| GER Class T26 LNER Class E4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TheGER Class T26 was a class of one hundred2-4-0steamtender locomotives designed byJames Holden for theGreat Eastern Railway. At the1923 grouping they all passed to theLondon and North Eastern Railway, who classified themE4. Eighteen survived intoBritish Railways ownership in 1948, and the last was withdrawn in 1959, making them the last2-4-0 tender locomotives at work in Britain. Their BR numbers were 62780–62797.
Derived from theGER Class T19 but with much smaller 5 ft 8 in (1.727 m)driving wheels and intended formixed-traffic work, ninety T26s were built between 1891 and 1896 with 17 in × 24 in (432 mm × 610 mm)cylinders (later 17.5 in × 24 in or 444 mm × 610 mm) and 140 psi (965 kPa)boiler pressure, numbered 417–506. From 1898 some locos were rebuilt with 160 psi (1,103 kPa) pressure boilers thus when an additional ten T26s (numbers 1250–1259) were built in 1902 these were fitted with the new boilers as standard.[1]
The GER usedair brakes but, when introduced, more than half the T26 locomotives were additionally fitted withvacuum brakeejectors for operating over the lines of other railway companies. The T26s were assigned to all the major GER sheds for a wide variety of duties and thus travelled widely.[1]
As mixed-traffic types, the T26s gained the semi-official nickname 'Intermediates'. They were particularly associated with the movement of horses by rail to and fromNewmarket Racecourse but also worked fish trains fromEast Anglian ports toPeterborough for onward dispatch to London and the Midlands, local and cross-country passenger traffic on secondary routes, trains of fruit and flowers to the London markets, aspilot engines for heavy excursion trains to coastal resorts in the summer and events such as theNottingham Goose Fair. T26s were often used on passenger trains to theNorfolk Coast, particularlyWells andCromer. After the grouping of 1923Claud Hamilton4-4-0s took over most passenger traffic to Wells.[2]
The arrival of more modern4-4-0 types (themselves displaced from main line express work by new-buildLNER locomotives) led to the T26s (classified as E4s by the LNER) being more predominantly used on branch and local passenger duties in the 1920s, and withdrawals began in 1926. In the 1930s six E4s were allocated to the formerNorth Eastern Railway to work passenger services on the difficult, steeply-graded line betweenDarlington andPenrith overStainmore Summit - the highest railway summit in England. The NER 4-4-0s used for many years on the route had been retired and various types had been tried as replacements but none had proven suitable. A single E4 was allocated to the line in 1935 and proved very successful. By 1936 five more were in use and all had their cabs modified with solid cab sides and windows rather than the original open sides to offer better protection from the weather on the exposed upland route. Withdrawals were halted during theSecond World War and twenty four (of the original 100) E4s were in service at the formation ofBritish Railways in 1948. The introduction of new lightBR Standard locomotives, specifically theBR Standard Class 2 moguls, followed bydiesel multiple units on many of the rural lines worked by the remaining E4s, led to rapid withdrawal of nearly all the remaining examples between 1954 and 1957 with a single E4, No. 62785, surviving until 1959. The E4s on the Stainmore line were withdrawn in 1957, replaced by DMUs.[3]
On introduction the T26 locomotives were painted in the standard GER livery of Ultramarine Blue over an undercoat of French Grey, with black smokebox and vermillionbuffer beams and lining. From 1915 locos were not given a top coat and ran in French Grey undercoat but with the boiler bands picked out in black.[7] After the amalgamation of the GER into the LNER in 1923 (the Grouping), the E4s received the LNER mixed traffic livery of black with single red lining and red buffer beams. This lasted until the early 1940s when unlined black with red buffer beams was introduced, and the surviving locos were to carry this livery until their withdrawal.
One (GER No. 490, BR No. 62785) has survived to form a part of theNational Collection and is currently located atBressingham Steam Museum. There areTransacord recordings of their gentle chuffing through the byways ofEast Anglia.
