Locomotives of the London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) produced several classes of locomotive, mostly to the designs of Nigel Gresley, characterised by a three-cylinder layout with a parallel boiler and round-topped firebox. It produced the most famous locomotive of its day, 4468 'Mallard', the holder of the world steam locomotive speed record. It also built the world-famous 4472 'Flying Scotsman'. However, its locomotive inheritance was much greater than just the 'A4 Class', it also produced highly successful mixed-traffic and freight designs.
In 1923 the Great North of Scotland Railway passed on a total of 122 locomotives, 100 4-4-0 tender locomotives and 22 tank engines, all capable of being used on either passenger or goods trains, to the LNER.[9]
From its formal establishment in 1885 to the time that it was taken over by the North Eastern Railway (NER) in 1922, the CME of the H&BR was Matthew Stirling, who, like his father and uncle, built locomotives with domeless boilers.
Three classes (the G, H and K Classes) were taken into LNER stock on 1 November 1937. The other former Metropolitan locomotives were retained by London Transport, which had acquired all of them at its formation on 1 July 1933.[24]
Another A1, "Tornado" has been built by subscription among LNER (and other) locomotive enthusiasts, and came into service in 2008. In total it cost £3 million. Again under the chairmanship of Mark Allatt, the team is (2014) now raising funds most successfully to build another Gresley P2 2-8-2 of the "Cock O'the North" Class, to be called "Prince of Wales". Both new steam locomotives are the product of a restored railway works in Darlington.
Other designs
LNER Class A1 – continuation of a GNR design. Several built under the GNR entered service under the LNER.
LNER Class A2 – based on an NER design simply designated as 4.6.2
British Railways continued to build LNER designs (the B1 and L1 classes in particular) immediately after Nationalisation. Remarkably, it even built a new series of shunting locomotives (J72 class) to a pre-Grouping design (of the North Eastern Railway). However, it was to be the Eastern Region that took the first of BR's new Standard locomotives, 70000 'Britannia', for its Great Eastern Main Line workings to Norwich in 1951.
BR built 396 locomotives to ex-LNER designs. One of these, the J72 Class was a North Eastern Railway design dating from 1898.
Withdrawal of ex-LNER locomotives took place throughout the 1960s, with some of the once high-profile 'A4 Class' locomotives ending their lives on heavy freight trains in Scotland; a far cry from the glamorous express workings of the late 1930s.
Preservation
Several of the many LNER locomotives have been preserved. (Numbers given are those currently carried: many locomotives have carried a range of numbers during their active and preserved careers).
Boddy, M. G.; Brown, W. A.; Fry, E. V.; Hennigan, W.; Hoole, Ken; Manners, F.; Neve, E.; Platt, E. N. T.; Proud, P.; Yeadon, W. B. (March 1975). Fry, E. V. (ed.). Locomotives of the L.N.E.R., Part 2B: Tender Engines—Classes B1 to B19. Lincoln: RCTS. ISBN0-901115-73-8.
Baxter, Bertram (1986). Baxter, David (ed.). British Locomotive Catalogue 1825–1923, Volume 5A: North Eastern Railway, Hull and Barnsley Railway. Ashbourne, Derbyshire: Moorland Publishing Company. ISBN0-903485-54-0.
Baxter, Bertram (1988). Baxter, David (ed.). British Locomotive Catalogue 1825–1923, volume 5B: Great Northern Railway and Great Central Railway. Ashbourne, Derbyshire: Moorland Publishing. ISBN0-903485-86-9.
Baxter, Bertram (2012). Baxter, David; Mitchell, Peter (eds.). British Locomotive Catalogue 1825–1923, Volume 6: Great Eastern Railway, North British Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway, Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway, remaining companies in the LNER group. Southampton: Kestrel Railway Books. ISBN978-1-905505-26-5.
Goudie, Frank (1990). Metropolitan Steam Locomotives. Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. ISBN1-85414-118-X.
Vallance, H. A. (27 June 1991). Great North of Scotland railway. The History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands vol 3. David St John Thomas. ISBN978-0-946537-60-0.