The NER 398 Class 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 ...

freight

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 ...

of the North Eastern Railway, designed by Edward Fletcher. in 1872. A total of 326 locomotives-of the class were built for the NER.

History

Following the success of his NER 398 Class, Fletcher realised that the outside sandwich frames used on this class were unnecessary. He therefore designed a version of this class with inside frames, although the sandwich frames were retained on the tenders. The first batch of thirty of these were constructed by

Robert Stephenson and Company Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build railway engines. Famous early locomotiv ...

of Newcastle between April 1872 and June 1873 at a time when the final examples of the 398 class on order were still under construction. The class quickly proved its worth and became the standard freight locomotive on the NER. Further batches were built by

R and W Hawthorn R and W Hawthorn Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, from 1817 until 1885. Locomotive building Robert Hawthorn first began business at Forth Bank Works in 1817, building marine and stationary steam engines. In 1820, ...

;

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 ...

;

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 ...

;

Dübs and Company Dübs & Co. was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Henry Dübs in 1863 and based at the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. In 1903 it amalgamated with two other Glasgow locomotive manufacturers to create the North British Loc ...

; NER

Gateshead railway works Gateshead TMD was a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Gateshead, England. The depot code was 52A during the steam era and GD later on. It was known, along with the adjacent locomotive works, as Greenesfield or Greensfield, after ...

over the next decade. Different batches had minor detail differences in the cab styling and other equipment All were later classified by

Wilson Worsdell Wilson Worsdell (7 September 1850 – 14 April 1920) was an English locomotive engineer who was locomotive superintendent of the North Eastern Railway from 1890 to 1910. He was the younger brother of T.W. Worsdell. Wilson was born at Monks Co ...

as the ‘398 class’. As built they were fitted with handbrakes only but most were later fitted with

steam brake A steam brake is a type of brake for steam locomotives and their tenders, whereby a steam cylinder works directly on the brake linkages. Steam brakes were primarily used on railways where vacuum brakes were used to brake the train, but where th ...

or Westinghouse Air Brakes. Likewise stronger Worsdell boilers were fitted to the class during the 1880s following a number of

boiler explosion A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler. There are two types of boiler explosions. One type is a failure of the pressure parts of the steam and water sides. There can be many different causes, such as failure of the safety valve ...

s. During the 1880s and 1890s more than half of the class were rebuilt, in different ways. Some were fitted with larger diameter boilers and operated at pressure. A few were fitted with driving wheels. The class continued to be used until withdrawal began in 1903. There were 86 examples still in service at the formation of 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 ...

in 1923, with the last examples surviving until 1928.

Accidents and incidents

Three locomotives from the class suffered from boiler explosions. No. 787 in November 1878, No. 941 November 1880 and No. 204 in October 1881. All three locomotives were subsequently repaired and returned to service.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:NER 0388 Class 0398 0-6-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1870 C n2 locomotives Robert Stephenson and Company locomotives Hawthorn locomotives Neilson locomotives Sharp Stewart locomotives Dübs locomotives Freight locomotives