A FURTHER LOOKAT 0-6-0s
In the January 2020 issue of The Railway Magazine we surveyed the performance of various 0-6-0 tender locos, from Collett's '2251' class on the Great Western to a 'Jl9' and 'J39s' on the former Great Eastern. We shall now look at five more classes, still leaving many others unremarked; after all, on Nationalisation in 1948, BR inherited 4,259 0-6-0s, comprising umpteen different types from before the 1923 Grouping.
One of those was the impressive-looking former North Eastern Railway stud classified 'J27' by the LNER and used extensively on heavy duty moving coal in Northumberland and County Durham. With crews on mileage bonus payment, they always seemed in a hurry - as did the 'Q6' 0-8-0s - often tender-first, apparently revelling in being thrashed, and forming the centre piece of John Heaton's comprehensive article in the March 2011 issue ofiheRM.
In contrast, let us examine a 'snippet' behind another former NER class on a rural duty. Classified 'J21' by the LNER, these 0-6-0s were not in the same league as the 'J27s' but were just as useful. According to the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society's definitive history of LNER locomotives, between 1886 and 1895 Gateshead and Darlington works turned out 201, of which 171 (NERClass 'C') were compounds and the remainder, the 'Cl's, were 'simples'.
NER Locomotive Superintendent T W Worsdell claimed the compounds consumed less coal than the 'Cl 's, but his brother and successor, Wilson Worsdell, thought otherwise and converted all the compounds to 'simple', to be reclassified 'C'. Some were superheated, others not; by 1913, 121 had Joy's motion and slide valves and the remaining 80 Stephenson piston valve gear. See panel on page 28 for general dimensions.
Challenging route
Tough little engines, what became the 'J2ls' formed 10% of the North Eastern Railway's motive power contribution to the LNER and, unlike the similar 'J25s', were widely used on passenger as well as freight duty. And they lasted well into BR days, with the final survivor, No. 65033, active from South Blyth shed until April 1962.
A route on which the 'J2ls' are remembered was the
