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Specifications
Specifications
Configuration:;
• Whyte	2-4-0
• UIC	1B n2
Gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Leading dia.	4 ft 0 in (1.22 m)
Driver dia.	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Wheelbase	36 ft 7 in (11.15 m)
Length	48 ft 2 in (14.68 m)
Loco weight	40 long tons 6 cwt (90,300 lb or 40.9 t)
Tender weight	30 long tons 12.5 cwt (68,600 lb or 31.1 t) loaded
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	5 long tons 0 cwt (11,200 lb or 5.1 t)
Water cap.	2,640 imp gal (12,000 L; 3,170 US gal)
Boiler pressure	140 or 160 psi (965 or 1,103 kPa)
Cylinders	Two, inside
Cylinder size	17.5 in × 24 in (444 mm × 610 mm)

Type and origin
Type and origin
Power type	Steam
Designer	James Holden
Builder	Stratford Works
Build date	1891–1902
Total produced	100

GER Class T26
LNER Class E4
GER Class T26 ; LNER Class E4
	GER T26 locomotive 420
Power type
Type and origin
Power type	Steam
Designer	James Holden
Builder	Stratford Works
Build date	1891–1902
Total produced	100
Configuration:;
Specifications
Configuration:;
• Whyte	2-4-0
• UIC	1B n2
Gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Leading dia.	4 ft 0 in (1.22 m)
Driver dia.	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Wheelbase	36 ft 7 in (11.15 m)
Length	48 ft 2 in (14.68 m)
Loco weight	40 long tons 6 cwt (90,300 lb or 40.9 t)
Tender weight	30 long tons 12.5 cwt (68,600 lb or 31.1 t) loaded
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	5 long tons 0 cwt (11,200 lb or 5.1 t)
Water cap.	2,640 imp gal (12,000 L; 3,170 US gal)
Boiler pressure	140 or 160 psi (965 or 1,103 kPa)
Cylinders	Two, inside
Cylinder size	17.5 in × 24 in (444 mm × 610 mm)
Tractive effort
Performance figures
Tractive effort	12,863 or 14,700 lbf (57.22 or 65.39 kN)
Power class
Career
Power class	BR: 1MT
Nicknames	Intermediate
Axle load class	LNER/BR: RA 2
Withdrawn	1926–1959
Disposition	One preserved, remainder scrapped

The GER Class T26 was a class of one hundred 2-4-0 steam tender locomotives designed by James Holden for the Great Eastern Railway. At the 1923 grouping they all passed to the London and North Eastern Railway, who classified them E4. Eighteen survived into British Railways ownership in 1948, and the last was withdrawn in 1959, making them the last 2-4-0 tender locomotives at work in Britain. Their BR numbers were 62780–62797.

Overview

Derived from the GER Class T19 but with much smaller 5 ft 8 in (1.727 m) driving wheels and intended for mixed-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]

Operation

The GER used air brakes but, when introduced, more than half the T26 locomotives were additionally fitted with vacuum brake ejectors 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 from Newmarket Racecourse but also worked fish trains from East Anglian ports to Peterborough 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, as pilot engines for heavy excursion trains to coastal resorts in the summer and events such as the Nottingham Goose Fair. T26s were often used on passenger trains to the Norfolk Coast, particularly Wells and Cromer. After the grouping of 1923 Claud Hamilton 4-4-0s took over most passenger traffic to Wells.^[2]

The arrival of more modern 4-4-0 types (themselves displaced from main line express work by new-build LNER 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 former North Eastern Railway to work passenger services on the difficult, steeply-graded line between Darlington and Penrith over Stainmore 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 the Second World War and twenty four (of the original 100) E4s were in service at the formation of British Railways in 1948. The introduction of new light BR Standard locomotives, specifically the BR Standard Class 2 moguls, followed by diesel 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]

Accidents and incidents

On 12 July 1913, locomotive No. 471 was run into by an express passenger train, hauled by GER Class S69 4-6-0 No. 1506, at Colchester, Essex due to a signalman's error. Three people were killed and fourteen were injured. No. 1506, which was only 4 months old at the time of the accident, was scrapped at Stratford Works following the accident.^[4]
On 20 January 1915, at County School railway station, the junction of the line to Aylsham and Wroxham, GER Y14 0-6-0 No. 629, hauling 12 empty and 4 loaded wagons, ran into the 6 coach passenger train, hauled by T26 locomotive '446'. Nobody was injured in the crash, which took place at low speed, although both locomotives were damaged, along with other vehicles in both trains.^[5]
On 27 May 1931, locomotive No. 7486 was hauling a passenger train that overran signals and was in a head-on collision with a passenger train hauled by locomotive No. 7457 at Fakenham East station, Norfolk. One person was killed and fifteen were injured.^[6]

Livery

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 vermillion buffer 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.

Preservation

One (GER No. 490, BR No. 62785) has survived to form a part of the National Collection and is currently located at Bressingham Steam Museum. There are Transacord recordings of their gentle chuffing through the byways of East Anglia.

References

^ ^a ^b "T26 Class 2-4-0 1891-1902". Great Eastern Railway Society. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
^ Hawkins & Reeve 1986, p. ?
^ Marsden, Richard (2001). "LNER Encyclopedia: The LNER Holden E4 (GER T26) 2-4-0 Locomotives". www.lner.info. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
^ Trevena 1981, p. 26
^ Von Donop, P.G. (1915). Report on Accident at County School station, 1915 (PDF). H.M.R.I.
^ Vaughan 1989, pp. 74–49
^ "Locomotive liveries". Great Eastern Railway Society. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2008.

Aldrich, C. Langley (1969). The Locomotives of the Great Eastern Railway 1862–1962 (7th ed.). Wickford, Essex: C. Langley Aldrich. OCLC 30278831.
Hawkins, Chris; Reeve, George (1986). Great Eastern Railway Engine Sheds Part 1: Stratford, Peterborough and Norwich Districts. Didcot, Oxon: Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-906867-40-1.
Trevena, Arthur (1981). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 2. Redruth: Atlantic Books. ISBN 0-906899-03-6.
Vaughan, Adrian (1989). Obstruction Danger. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 1-85260-055-1.
Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1948 edition, part 4, page 23