| Power Classification | 2P |
| Introduced | 1889 – 1911 |
| Designer | Aspinall – some rebuilt by Hughes |
| Company | L&YR |
| Weight | 55t 19cwt (Belpaire boiler 59t 3cwt) |
| Driving Wheels | 5ft 8ins |
| Boiler Pressure | 180psi |
| Cylinders | Inside – 18in x 26in |
| Tractive Effort | 18,955lbf |
| Valve Gear | Joy (slide valves) |
The L&Y was a very large user of the 2-4-2T type of engine. Designes by Aspinall, 330 of them were built at Horwich between 1889 and 1911. The general design remained the same but it underwent a number of modifications as follows.
- Aspinall’s second series which were fitted with longer coal bunkers, giving increased coal and water capacity
- Hughes’ development of Aspinall’s design, introduced in 1905, with a longer bunker and a Belpaire boilers with extended smokeboxes, but still not superheated.
- Many of the Aspinall engines were fitted from 1910 onwards with saturated Beklpaire boilers with extended smokeboxes.
- Some engines were built or rebuilt with smaller cylinders.
It has been calculated that the fleet of 330 locomotives accounted for 59% of the total passenger mileage operated on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.
Many engines were later fitted with superheated Belpaire boilers and as such they became part of the 3P class. Those rebuilt before grouping in 1923 were allocated numbers in the 10900 series, but those rebuilt after 1923 retained their numbers in the 10800 series.
These radial tanks did a tremendous amount of hard work over steeply graded lines of the LYR, not only on local services, but also on main line services. By 1912 they were working 70 per cent of all LYR passenger-train mileage including many express services. They had their times on the problematical list, especially in the early years of this century when they were put on to fast workings and encountered a minor epidemic of broken tyres, axleboxes, springs and derailments.
They were fitted with a special type of water pick-up apparatus for picking up water from water troughs in either direction, as they frequently ran tender first.
The first of the class was withdrawn in 1927, and 110 engines came into BR stock. By 1961, all but three had been scrapped.
The Wirral Railway (WR) acquired one of these locomotives from the L&YR in June 1921 (1041 became WR no. 6). After the Grouping of 1923, it came under LMS ownership. Although the L&YR locomotives were numbered in a block from 10621 upwards, which included the allocation of 10638 to the original L&YR number of the Wirral locomotive, the former Wirral locomotive stock was included in the LMS Western Division. The largest constituent of the Western Division was the LNWR, and so WR no. 6 was numbered 6762 by the LMS, at the end of a block starting at 6515 which was allocated to former LNWR 2-4-2T locomotives; this locomotive followed on from nos. 6758–61, four former LNWR 4′ 6″ 2-4-2T which the WR had acquired from the LNWR.
Another engine (10897) was still in existence, although not officially in stock, and was used by the CME’s department at Uttoxeter.
Some of these locomotives were also fitted for push-pull working, being coupled to a driving trailer coach that contained a driver’s cab and allowed the train to be driven in reverse, without running the locomotive around the train at the terminus.
Number in Service with BR (excluding 10897).
| Built | ||||
| Year | Quantity | Withdrawals |
No. in Service |
|
|
1947 |
1889 |
5 |
||
|
1890 |
12 |
|||
|
1892 |
18 |
|||
|
1893 |
7 |
|||
|
1895 |
7 |
|||
|
1896 |
16 |
|||
|
1897 |
6 |
|||
|
1898 |
18 |
|||
|
1899 |
5 |
|||
|
1900 |
3 |
|||
|
1901 |
2 |
|||
|
1905 |
6 |
|||
|
1910 |
5 |
110 |
||
|
1948 |
9 |
101 | ||
|
1949 |
12 | 89 | ||
|
1950 |
10 | 79 | ||
| 1951 | 8 |
71 |
||
| 1952 | 24 |
47 |
||
| 1953 | 8 |
39 |
||
|
1954 |
2 |
37 |
||
|
1955 |
8 |
29 |
||
|
1956 |
6 |
23 |
||
|
1957 |
3 |
20 |
||
|
1958 |
13 |
7 |
||
|
1959 |
3 |
4 |
||
|
1960 |
1 |
3 |
||
|
1961 |
3 |
0 |
||
- In total 330 were built between 1889 and 1911 but only 110 were taken into BR stock on 1st January 1948. The 110 included the locomotive previously sold to the Wirral Railway by the L&YR which subsequently became part of the LMS.
Allocation of locomotives in service as at 1st of January.
| 1948 | 1952 | 1955 | 1958 | 1959 |
1961 |
|
| Agecroft |
2 |
|||||
| Aintree |
3 |
|||||
| Bacup |
2 |
2 |
||||
| Bank Hall |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|||
| Barrow |
2 |
|||||
| Bedford |
1 |
|||||
| Blackpool Central |
7 |
4 |
||||
| Bolton |
7 |
10 | 5 | 3 |
1 |
|
| Bury |
4 |
5 |
3 |
|||
| Fleetwood |
9 |
3 |
2 |
|||
| Hellafield |
5 |
2 |
||||
| Huddersfield |
1 |
3 |
2 |
|||
| Leeds Holbeck |
3 |
1 |
||||
| Lostock hall |
2 |
2 |
||||
| Lower Darwen |
2 |
|||||
| Low Moor |
7 |
3 |
3 |
|||
| Manningham |
7 |
10 | 3 | 1 |
1 |
|
| Mirfield |
8 |
3 |
||||
| Newton Heath |
3 |
3 |
||||
| Normanton |
1 |
|||||
| Plodders Lane |
2 |
|||||
| Preston |
4 |
4 |
||||
| Rose Grove |
2 |
4 |
5 |
|||
| Royston |
2 |
|||||
| Skipton |
3 |
|||||
| Sowerby Bridge |
1 |
2 | 4 |
2 |
||
| Southport |
10 |
2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
2 |
| Wakefield |
16 |
1 |
||||
| Walton on the Hill | 1 |
1 |
||||
| Warrington Dallam |
4 |
3 |
3 |
|||
| Wigan |
4 |
2 |
||||
|
110 |
71 | 37 | 20 | 7 |
3 |
- With very few exceptions the engines remained within the area of the old L&YR. They were tried briefly on London suburban services (based at Kentish Town) in 1926. 50650 spent a few months at Wellingborough in 1956 and 50646 was based at Bedford from February 1956 until withdrawn in November 1958.
- 46762 which had previously been sold to the Wirral Railway worked as station pilot at Preston until withdrawn in February 1952. It was the only Wirral Railway engine to last until Nationalisation; it also retained the original round-topped boiler throughout its life.
Accidents and Incidents
- On 1st July 1903 670 derailed at Waterloo station in Liverpool due to a breakage of a trailing coupled wheel spring.
- On 9th April 1906 number. 869 suffered a boiler explosion at The Oaks station, north of Bolton. The firebox crown sheet broke free of its rod stays and burst downwards, although without splitting. 57 of the 150 one-inch rod stays failed, the steam escaping through the remaining holes scalding the driver, although both footplate crew survived their injuries. The cause of the accident, which was the L&YR’s second major boiler explosion in five years, was put down to poor washing out of the firebox water spaces when at Colne shed. Afterwards, 72 pounds of scale was collected. Although boilers were supposed to be washed out every eight days, this quantity suggests that it was up to three weeks since this had last been done thoroughly, either through omission or by inadequate washing.
- On 21st June 1912 L&YR locomotive 276 was hauling an express from Manchester to Leeds when it was derailed at Charlestown Curve near Hebden Bridge. The entire train was derailed and the second and third vehicles broke up. Four passengers were killed and 60 injured, and the driver, fireman and guard were also injured. The primary cause was adjudged to be excessive speed and poor rolling stock stability. The locomotive design was considered to be too rigid for traversing curves at high speed and the locomotives of this class were transferred to Oldham services.
- On 27th February 1928 LMS locomotive 10835 (L&YR 371) left the rails at Chatburn due to bad track and the fracture of the right trailing coupled wheel spring. The express train involved was travelling from Hellafield to Manchester Victoria at a speed of about 60mph and became completely derailed. Fortunately there were only some 30 to 35 passengers in the train, of whom two suffered slightly from shock, or minor injury. The driver, fireman, and guard were also shaken.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 