The British RailwaysStandard Class 4 4-6-0 is a class of steam locomotives, 80 of which were built during the 1950s. Six have been preserved.
Background
75076 with a double chimney and BR1B type tender.
The class was introduced in 1951. They were designed for mixed traffic use on secondary routes where the otherwise ubiquitous BR Standard Class 5 and their predecessors, the Black Fives, would be too heavy. They were essentially a tender version of the Class 4 2-6-4T, with similar characteristics to the GWR 7800 Class, though unlike the 7800s they were built to the universal loading gauge. They used the same running gear as the tank engine (with the leading bogie from the Standard Class 5), and substantially the same firebox, smokebox and boiler, although the boiler barrel was increased in length by 9 inches (229 mm).[1]
The engine weighed 67.90 long tons (68.99 t; 76.05 short tons), was 60 ft 0 in (18.29 m) long, with 5 ft 8 in (1.727 m) diameter driving wheels. It had two cylinders of 18 inches (457 mm) diameter and 28 inches (711 mm) stroke operated at maximum boiler pressure of 225 lbf/in2 (1.55 MPa), to produce 25,515 lbf (113.5 kN) tractive effort. Its British Railways power classification was 4MT.
It normally used the standard BR2 or BR2A tender, which weighed 42.15 long tons (42.83 t; 47.21 short tons) and carried 3,500 imp gal (16,000 L; 4,200 US gal) of water and 6.00 long tons (6.10 t; 6.72 short tons) of coal. In this configuration its route availability was 4, almost universal over the British Railways network.
In service
The class was initially allocated to the London Midland Region (45) and the Western Region (20). The last 15 were allocated to the Southern Region. The Southern batch were built with BR1B tenders, which weighed 49.15 long tons (49.94 t; 55.05 short tons), and carried 4,725 imp gal (21,480 L; 5,674 US gal) of water and 7.00 long tons (7.11 t; 7.84 short tons) of coal.[3] This reduced their route availability to 7, the same as the Standard Class 5.
Six members of the class survive with both single chimney and double chimney examples. Two were purchased directly from BR (75027 & 75029); the remaining four were rescued from Woodham Brothers' scrapyard at Barry Island.
No member of the class is presently main line approved but three (75014, 75029 and 75069) have worked on the main line at various points in preservation. 75029 was passed to work on the main line between Grosmont and Whitby with occasional visits to Battersby during galas. All except for 75079 have operated in preservation.
Bachmann and Hornby have both recently released models of these engines in 00 gauge. Mainline Railways also released a OO gauge model of the Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0 in the 1970s, although this is no longer in production. In 1983, Mainline's model was reintroduced to their catalogue as locomotive 75033 in BR lined black.[10]
References
^Casserley, H.C. (1960). The Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain. London: Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd. p. 226.
^Green-Hughes, Evan (November 2008). "British Railways '4MT' 4-6-0". Hornby Magazine. No. 17. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. pp. 72–76. ISSN1753-2469. OCLC226087101.
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