The NBR C Class (

LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...

Class J36) is a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed by Matthew Holmes for freight work on the North British Railway (NBR). They were introduced in 1888 with inside cylinders and

Stephenson valve gear The Stephenson valve gear or Stephenson link or shifting link is a simple design of valve gear that was widely used throughout the world for various kinds of steam engines. It is named after Robert Stephenson but was invented by his employees. ...

. A total of 168 locomotives was built, of which 123 came into British Railways ownership at nationalisation in 1948. This was the last class of steam engine in service in Scotland. The NBR C Class (LNER Class J32) was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed by

Dugald Drummond Dugald Drummond (1 January 1840 – 8 November 1912) was a Scottish steam locomotive engineer. He had a career with the North British Railway, LB&SCR, Caledonian Railway and London and South Western Railway. He was the older brother of the eng ...

for freight work on the North British Railway. They were built in 1876 and 1877 and had large 18-inch cylinders. A total of 32 locomotives were built. The NBR gave these engines the same designation (C class) as the Matthew Holmes engines above. The two types were very similar, and shared the same (then unusual) 18 inch cylinder size. Between 1898 and 1903, Holmes had all 32 of the Drummond locomotives rebuilt to match his own C class design. Thus the locomotives were considered a single class by the NBR, although on passing to LNER ownership they received the separate designations of J36 and J32 respectively.

Technical information

As built, they had a saturated ( non-superheated) boiler at ( for the last 24) and

s with slide valves. Between 1913 and 1923, the class was rebuilt with larger boilers set at 165 psi and the Reid side-window cab.

Ownership

NBR

Predecessors

After the introduction of the Drummond Class C (LNER Class J32) 18-inch cylinder 0-6-0s for use on the

Waverley Line The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remaind ...

in 1876, the NBR reverted to the 17-inch design with the Drummond Class D (J34) in 1879 and the Holmes Class D (J33) in 1883.

Holmes C Class

With the opening of the second

Tay Rail Bridge The Tay Bridge ( gd, Drochaid-rèile na Tatha) carries the railway across the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. Its span is . It is the second bridge to occupy the site. Plans for a bridge over the Tay t ...

in July 1887 and the upcoming opening of the

Forth Bridge The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in ...

in March 1890, the NBR needed more powerful goods locos. The result was the Holmes Class C (J36). Introduced in 1888, it was built in regular batches until 1900, eventually totalling 168 locos. 138 were built at the NBR's

Cowlairs Works Cowlairs Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Works, at Cowlairs in Springburn, an area in the north-east of Glasgow, Scotland, was built in 1841 for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway and was taken over by the North British Railway (NBR) in 1865. I ...

while the other 30 were split equally between

Neilson and Company Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland. The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines. In 1837 the firm moved to Hyde Park ...

and

Sharp, Stewart and Company Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating wit ...

World War I

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 ...

, 25 of the class were sent to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

for service with 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 ...

. On return to Scotland, they were given names of battles, generals and a cartoon soldier in recognition of their service. The names were hand-painted on the splasher above the middle driving wheel so often disappeared during repaints.

LNER

On 1 January 1923, all 168 locos passed into the hands of the

, becomingClass J36. As with all ex-NBR locos, they had 9000 added to their number. The final eight unrebuilt locos were rebuilt in 1923. In 1937, Nos. 9714 and 9716 (later 5285 and 5287) were rebuilt with cutdown chimney and dome for use on the Gartverrie Branch. In 1946 the remaining locos were renumbered from 5210 to 5346. A number of locos had tender cabs fitted for use with

Snowplow A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to re ...

BR

At nationalisation in 1948, 123 locos passed into service of British Railways and had 60000 added to their number. 65288 of Dunfermline (62C) and 65345 of Thornton (62A) were the last to be withdrawn on 5 June 1967. They were the last steam locomotives in service in Scotland, outlasting the LNER and BR standard designs.

Locomotive names

Preservation

The Bo'ness - Kinneil Railway - geograph

One, 673 ''Maude'' (LNER number 9673; LNER 1946 number 5243; BR number 65243) has been preserved by the

Scottish Railway Preservation Society The Scottish Railway Preservation Society is a charity, whose principal objective is the preservation and advancement of railway heritage in Scotland. The society's headquarters is at Bo'ness Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) i ...

at the

Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway The Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway is a heritage railway in Bo'ness, Scotland. It is operated by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS), and operates a total of over of track (between Bo'ness and Manuel Junction, via Kinneil and Birkh ...

. It starred in the 2000 remake of The Railway Children on the

Bluebell Railway The Bluebell Railway is an heritage line almost entirely in West Sussex in England, except for Sheffield Park which is in East Sussex. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between an ...

in East Sussex.

Trivia

65288 was adopted by Dunfermline High School Railway Society and was repainted by society members while still in BR servic

It was fitted with one small and one normal sized buffer at the front end.

References

*Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1962 edition * * *

External links

Class J36 Details
at ''Rail UK''
NBR/LNER Holmes "J36" Class 0-6-0
at BRDatabase {{LNER Locomotives North British Railway locomotives, C 0-6-0 locomotives Neilson locomotives Sharp Stewart locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1888 Railway Operating Division locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Freight locomotives