The NBR 141 Class consisted of two steam locomotives built by the

North British Railway The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...

(NBR) in 1869. They were the direct antecedents of the

NBR 224 Class The NBR 224 and 420 Classes consisted of six steam locomotives of the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement built by the North British Railway (NBR) in 1871 and 1873. 224 had three claims to fame: it was the first inside-cylinder 4-4-0 engine to run in Great ...

History

Thomas Wheatley Thomas Wheatley (1821–1883) was an English mechanical engineer who worked for several British railway companies and rose to become a Locomotive Superintendent at the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and the North British Railway (NBR). ...

became locomotive superintendent of the

(NBR) at the start of February 1867. During his tenure of seven years, he provided the NBR with 185 new locomotives; but only eight of these were suitable for hauling express passenger trains, the first two of which were these s, nos. 141 and 164, which were built in 1869; the remaining six were the s of the 224 and 420 Classes, introduced in 1871 and 1873 respectively. Originally the 141 Class had leading wheels of diameter, coupled wheels of diameter, and cylinders measuring . The boilers were domeless, with the safety-valves mounted above the firebox. The frames were single, the driving wheel splashers had eight slots; there was no cab, but a weatherboard with two circular windows. The six-wheel tender held of water. They were very good locomotives, and when the cylinder diameter was increased by , the performance was not adversely affected.

Rebuilding

On the NBR, locomotives were generally rebuilt when their boilers wore out. Matthew Holmes, locomotive superintendent of the NBR between 1882 and 1903, rebuilt both locomotives in 1890; amongst the improvements were a domed boiler, Westinghouse brake and a cab. In later years, no. 141 was used on trains between

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and .

Final years

Every six months, the NBR renumbered some of its older locomotives into a "duplicate list", in order to vacate numbers for new construction. Accordingly, in 1912, nos. 141 and 164 were placed on the duplicate list, becoming nos. 1158/60 respectively. They were both withdrawn from service in 1915 and scrapped in 1923.

Summary

The locomotives ''may'' have been named after 1875 – it has been stated that Drummond, who replaced Wheatley in 1875, named NBR engines "including those already in service".

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{Use British English, date=July 2014 141 2-4-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1869 Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives