NER Class Z LNER Class C7
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Vincent Raven Builder North British Locomotive Co. Build date 1911–1918 Total produced 50
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 4-4-2 Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Leading dia. 3 ft7+1⁄4 in (1.099 m) Driver dia. 6 ft 10 in (2.083 m) Trailing dia. 4 ft (1.219 m) Tender wheels 3 ft9+1⁄4 in (1.149 m) Wheelbase 53 ft3+9⁄10 in (16.253 m) ​  • Engine 29 ft 6 in (8.992 m)  • Tender 12 ft 8 in (3.861 m) Axle load 20+4⁄5 t (20,800 kg) Loco weight 79+4⁄5 t (79,800 kg) Tender weight 46+3⁄5 t (46,600 kg) Total weight 125+3⁄10 t (125,300 kg) Fuel type Coal Firebox: ​  • Grate area 27 sq ft (2.5 m2) Boiler: ​  • Diameter 5 ft 6 in (1.676 m)  • Small tubes 90 x 2 in  • Large tubes 24 x 5.25 in Boiler pressure 175 psi (1,210 kPa) Heating surface: ​  • Firebox 185 sq.ft.  • Tubes 763.9 sq.ft.  • Flues 534.5 sq.ft. Superheater: ​  • Heating area 392 sq.ft. (24 x 1.1 in) Cylinders 3 Cylinder size 16.5 in × 26 in (420 mm × 660 mm) Valve gear C7/1:Stephenson C7/2:Lentz rotary cam Valve type C7/1:Piston valves C7/2:poppet valves
Career Operators North Eastern Railway London and North Eastern Railway British Railways Class NER Z, LNER C7 Withdrawn 1943–1948 Disposition Two rebuilt into Class C9 (see below), remainder scrapped

TheNER Class Z (LNER Class C7) was an4-4-2 "Atlantic" class of locomotives designed byVincent Raven. It was introduced in 1911.

Vincent Raven had been appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the North Eastern Railway (NER) in June 1910. His predecessor,Wilson Worsdell, had introduced three-cylinder simple-expansion locomotives to the NER with theClass X 4-8-0T, ten of which were built in 1909–10 for heavy shunting. One of Raven's first designs was another three-cylinder locomotive, theClass Y 4-6-2T, twenty of which were built in 1910–11 for hauling coal trains from collieries to ports. The success of these two designs convinced Raven to design a three-cylinder locomotive to haul express passenger trains.^[1] Worsdell's two-cylinderClass V 4-4-2 were handling the principal East Coast expresses, and Raven combined the 4-4-2 wheel arrangement with three cylinders to produce his new design. The coupled wheels were of 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) diameter with a coupled wheelbase of 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) within a total locomotive wheelbase of 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m). The three cylinders measured16+1⁄2 in (420 mm) bore by 26 in (660 mm) stroke driving the leading coupled axle, fed by piston valves which were themselves operated by Stephenson's link motion. The cylinders and their valve chests were made as a single casting.^[2]

Originally classified NER Class V2, the first 20 were built in 1911 by theNorth British Locomotive Company. This was the first time since the 1880s^[a] that the NER had used a private contractor, and was necessary becauseGateshead works had stopped building new locomotives in 1910 andDarlington Works was fully booked. Ten of these locomotives were saturated and the others were superheated. The classification V2 was soon amended, with the saturated locomotives becoming Class Z, and the superheated locomotives Z1. A further thirty of Class Z1 were built at Darlington Works in 1914–18, and in June 1914, Class Z1 was redesignated Class Z.^[3][4]

At the end of 1920, the fifty locomotives were based at principal main-line depots: there were 21 atGateshead, fourteen atYork, seven atTweedmouth, five atHeaton, and three atLeeds (Neville Hill). By the1923 Grouping, four were atHaymarket (Edinburgh). At these depots they shared duties with the other NER Atlantics, classes V and4CC: these included the principal expresses on the East Coast Main Line: York–Newcastle and Newcastle–Edinburgh, together with the through services from Liverpool (Lime Street) to Newcastle, which were hauled by a locomotive of theLondon and North Western Railway between Leeds and Liverpool.^[5][6]

All fifty passed to theLondon and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at the 1923 Grouping, they retained their NER numbers but were now known as LNER Class C7.^[4] To begin with, they continued on the same duties, but in 1924–25, the LNER took delivery of fortyClass A1 4-6-2, of which ten were allocated to Gateshead and five each to Haymarket and Heaton. At these depots they took over some of the duties previously handled by the ex-NER Atlantics, for which other duties were found, resulting in a certain amount of reallocation: in December 1929, there were nineteen C7s at York, sixteen at Gateshead, seven at Heaton, five at Tweedmouth and three at Haymarket.^[7] More 4-6-2s (of classesA3 andA4) were built between 1930 and 1938 bringing about further changes in allocation – the September 1939 allocation of Class C7 was 26 at York, ten at Gateshead, four at Heaton, three each at Neville Hill and Tweedmouth, and one each at Haymarket and St Margaret's (Edinburgh); the two C9s were at Tweedmouth.^[8]

From the very start the class was used for comparative trials and experiments.

