The North Eastern Railway (NER) Class C1, was a class of

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

freight

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the u ...

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

between 1886 and 1962.

History

Thirty examples were built at

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

between 1886 and 1894, but after 1900 171 examples of the similar Class C

compound locomotive A compound locomotive is a steam locomotive which is powered by a compound engine, a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. The locomotive was only one application of compounding. Two and three stages were used in shi ...

s were converted to simple operation and added to the class. The whole class was then re-designated as Class C and were numbered between 16 and 1820. All 201 of the class passed into the

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 ...

ownership in 1923, and they were classified J21 but without any sub-classes to reflect the different backgrounds or dimensions. The class retained their original North Eastern Railway numbers under the 1924 renumbering scheme. Withdrawal of the class began in 1929, but proceeded relatively slowly and there were still substantial numbers in service in 1943 when the survivors were renumbered between 5025 and 5123' (with gaps). Eighty-two surviving examples passed into

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 ...

(BR) ownership in 1948, and renumbered by adding 60000 to their exiting numbers. These were gradually withdrawn from service over the next fourteen years.

Rebuilding

The mechanical history of the class is very complex, and both

Wilson Worsdell Wilson Worsdell (7 September 1850 – 14 April 1920) was an English locomotive engineer who was locomotive superintendent of the North Eastern Railway from 1890 to 1910. He was the younger brother of T.W. Worsdell. Wilson was born at Monks Co ...

and

Vincent Raven Sir Vincent Litchfield Raven, KBE (3 December 1859 – 14 February 1934) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the North Eastern Railway from 1910 to 1922. Biography Vincent Raven was born the son of a clergy ...

made changes to the class. All the Class C compounds were rebuilt as Class C1 simple. Many examples were later rebuilt with a

superheater 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 ar ...

and others had the original Joy valve gear replaced with

piston valves Piston valves are one form of valve used to control the flow of steam within a steam engine or locomotive. They control the admission of steam into the cylinders and its subsequent exhausting, enabling a locomotive to move under its own power ...

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. ...

. Some locos were further rebuilt with superheaters, 19 inch bore cylinders, piston valves and Stephenson valve gear. The superheaters were later removed from some of these locomotives.

Preservation

One example, (then numbered 876) was withdrawn in November 1939, but as a result of the onset of war was subsequently repaired and re-instated. It survived as BR 65033 until 1962. The locomotive was then purchased in 1972 for use at the newly established

Beamish Museum Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it wa ...

. It was used from 1975, pulling the restored NER Coach and the restored NER wagons between the Colliery Sidings and Station, until 1984 when it was declared unfit to run due to the boiler certificate running out. It then languished in the station yard, with No 14 (Hawthorn Leslie) or the Diesel shunter moving it to keep the motion from seizing up on occasion. It was on static display until 2004/2005 when it was removed to 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 ...

for restoration to steam in 2007. It is currently at the

National Railway Museum Shildon Locomotion, previously known as Locomotion the National Railway Museum at Shildon, is a railway museum in Shildon, County Durham, England. The museum was renamed in 2017 when it became part of the Science Museum Group. Overview The museum was ...

preserved by the Locomotive Conservation & Learning Trust who have owned it since 2011 pending restoration to working order at Kirkby Stephen East station, home of the

Stainmore Railway Company Stainmore Railway Company is a volunteer-run, non-profit preservation company formed in 2000 with the aim of restoring Kirkby Stephen East railway station in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, England. In 1997 a company called Stainmore Properties Ltd. w ...

. It was announced in July 2017 that the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

bid between the

and the Locomotive Conservation and Learning Trust, to restore both LNER J21 65033 and an ex. North Eastern Railway stores van, no. 5523, as an interpretation vehicle to travel with the locomotive, had been successful. The locomotives overhaul has begun, and after completion it shall move to the

's headquarters. 65099 was a candidate for preservation, but it was scrapped in 1961.

References

External links

The T.W.Worsdell J21 (NER Class C) 0-6-0 Locomotives
''LNER Encyclopedia'' {{LNER Locomotives C1 0-6-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1886 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Freight locomotives