The Great Northern Railway (GNR) Class N2 is an

0-6-2T T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is derived from the Semitic letters taw (ת, ܬ, ت) via the Greek letter ...

side tank A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locomo ...

steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley and introduced in 1920. Further batches were built by the London and North Eastern Railway from 1925. They had superheaters and

piston valve A "piston valve" is a device used to control the motion of a fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the linear motion of a piston within a chamber or cylinder. Examples of piston valves are: * The valves used in many brass instruments * The va ...

s driven by

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. ...

. Some locomotives were fitted with condensing apparatus for working on the Metropolitan Railway

Widened Lines The Widened Lines (also known as the City Widened Lines; formerly known as the Moorgate Line) is a double-track railway line forming part of the Thameslink route between St Pancras and within Central London. For most of their life the Widene ...

between King's Cross and

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, bu ...

In service

The N2s were designed for suburban passenger operations, and worked most of the duties out of King's Cross and Moorgate, often hauling one or two quad-art sets of

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...

suburban coaches. These ran to places such as

New Barnet New Barnet is a neighbourhood on the north east side of the London Borough of Barnet. It is a largely residential North London suburb located east of Chipping Barnet, west of Cockfosters, south of the village of Monken Hadley and north of O ...

and Gordon Hill on the Hertford loop. They also hauled some empty coaching stock trains between King's Cross and Ferme Park carriage sidings. They were also a common sight in and around

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

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 ...

operating suburban services, mainly on what is today known as the

North Clyde Line The North Clyde Line (defined by Network Rail as the ''Glasgow North Electric Suburban'' line) is a suburban railway in West Central Scotland. The route is operated by ScotRail Trains. As a result of the incorporation of the Airdrie–Bathga ...

Sub-classes

* Class N2/1 built 1920–21, GNR locos with condensing apparatus * Class N2/2 built 1925, LNER locos without condensing apparatus; vacuum brake, for Scotland * Class N2/3 built 1925 & 1928–29, LNER locos without condensing apparatus; air brake * Class N2/4 built 1928–29, LNER locos with condensing apparatus British Railways numbers were: 69490-69596.

Accidents and incidents

*On 12 July 1932, locomotive No. 4738 was hauling a passenger train that ran back in a tunnel at station and was derailed by catch points. The derailed carriages fouled an adjacent line and a freight train ran into them and was also derailed. There were no injuries. : *On 10 February 1946, locomotive No. 2679 was derailed at , Hertfordshire due to a signalman's error. The wreckage fouled signal cables, giving a false clear signal to an express passenger train, which ran into the wreckage. A third passenger train travelling in the opposite direction then ran into the wreckage. Two people were killed.

Withdrawal

The first withdrawal was in 1955, and another the following year, but official withdrawals didn't start until 1957. Many of their later duties included standing-in for diesel failures and station pilots. The last thirteen N2s were withdrawn in 1962.

Preservation

One, No. 1744/4744 (BR No. 69523) survived into preservation, and after initially running at the

Keighley and Worth Valley Railway The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway is a heritage railway line in the Worth Valley, West Yorkshire, England, which runs from Keighley to Oxenhope. It connects to the National Rail network at Keighley railway station. History Inception ...

and

Great Central Railway (heritage railway) The Great Central Railway (GCR) is a heritage railway in Leicestershire, named after the company that originally built this stretch of railway. It runs for between the town of Loughborough and a new terminus in the north of Leicester. It has ...

, now resides at the

North Norfolk Railway The North Norfolk Railway (NNR) – also known as the "Poppy Line" – is a heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, running between the towns of Sheringham and Holt. The North Norfolk Railway is owned and operated as a public limite ...

. It is owned by the Gresley Society, and has appeared in LNER Black, BR Black, and GNR Apple Green while in preservation. The loco's most recent overhaul was completed in 2009, with the engine being given its GNR Apple Green livery at the same time, and is usually based at the NNR when not visiting other railways. The engine re-visited King's Cross on Tuesday 5 April 2016 for the unveiling of a statue of Sir Nigel Gresley, the engine in question was moved to and from Bounds Green behind a diesel since the locomotive was unable to move under its own power at the time.

Models

The N2 was the basis of the

Hornby Dublo Hornby Railways is a British model railways manufacturing company. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, ...

0-6-2T tank engine, which was offered in the liveries of all the 'Big Four' companies - despite being clearly one of the LNER N2s fitted with condensing gear for use on the London Underground. Mainline Railways also produced models of the N2 in the 1980s, theirs depicting engines no. 4744 in LNER Black, no. 9522 in LNER Apple Green (9522 was the only N2 to wear this livery, which was applied in 1946) and a model in BR lined black. Hornby currently owns the toolings for the N2, and released a model of engine 69563 as part of the R2981 London Olympics 1948 set including two British Railways (ex-LNER) teak coaches, 3rd class composite 1435 and 3rd Brake 24387. Hornby also produced models of the N2 up until 2005 using the original Mainline tooling in GNR Apple Green as locomotive No. 1763, among others. These models were painted in a slightly darker shade of green than that used on the Mainline model of 9522 in 1983. Hornby produces the LNER number 4765 in black livery using existing tooling, as R3465.

In fiction

The ''

Thomas & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

'' character Ryan is based on a GNR N2/1, specifically 1744.

References

* * * Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1948 edition, part 4, page 54.

External links

LNER Encyclopedia
{{LNER Locomotives N2 0-6-2T locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1920 Condensing steam locomotives NBL locomotives Beyer, Peacock locomotives Hawthorn Leslie and Company locomotives YEC locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives