North Eastern Railway Class T3, classified Q7 by the

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 ...

is a class of 0-8-0 steam locomotive designed for heavy freight. Five were built by the NER in 1919 and a further 10 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1924.

Performance

The first of the T3s, No.901 was outshopped from

Darlington Works Darlington Works was established in 1863 by the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the town of Darlington in the north east of England. The main part of the works, the North Road Shops was located on the northeast side of the Stockton and Darl ...

in November 1919. A month later the NER organised a test train, over the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

to Carlisle line, including a

brake van Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India for a railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the guard. The equivalent North American term is caboose, but a British brake van ...

and the company's

dynamometer car A dynamometer car is a railroad maintenance of way car used for measuring various aspects of a locomotive's performance. Measurements include tractive effort (pulling force), power, top speed, etc. History The first dynamometer car was probably ...

to record the locomotive's performance. No.901 had in tow but handled the load with ease, registering both high power and steady acceleration. There were no problems starting on a 1 in 298 (0.335 %) grade and on the return, with a reduced load of , the engine was untroubled by gradients as severe as 1 in 107 (0.93 %).

LNER

Despite their prowess, the original quintet of T3s was not augmented by the North Eastern Railway, a move that would have pleased footplate crews who disliked having to lubricate and maintain the centre cylinder and valve gear. Instead the enlargement of the class came under LNER. it authorised the construction of ten additional T3s and these emerged from Darlington Works during 1924. Of the new engines two were allocated to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and a further four went to Hull. The remaining four gravitated to their natural habitat,

Tyne Dock Tyne Dock is a neighbourhood within the town of South Shields, North East England, on the south bank of the River Tyne. It takes its name from the large dock on the river which was opened in 1859 by the North Eastern Railway (and acquired by th ...

depot near South Shields. It was there eventually that all 15 T3s/Q7s congregated. Here they performed the role they were designed for. This was to haul rakes of iron ore

hoppers Hopper or hoppers may refer to: Places *Hopper, Illinois * Hopper, West Virginia * Hopper, a mountain and valley in the Hunza–Nagar District of Pakistan * Hopper (crater), a crater on Mercury People with the name * Hopper (surname) * Grace H ...

to the steelworks at Consett above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. On the steepest section, as severe as 1 in 35 (2.86 %) in places, one 0-8-0 pulled while another pushed.

British Railways

All 15 passed into British Railways ownership in 1948 and they were numbered 63460-63474. They remained master of their task till the arrival of

BR Standard Class 9F The British Railways Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for British Railways by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 1950 ...

2-10-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-10-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and no trailing wheels. This arrangement ...

s in the 1950s. With the loss of their bread and butter work British Railways retired all 15 of the Q7s in November and December 1962.

Preservation

One, NER 901 (BR 63460) has survived and is currently on display at

Darlington Railway Centre and Museum Head of Steam, formerly known as the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, is a railway museum located on the 1825 route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which was the world's first steam-powered passenger railway. It is based inside the ...

. It is the newest exhibit at the museum.

External links

The Raven Q7 (NER Class T3) 0-8-0 Locomotives
''LNER Encyclopedia'' {{LNER Locomotives T3 0-8-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1919 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Freight locomotives