4MT  80000 – 80154  2-6-4T  BR Standard   Class 4 Tank

Power Classification	4MT
Introduced	1951 – 1957
Designer	Riddles, designed at Brighton
Company	BR
Weight	88t 10cwt
Driving Wheels	5ft 8ins
Boiler Pressure	225psi superheated
Cylinders	Outside – 18n x 28in
Tractive Effort	25,515lbf
Valve Gear	Walschaert (piston valve)

These locomotives were built for suburban and semi-express passenger work. They were based on the 42050 series of the LMS Stanier and Fairburn 2-6-4T locomotives, but with the tank sides, cab and bunker sloping inwards to conform with the loading gauge. The biggest mechanical change was a reduction in cylinder size, also to reduce cross-section, and a corresponding increase in boiler pressure to compensate. Other visible changes include the reintroduction of plating ahead of the cylinders.

As such the were the final development of the 2-6-4T design introduced by Fowler on the LMS in 1933.

	Fowler Tank – 42395 onwards of 1933
	Stanier 2 cylinder version – 1935 42425-94 and 42537-672
	Fairburn – 1945 42050-299 and 42673-99
	Riddle – 1951 80000-154

One hundred and fifty-five were built at Derby, Doncaster and Brighton and they were fitted with the same boilers as the Standard 75000 class engines.

	Standard class 4 75000 introduced in May 1951
	Standard class 4 tank 80000 introduced in September 1952

Fifteen that were due to be constructed in 1957 were cancelled due to impending dieselisation, and the last five would have been too had they not been at an advanced stage of construction when the order came to cancel them.

No significant modifications were made to the design. The tank vent was found to restrict the driver’s vision and was moved further forward from 80059. Initially built with fluted coupling rods, these caused problems on other classes and from 80079 plain section coupling rods were substituted.

They were successful engines and they always steamed well, without the need for re-draughting. They were popular performers with an admirable turn of speed and good acceleration. They were based on all regions except the Western.

The Standard 4 tanks were originally allocated to all regions of British Railways, except the Western. They became particularly associated with the London, Tilbury and Southend Line (LT&S) working commuter services out of London until that route was electrified in 1962. They were also widely used in East Sussex and Kent working from Brighton, Tunbridge Wells and Three Bridges on those lines of the former London Brighton and South Coast Railway that were not electrified. Another group worked from Polmadie depot in the Scottish region on the Glasgow commuter services.

Number in Service.

	Built		Withdrawals	No. in Service	42050 class in Service
	BR Numbers	Quantity
1945					45
1946					92
1947					130
1948					176
1949					206
1950					260
1951	80010-26	17		17	277
1952	80000-9 & 27-53	37		54	277
1953	80059-76	18		72	277
1954	80054-57, 77-98 & 106-115	36		108	277
1955	80058, 99-105 & 116-130	23		131	277
1956	80131-150	20		151	277
1957	80151-154	4		155	277
1958				155	277
1959				155	277
1960				155	277
1961				155	274
1962	80103		1	154	231
1963				154	201
1964			31	123	144
1965			44	79	90
1966			54	25	42
1967			25	0	0

• 15 – 80000-80009 and 80054-80058 were built at Derby.
• 130 – 80010-80053, 80059-80105 and 80116-80154 were built at Brighton.
• 10 – 80106-80115 were built at Doncaster.
• The Derby and Doncaster built locomotives spent all of their working lives based at Scottish depots.
• 41 of the earlier 42050 class were built at Brighton. The remainder of this class were built at Derby.
• After being reported for rough riding 80103 was towed to Stratford Works where it was discovered that the mainframe was broken in half. It was considered to be beyond economic repair and was withdrawn from service in August 1962 and scrapped at Stratford. It thus became the first Standard class locomotive to be withdrawn and the only one cut up at Stratford.
• 80002 was withdrawn from service at Polmadie in March 1967 but remained in Glasgow past the end of steam haulage until 1969 as a static carriage heating boiler. It has since been preserved.
• This class was amongst the last of the tank engines still to be working on the BR system. By the end of 1966 there were still 25 in use which represented about 26% of the total number of tank engines of all classes still in service. In addition to those included in the table below one J72 survived until withdrawn in October 1967 from Tyne Dock shed. This locomotive was a departmental service engine used for de-icing (69005 Dep58)

Class	Number Built	When Built	Number in Service
41200	130	1946-52	8
42050	277	1945-51	42
42425	206	1935-43	15
47260	417	1924-31	4
80000	155	1951-57	25
82000	45	1952-55	2
			96

Allocation of locomotives in service as at 1st of January.

	1953	1954	1958	1960	1964	1965	1966	1967
London Midland Region	20	30	45	19	18	19
Eastern Region		8	36	28
North Eastern Region			5	5
Scottish Region	21	21	46	46	76	52	42	8
Southern Region	13	13	23	57	45	43	33	17
Western Region					15	9	4	0
	54	72	155	155	154	123	79	25
London Midland Region
Bangor			7
Bedford	4	5
Birkenhead			2	3
Blackpool Central			2	2
Bletchley	5	4	9
Chester			12	11
Croes Newydd					4	4
Kentish Town	1	4
Leamington Spa					1	1
Longsight		1
Machynlleth					5	6
Newton Heath	5	5	3	3
Oswestry					5	2
Saltley		1
Shrewsbury					3	6
Watford	5	10	10
	20	30	45	19	18	19
Eastern Region
Neasden			8
Plaistow		8	16
Shoeburyness				1
Tilbury			12	27
		8	36	28
North Eastern Region
Leeds Neville Hill				5
Whitby			5
			5	5
Scottish Region
Ardrossan					2
Ayr						1
Beattock					2
Carstairs					8
Corkerhill	6	6	8	9	20	12	10	3
Dumfries					4	4
Dundee Tay Bridge			2	2	3	3	1
Eastfield					4	1
Greenock Ladyburn						1	2
Hawick					1	1	1
Hurlford					4	3	2
Keith			2	2
Kittybrewster	6	6	11	10
Perth			1	1	4	4	4
Polmadie	9	9	21	21	10	13	18	5
Stirling			1	1	5
St Margarets					9	9	4
	21	21	46	46	76	52	42	8
Southern Region
Ashford				9
Bournemouth					3	1	6	5
Bricklayers Arms				4		4
Brighton	4	5	15	16	8
Dover Marine				4
Eastleigh					7	11	7	4
Feltham					6		6
Guildford							1
Nine Elms						6	9	8
Redhill	2				21	21
Salisbury							4
Three Bridges				7
Tunbridge Well West	7	8	8	13
Stewarts Lane				4
	13	13	23	57	45	43	33	17
Western Region
Exmouth Junction					12	5
Neath					1
Swansea East Dock					2
Templecombe						3	3
Yeovill Town						1	1
					15	9	4
	54	72	155	155	154	123	79	25

• The locomotives based on the Eastern Region for working the London Tilbury route from Fenchurch Street were used alongside Stanier LMS 4MT 42500 class three cylinder tanks. The line was electrified in 1962 and the Standard 4MT 80000 class tank engines redeployed. They were largely reallocated to Scotland and the former Cambrian Line in Wales which by this time was under London Midland Region management.
• Of the first batch of 20 engines allocated to the London Midland Region (80034-80053) in 1952 10 were transferred to the Southern Region and ten to the Scottish Region in 1959 and 1960.
• Templecombe was transferred from Southern Region management to the Western Region in February 1958. Exmouth Junction and Yeovil Town were similarly transferred in September 1963.
• Croes Newydd, Leamington Spa, Oswestry, Machynlleth and Shrewsbury were transferred from the Western Region to the London Midland Region in September 1963.
• Neasden was transferred from Eastern Region to London Midland control in February 1958.

Accidents and Incidents

• On 24 April 1956, Locomotive 80119 was derailed at Scalby, Yorkshire when the track spread under it whilst shunting. An instruction banning heavy locomotives from shunting at Scalby had been forgotten.