When the first twenty locomotives were ordered, the benefits ofsuperheated steam were still being evaluated. Accordingly, the new class was used for a direct comparison – ten worked withsaturated steam, whilst the boilers of the remaining ten were equipped withSchmidtsuperheaters. Other differences between the two groups included the cylinder bore and boiler pressure. The saturated locomotives had a cylinder bore of15+1⁄2 in (390 mm) and a boiler pressure of 175 lbf/in² (1,210 kPa), while the superheated locomotives had a cylinder bore of16+1⁄2 in (420 mm) and a boiler pressure of 160 lbf/in² (1,100 kPa). It did not take long for the advantages of superheating to become apparent, including fuel savings. Consequently, when additional locomotives were ordered, they were also equipped with Schmidt superheaters. During 1914–15, the first ten locomotives were similarly converted. However, the cylinder bore and boiler pressure of the superheated locomotives were adjusted to match those of the first ten. As the original boilers wore out, replacements were constructed; those made from 1931 usedRobinson superheaters instead of Schmidt ones.^[9]

The last of the 50 locos, No. 2212 was built withStumpf Uniflow cylinders. This arrangement had been used onLNER Class B15No. 825 with an untidy result, however the arrangement had been tidied up for No. 2212. Double-length cylinders were required, thus a longer front bogie and smaller wheels were fitted. This arrangement, although requiring special attention (as with No. 825) was used until 1934, when No. 2212 was fitted with normal cylinders andLentz rotary campoppet valves.^[10]

Normally, a locomotive boiler is fed with cold water from the tender or tank and must be heated from ambient temperature to its boiling point in order to make steam. When the steam has been used in the cylinders, it is exhausted through the chimney, and the heat that it contains is lost. Some engineers had tried different systems for extracting heat from the exhaust steam in order to pre-heat the boiler feedwater, and so use less fuel in the firebox.

The Dabegfeedwater heater was tried out by the LNER on two locomotives in the 1920s, and C7 no. 2163 was one of those selected for fitment (the other beingClass O2 no. 3500). A heat exchanger was mounted on the left-hand side of the locomotive above the footplate, through which exhaust steam was passed. A pump driven from the rear coupled wheel pumped cold water from the tender through the heat exchanger and a grease separator before being forced into the boiler. The equipment was fitted to no. 2163 in 1928 and removed in 1937.^[11]

The A.C.F.I. system was French, and the LNER made more extensive use of it – severalClass B12 locomotives were given this equipment, as were two Class C7, nos. 728 and 2206. The equipment was fitted to these in 1928, and although the trial officially ended in 1937, the equipment was not removed from the two Class C7 until 1941–42.^[12]

In early 1931, Gresley rebuilt Nos. 727 and 2171 (which were entering Darlington for repairs) with an articulatedbooster bogie, thus making them technically4-4-4-4s. However the articulated bogie was considered split between the loco and tender to simplify classification. Originally the booster gearing was 1.5:1, but the trials onC1No. 4419 (also having boosters) showed that the booster's help was practically nonexistent above 25 mph (40 km/h), meaning that they were useless for expresses, which needed a speed of at least 30 mph (48 km/h).

After this,Darlington recommended that the booster gearing be changed to 1:1. This required larger cylinders to supply the same tractive effort, which required the boiler to operate at 200 psi (1,400 kPa) (25 psi (170 kPa) higher than the C7s, which were 175 psi (1,210 kPa)). There were some concerns about engaging the booster at higher speeds, however the unitary 1:1 gearing was considered to make this easier. The boilers were "Diagram 100" boilers (the ones used on theB17s), and followedDoncaster practices, rather thanDarlington practices (which was used on the standard C7s). They also hadRobinsonsuperheaters, rather thanSchmidt ones. The boosters were manufactured byJ. Stone & Co, and the geared axles byDavid Brown & Co.^[13]

The growing amount ofGresley A1s, A3s andA4s made the experiment redundant (seeing the A4s were scheduled to climbCockburnspath hauling a 312 tons load at an average speed of 55 mph [89 km/h]).

