BR 4-6-0 Thompson

Beschrijving:

Following the sudden death of Sir Nigel Gresley in 1941, Edward Thompson became Chief Mechanical Engineer at the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) where he began a much needed programme of standardisation. The first and most successful locomotive he designed was the B1 Class, a 4-6-0 configured locomotive for mixed traffic.

Gresley's original designs for the Class had been far more complicated but due to cost and wartime restrictions, Thompson kept the design simple, using existing jigs, patterns and tools wherever possible. The resulting locomotive had two external cylinders, an increased boiler pressure of 225lb/sq in Su, 6'2" driving wheels and Walschaerts valve gear. Weighing just over 71 tons, plus a tender of 52 tons, it had good route availability and became a 'go anywhere' locomotive and was often compared to the Stanier Black 5s.

The first of the Class, number 8301, built at Darlington entered traffic on the 12th December 1942 and was named 'Springbok' to coincide with a visit of the South African Prime Minister. Only 10 of the Class were built before 1944 but a further 400 were ordered and built between 1944 and June 1950. The construction of these locomotives was shared between LNER Darlington, North British Locomotive Co. Glasgow, Vulcan Foundry and British Railways Gorton Works.

The first 40 of the Class were named after different types of antelope. The sixth locomotive No. 1005 was named 'Bongo' which quickly became the nickname of the whole Class. A further 19 of the Class were named after various directors of the LNER.

In the last days of the LNER and the early days of the newly formed British Railways the locomotives were mainly worked in areas such as East Anglia, Great Central and the North East of England, but were gradually spread throughout the whole railway network.

The Class was renumbered from 61000 - 61409 when they passed to British Railways in 1948. The first B1 withdrawn was number 61057 following severe crash damage in 1950. Between November 1961 and September 1967 the whole Class had been withdrawn.

Two of the Class have been preserved, locomotive 61264 was rescued from Barry Scrapyard and 61306 purchased direct from British Railways. In 1951 locomotive 61379 was named as 'Mayflower' to commemorate the Pilgrim Fathers, the only BR built named locomotive, the name is now carried by preserved loco No. 61306.

The locomotive represented here, No. 61267, was outshopped from the North British Locomotive Company, Glasgow on the 12th December 1947 and was withdrawn on the 10th December 1962. The locomotive was cut up at the BR Doncaster Works on the 31st December 1963.