The North London Railway crane tank was an steam locomotive

crane tank A crane tank (CT) is a steam locomotive fitted with a crane for working in railway workshops, docksides, or other industrial environments. The crane may be fitted at the front, centre or rear. The 'tank' in its name refers to water tanks mount ...

type. Originally built in 1858 as an by

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 wi ...

for the

North and South Western Junction Railway The North and South Western Junction Railway (NSWJR) was a short railway in west London, England. It opened in 1853, connecting Willesden on the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) with Brentford on the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) ...

. It was quickly passed to the

North London Railway The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fell ...

(NLR) who numbered it 37; they renumbered it 29 in 1861 before placing it on the duplicate lst as 29A in 1872. The same year it was rebuilt into an 0-4-2ST with a

steam crane A steam crane is a crane powered by a steam engine. It may be fixed or mobile and, if mobile, it may run on rail tracks, caterpillar tracks, road wheels, or be mounted on a barge. It usually has a vertical boiler placed at the back so that th ...

carried by the trailing truck. It was subsequently inherited by the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

(LNWR) in January 1922, who allocated it the number 2896; and then in turn the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

(LMS) in January 1923. They allocated it the number 7217, but it was June 1926 before it was applied. The LMS placed it on the duplicate list as 27217 in February 1935 before it finally passed to

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

in 1948. It was allocated the BR number 58865, and renumbered in March 1949. It was the oldest locomotive to be inherited by BR. When finally withdrawn in 1951, it was the oldest surviving standard gauge engine in service with

. It was scrapped at

Derby Works The Derby Works comprised a number of British manufacturing facilities designing and building locomotives and rolling stock in Derby, England. The first of these was a group of three maintenance sheds opened around 1840 behind Derby station. Th ...

in February 1951.

References

* *

References

Further reading