In 1933, Gresley rebuilt no. 732 with new cylinders of the same type as used onClass D49/2. These measured 17 by 26 in (430 by 660 mm) and had poppet valves actuated by Lentz rotary cam valve gear, which provided five different cut-off settings for forward running, and two for reverse. The modifications required a new crank axle and new bogie having smaller wheels, which was mounted further forwards. This locomotive also had other modifications, and was designated Class C7/2, the unmodified locomotives being reclassified C7/1.^[12] In 1934, no. 2212 (the former Uniflow locomotive) was similarly modified, except that the valve gear allowed seven different settings for forward running, and two for reverse.^[14] However, rebuilding took some time, and No. 2212 did not return to service until January 1936.^[15]

By the late 1930s, the newV2s were taking away the duties of the C7s. HadWorld War 2 not intervened, withdrawal would have started before 1940. However withdrawal was pushed back, only starting in August 1943. Withdrawal was quick, however, with only 14 surviving to nationalization. Within a year,British Railways withdrew the remaining C7s, with none surviving into preservation.^[16]

Their boilers were considered non-standard (compared to the C7s), thus they were withdrawn and scrapped in April 1942 (2171) and January 1943 (727), before the first standard C7 was withdrawn.^[17]

Numbers in parentheses were allocated but not applied.

• NER Class 4.6.2, which was based on the C7s
• NER Class R1, which the C7s were initially based on
• NER Class V and V/09, which the C7s were similar to

• Ahrons, E.L. (1987) [1927].The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825-1925. London: Bracken Books.ISBN 1-85170-103-6.
• Boddy, M. G.; Brown, W. A.; Fry, E. V.; Hennigan, W.;Hoole, Ken; Manners, F.; Neve, E.; Platt, E. N. T.; Russell, O.;Yeadon, W. B. (November 1979). Fry, E. V. (ed.).Locomotives of the L.N.E.R., Part 3A: Tender Engines—Classes C1 to C11. Kenilworth:RCTS. pp. 99–117,122–129.ISBN 0-901115-45-2.
• Grafton, Peter (2005).Sir Vincent Raven and the North Eastern Railway. The Oakwood Library of Railway History. Usk: Oakwood Press.ISBN 0-85361-640-X. OL137.
• Hoole, Ken (1997) [1961].Locomotive Stock of the North Eastern Railway as at 31st December 1920. Manchester: North Eastern Railway Association.ISBN 1-873513-19-4.

• Allen, Cecil J. (1974) [1964].The North Eastern Railway. Shepperton:Ian Allan. pp. 200–1.ISBN 0-7110-0495-1.
• Baxter, Bertram (1986). Baxter, David (ed.).British Locomotive Catalogue 1825-1923, volume 5A: North Eastern Railway; Hull and Barnsley Railway. Ashbourne: Moorland Publishing. pp. 201–204.ISBN 0-903485-54-0.OCLC 503662482.OL 19991012M.
• Brewer, F.W. (15 June 1925). "Atlantic type express engines, North-Eastern Section, L. & N.E. Ry".The Locomotive Magazine and Railway Carriage and Wagon Review. Vol. 31, no. 394. pp. 178–9.
• Brewer, F.W. (15 August 1911). "North Eastern Ry. illustration, diagram (side elevation)".The Locomotive Magazine and Railway Carriage and Wagon Review. Vol. 17, no. 228. pp. 170–171.
• Gairns, J.F. (February 1915).The Railway Magazine. Vol. 36, no. 212.{{cite magazine}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)
• Hoole, Ken (1988).An illustrated history of NER locomotives. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing. pp. 175–9.
• Hoole, Ken (1965).The North-Eastern Atlantics. Hatch End: Roundhouse.
• MacLean, J.S. (c. 1923).The locomotives of the North Eastern Railway, 1841–1922. Newcastle: R. Robinson & Co. pp. 103–5.
• Nock, O.S. (1974) [1954].Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway. Shepperton:Ian Allan. pp. 136–9.ISBN 0-7110-0493-5.
• Nock, O.S. (1983).British Locomotives of the 20th Century: Volume 1 1900-1930. London: Book Club Associates. pp. 91–93. CN5096.
• "North-Eastern Three-cylinder Four-coupled Express Passenger Engine and Tender"(PDF).The Engineer.112: 455. 3 November 1911.

• LNER Class C7/NER Class Z
• LNER Class C9

• North Eastern Railway locomotives
• 4-4-2 locomotives
• 2′B1′ locomotives
• Scrapped locomotives
• Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
• Passenger locomotives in the United Kingdom
• Railway locomotives introduced in 1911

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from September 2025
• CS1 errors: missing title