• On 30 January 1958, locomotive 80079 was hauling the 18:35 Fenchurch Street to Thorpe Bay passenger train on the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway line that overran signals and ran into the back of the 18:20 Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness train. Both trains consisted of 11 coaches, carrying approximately 500 passengers each. The 18:35 train demolished three carriages of the earlier train and derailed several others. The locomotive of the 18:35 train and leading carriage were derailed. Some wreckage blocked the adjacent London Underground line but did not cause any further accidents.
  • Conditions at Dagenham East station were foggy at the time. Ten passengers were killed in the accident and 89 injured. Four members of railway staff were also injured.
  • One of the locomotives involved in this accident (80079) survives today at the Severn Valley Railway.

• On 18 April 1961, locomotive 80075 was hauling a passenger train that was derailed at Pitsea, Essex due to a pointsman’s error during single line working.

• On 9 December 1962, locomotive No. 80102 was derailed at Gosport, Hampshire due to vandalism.

• On 19 July 2017 80072 was hauling a five coach train on the Llangollen Railway when the train split between the first and second carriages. Both halves of the train were automatically brought to a halt by the parting of the vacuum brake pipes. 66 people had to be helped from the train by the fire brigade.

80007 at Edinburgh Waverley-July 1965. This locomotive spent all of its working life based in Scotland. Most of the time it was based at Polmadie (Glasgow) but from June 1962 until November 1965 it was based at St Margarets (Edinburgh). It was withdrawn from service at Polmadie in June 1966.   80054 at Edinburgh Waverley-July 1965. 80054 also spent all of its working life based in Scotland. When I took the photograph it was based at St Margarets (Edinburgh). It moved to Greenock Ladyburn in November November 1965 from where it was withdrawn in June 1966.

Preservation

Fifteen members of the class were sold to Woodham Brothers at Barry for scrap and only one of these (80067) was scrapped. The other fourteen have since been preserved along with 80002 which had an extended life as a static boiler for heating coaches in Glasgow until 1969.

Of the fifteen engines to survive into preservation, four have seen mainline operation:  80079, 80080, 80098 and 80135. Three of these were occasional mainline performers around the 1990s with 80080 being originally used on London Underground steam on the met trips. In 1991 Steam was to return to the Folkestone Harbour branch with 80080 taking the train down from the mainline to the station at Folkestone Harbour and then for the journey back up to the mainline 80080 was used to bank West Country pacific 34027 Taw Valley. 80080 also became the first steam engine to work a normal stopping passenger service on the mainline for over a quarter of a century back in March 1993, it worked for over a week on the Settle and Carlisle line working from Carlisle to Kirkby Stephen and back. It also returned to the famous Cambrian network in 1992. In 1994 80079 Joined up with 80080 to work a number of steam specials including a run over the Cambrian Coast Line. The deadline was so tight in fact that 80079 had not being able to receive its full BR Black lining out and was only able to run in unlined black. One notable incident was when 80080 with 80079 banking from the rear worked the climb up the 1 in 37 to Exeter Central. When near to the summit, 80080 lost its footing on the climb and stalled the train. The resulted continuous wheelspin from 80080 resulted in damage to both the track and the locomotive. It was only after the crew had hand-sanded the rails for both engines that they managed to get the train over the summit past Exeter Central.

In 1998, 80079 became the first steam locomotive to work a steam special down the Conwy Valley Line to Blaenau Ffestiniog since 1967. On the first run however, 80079 stalled near Pony Y Pant with six coaches, and as a result, a second attempt was made with only four coaches, which was successful.

80079 returned to Blaenau in 1999 with 80098. Despite only hauling 4 coaches 80079 again stalled near Pony Y Pant, resulting in assistance being given from 80098, which had been waiting at Llanwrst with the second portion of the train. 80098 was therefore uncoupled, ran light engine up to Pont Y Pant, and helped bank the first portion up to Blaenau. The pair then returned to Llanwrst for the other four coaches, which they double headed up to Blaenau. The train was then reformed to eight coaches, and the combined service returned to Llandudno Junction in the dark.

80135 has mainly been used on the Whitby to Grosmont workings for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on the Esk Valley Line.

• 80002
• 80064
• 80072
• 80078
• 80079
• 80080
• 80097
• 80098
• 80100
• 80104
• 80105
• 80135
• 80136
• 80150
• 80151

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