic vacuum brake system, became almost universal in British train equipment and in countries influenced by British practice. Vacuum bra ...

s and water scoop. * O4/2, Introduced 1925. O4/3 with cabs and boiler mountings reduced. * O4/3, Introduced 1917. ROD locos with steam brake only and no water scoop. * O4/4, Rebuilt with O2 boiler, extended rear frames and side window cab, since rebuilt again. * O4/5, Rebuilt with shortened O2-type boiler (Diagram 15A). Retained GCR style cab * O4/6, Introduced 1924. Rebuilt from O5 retaining higher cab. 63914-20 with side windows. All cabs eventually reduced in height. * O4/7, Introduced 1939. Rebuilt with shortened O2-type boiler (Diagram 15D), retaining GCR smokebox. * O4/8, Introduced 1944. Rebuilt with B1 boiler (Diagram 100A) and B1 style side window cab. In 1944, 58 O4s were rebuilt with 100A boiler,

Walschaerts valve gear The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam locomotives, invented by Belgium, Belgian railway mechanical engineering, engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844. The gear is sometimes name ...

and new cylinders at Gorton Works, then classified O1.

British Railways

Dodworth Worsborough Bank Westbound freight geograph-2854612-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The surviving 329 Class O4 locomotives passed to

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 ...

(BR) on 1 January 1948. They were then widely operated on freight trains throughout the Eastern and North Eastern regions of BR. The locomotives were given BR numbers in the range 63570-63920 but this range included 58 locomotives which had been rebuilt as Class O1. Withdrawal of O4 engines by BR commenced in 1959 and the last was taken out of service in the Doncaster area in April 1966.

Preservation

An O4/1, GCR No. 102, BR No. 63601, is part of the extensive National Collection, and is preserved on the preserved Great Central Railway at

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

, Leicestershire. A further three Robinson 2-8-0s were exported and survive in preservation in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

References

Gallery

External links

LNER encyclopedia
{{LNER Locomotives 2-8-0 locomotives O4 1′D h2 locomotives Railway Operating Division locomotives Freight locomotives