The GCR Class 8F was a class of ten 4-6-0 locomotives built for the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

in 1906 by

Beyer, Peacock and Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, ...

to the design of John G. Robinson for working fast goods and fish trains. They passed to the London and North Eastern Railway at the

1923 grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

and received the classification 'B4'.

Design

The new design was very similar to 4-6-0 the two locomotives of the ( GCR Class 8C, later LNER class B1) except that they had smaller driving wheels. They were built with a saturated boiler, inside slide valves 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. ...

, two outside cylinders connected to diameter driving wheels.

LNER ownership

The ten locomotives were renumbered by the LNER by adding 5000 to their GCR numbers; and classified as B4.

Modifications

Between 1925 and 1928 the whole class received

superheated A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There are ...

boilers, but six received 10-inch piston valves and 21-inch cylinders giving rise to two LNER sub-classes B4/1 and B4/2. The LNER had designed a new type of superheated boiler (Diagram 16) based on the old design (Diagram 15). These were used on the B1 and B4 class locomotives; no more of this type of boiler was made after 1932, and so to keep the B1 and B4s in service during World War II, some Diagram 15 boilers were modified for use with these locomotives.

Allocation and work

The class were originally used on fish trains between the port of

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

and London and Manchester although they were also found to be successful passenger locomotives. No. 1097 was also chosen to haul the special train at the inauguration ceremony for the new port of Immingham in 1906, and was named ‘''Immingham''’ thereafter, giving the name to the whole class. After grouping the class was transferred to

Ardsley, South Yorkshire Ardsley is a small village approximately east from Barnsley and forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley of South Yorkshire, England. The village is in the Stairfoot ward of Barnsley Metropolitan Council. It is historically part of t ...

and did much useful work in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Withdrawal

No.6095 was withdrawn in 1939, but was reinstated three months later due to the outbreak of war and an expected shortage of locomotive power. After a collision at Woodhead in 1944, No.6095 was officially withdrawn. The remaining 9 were renumbered 1481-1489 in order of construction in 1946. They were withdrawn between 1947 and 1950. The last withdrawal, No.(6)1482(GCR No.1097)''Immingham'' was in 1950, with ''Immingham'' being the last GCR 4-6-0 to be withdrawn.

References

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LNER Class B4/GCR Class 8F
4-6-0 locomotives 2′C n2 locomotives 08C Beyer, Peacock locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1906 Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Freight locomotives Great Central Railway 4-6-0s {{England-steam-loco-stub