The NBR J Class (LNER Classes D29 & D30), commonly known as the Scott class, were a class of 4-4-0 steam

tender locomotive A tender or coal-car (US only) is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood, coal, oil or torrefied biomass) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, s ...

s designed by William P. Reid for the North British Railway. They passed to the London and North Eastern Railway at the

grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

in 1923. Forty-three were built, of which thirty-five (ten D29s and twenty-five D30s) survived into British Railways ownership in 1948.

Overview

The Original J Class locomotives were based on the

NBR K Class NBR may refer to: In rail: * New Brunswick Railway, a former Canadian railway company absorbed by the Canadian Pacific Railway * North Bay Railway, a light-railway system for tourists in Scarborough, North Yorkshire * North British Railway (1844� ...

mixed traffic 4-4-0s. The J Class had 6' 6" driving wheels for express passenger work and a large tender which carried sufficient water to allow passenger trains to run non-stop between

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and Carlisle. These locomotives were named after characters in the novels of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

and naturally became known as "Scotts". Some of the names were later re-used on LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotives.

Builders

Six locomotives were built in 1909 by the North British Locomotive Company and a further ten were built in 1911 by the North British Railway at its

Cowlairs railway 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. ...

, followed by two further identical locomotives with superheaters. The NBR always referred to these locomotives as J Class, but the LNER classified the initial 16 locomotives D29, and the two superheated locomotives as D30. A further 25 superheated locomotives were built between 1914 and 1920 and the LNER classified these as D30/2.

Accidents and incidents

*On 3 January 1917, locomotive No. 421 ''Jingling Geordie'' overran signals and was in a head-on collision with an express passenger train at

Ratho Ratho ( gd, Ràthach) is a village in the Rural West Edinburgh area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Its population at the 2011 census was 1,634 based on the 2010 definition of the locality. It was formerly in the old county of Midlothian. Ratho Stati ...

, Lothian. Twelve people were killed and 44 were seriously injured. Irregular operating procedures were a major contributory factor in the accident. These were subsequently stopped.

Numbers and names

British Railways numbers were: * D29, 62401-62413 (with gaps) * D30, 62417-62442 (62433 missing) NBR no. 898 was named after

the author of the

Waverley Novels The Waverley Novels are a long series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe. Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the se ...

, and the others were given the names either of those novels, or of characters and places in them. The LNER increased the NBR numbers by 9000, and these were applied between 1924 and 1926. New LNER numbers were allotted in 1943 in the order of construction, but the locos were not renumbered until 1946, by which time two had been withdrawn. British Railways increased the LNER 1946 numbers by 60000 between 1948 and 1950, but some were withdrawn before this could be carried out. Numbers in parentheses were allocated but not carried.

References

{{LNER Locomotives J 4-4-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1909 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives