The

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

2501 Class was a class of 2-6-0

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s built in the United States in 1899. The Midland's own Derby Works had reached their capacity, and were unable to produce additional engines at the time, and many British locomotive builders were recovering from a labor dispute over working hours, thus the railway placed an order with the

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

for 30 engines. The engines were shipped disassembled as kits of parts, and re-assembled at Derby. Baldwin constructed similar 2-6-0's for 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 ...

and Great Northern Railway around the same time.

Appearance

The engines were designed with little or no consideration to British practice, having several distinct characteristics of American practice, such as the use of bar frames, sand carried in a second dome on top of the boiler, and eight-wheel bogie tenders. A further 10 engines were ordered from the

Schenectady Locomotive Works The Schenectady Locomotive Works built railroad locomotives from its founding in 1848 through its merger into American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1901. After the 1901 merger, ALCO made the Schenectady plant its headquarters in Schenectady, New ...

, which became the 2511 Class.

Numbering

Originally Nos 2501–2510, 2521–2540, in the Midland's 1907 renumbering scheme, the Baldwins became Nos 2200–2229, in the same order.

Withdrawal

Being non-standard, they had a short life and were all withdrawn between November 1908 and March 1914. All were scrapped.

References

* * * * Hunt, Dave. ''American Locomotives of the Midland Railway'' (No 1 Supplement to ''Midland Record'') 2501 Class 2-6-0 locomotives Baldwin locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1899 {{England-steam-loco-stub