LNER Class O6
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London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...
(LNER) Class O6 was a class of 2-8-0 steam locomotives of the
Stanier Class 8F The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 8F is a class of steam locomotives designed for hauling heavy freight. 852 were built between 1935 and 1946 (not all to LMS order), as a freight version of William Stanier's successful ...
type.


Background

The
LMS Stanier Class 8F The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 8F is a class of steam locomotives designed for hauling heavy freight. 852 were built between 1935 and 1946 (not all to LMS order), as a freight version of William Stanier's successful ...
2-8-0 had been chosen by the
War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...
to be its standard heavy freight locomotive. As a result, 60 were built by the LNER to
Railway Executive Committee The Railway Executive Committee (REC) was a government body which controlled the operation of Britain's railways during World War I and World War II. It should not be confused with the Railway Executive which was a division of the British Transpor ...
order between 1943 and 1945. These were considered LMS stock and numbered as such (LMS Nos 8500-59). These were loaned by the REC to the LNER. The LNER subsequently chose to build some of the design for themselves.


Construction

Construction was divided between
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 ...
and
Doncaster Works Doncaster Railway Works is a railway workshop located in Doncaster, England. Also referred to as The Plant''", it was established by the Great Northern Railway in 1853, replacing the previous works in Boston and Peterborough. Until 1867 it un ...
. 25 were also subcontracted to the Southern Railway's
Brighton Works Brighton railway works (also known as Brighton locomotive works, or just the Brighton works) was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England, and thus pre-dat ...
, which had also built 8Fs for the Railway Executive Committee.


Service

Their time in LNER service was short. The LNER quickly took on replacements for them in the form of the
WD Austerity 2-8-0 The War Department (WD) "Austerity" 2-8-0 is a type of heavy freight steam locomotive that was introduced in 1943 for war service. A total of 935 were built, making this one of the most-produced classes of British steam locomotive. They were nic ...
, which they classified as Class O7. The on-loan LMS stock 8Fs were returned to the LMS in 1946 and 1947 and in a reversal of the arrangement, the O6s were subsequently leased to the LMS. This helped
standardisation Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...
as it concentrated all of the 8Fs on LMS lines. As they were withdrawn from LNER stock and taken into LMS stock in 1946 and 1947 the LMS renumbered them into the 8705–72 series to conform with the numbering system of their other 8Fs. The LNER and the LMS were both nationalised to form
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 ...
on 1 January 1948. By then, the size of Class O6 had been reduced to 1; LNER No. 3554 which was transferred to the
London Midland Region The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...
in January 1948. Thus class O6 was rendered extinct by the transferral to another class, the LMS Stanier 8F class, and they subsequently retained their LMS numbers with the addition of 40000 standard to LMS types. Their subsequent history is therefore considered as LMS Stanier Class 8F.


Preservation

Subsequently, none of the former LNER Class O6 engines were preserved. However, engine 48518 (LMS 8518), one of 30 built in 1944–45 by Doncaster Works for the LMS, ended up in the
Woodham Brothers Woodham Brothers Ltd is a trading business, based mainly around activities and premises located within Barry Docks, in Barry, Wales, Barry, South Wales. It is noted globally for its 1960s activity as a scrapyard (hence its colloquial name of Bar ...
scrapyard at Barry, and has survived as one of the '
Barry Ten The Barry 10 was a collection of unsold scrapyard steam locomotives that were removed from Woodham Brothers in 1990 when Dai Woodham retired. They were then taken on by the Vale of Glamorgan Council. For the next 20 years, the locomotives were st ...
'. This engine lost its tender during its time in the yard, and in 2008, lost its boiler to assist with the construction of new-built GWR 'County' class 4-6-0 1014 ''County of Glamorgan''. Further parts are expected to be used to assist with the construction of new-build LMS 'Patriot' 4-6-0 45551 ''The Unknown Warrior'', and it is believed that as a result of this, 48518 will not be restored in its own right (though it could be feasibly restored). It has been suggested that 48518 could be restored in conjunction with fellow 'Barry Ten' locomotive, LMS 'Black Five' 44901. This was reported by ''Steam Railway'' magazine in 2012, but at present nothing has been said of this proposal and it is unlikely that these two locos will ever be restored.


References

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External links


The Stanier O6 (8F) 2-8-0s
''LNER Encyclopedia'' {{LNER Locomotives O6 LMS Stanier Class 8F Scrapped locomotives 2-8-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1944 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Freight locomotives