Steam locomotives of British Railways

British Railways (BR) built 2537 steam locomotives in the period 1948–1960, 1538 to pre-nationalisation designs and 999 to its own standard designs. These locomotives had short lives, some as little as five years against a design life of over 30 years, because of the decision to end the use of steam traction in 1968.

In addition, the vast majority of the locomotives BR inherited from its constituent "Big Four" companies were steam locomotives.

For an explanation of numbering and classification, see British Rail locomotive and multiple unit numbering and classification.

Background

British Railways was created in 1948 by the merger of the big four grouped railway companies: the Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). It inherited a wide legacy of locomotives and rolling stock, much of which needed replacing due to the ravages of World War II.

Classification

BR adopted a slightly modified version of the LMS classification system, itself based on the Midland Railway's system. Each locomotive class was given a number 0-9 that signified its power, 0 for the least powerful and 9 for the most, with a suffix of F or P, indicating freight and passenger roles respectively. Freight power ranged from 0-9, passenger from 0-8. Many locomotives were used for both roles, in which case they were given two class numbers, the P first e.g. 3P4F or 6P5F. A slight change from the LMS system saw those where the freight classification equalled the passenger classification, e.g. for the LMS black fives 5P5F, reclassified as 5MT. Mixed traffic locos had power in the range of classes 2-6.

Locomotives acquired from constituent companies and the War Department

A wide variety of locomotives was acquired from the four constituent companies. These had generally standardised their own designs. See:
* Locomotives of the Great Western Railway
* Locomotives of the Southern Railway
* Locomotives of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
* Locomotives of the London and North Eastern Railway

After initially using letter prefixes (E for ex-LNER, M for ex-LMS, S for ex-SR, and W for ex-GWR locomotives), it was decided to add 30000 to the Southern numbers, 40000 to the LMS numbers and 60000 to the LNER numbers, the GWR numbers remaining unchanged since they had number plates.

The 1948 Locomotive Trials pitted locomotives from each company against each other.

Two types purchased from the British War Department following their use during World War II on railways in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
* WD class 8F 2-8-0: 90000-732
* WD class 8F 2-10-0: 90750-774

BR also bought some ex-WD Stanier 8Fs.

Locomotives built by BR to Big Four designs

Initially, the newly nationalised network continued to be run as four different concerns, and pursued the policy of building of well-established designs. Some of these were already quite old, one class (the J92 tank engines) being a pre-Grouping design.

GWR designs

Great Western management was opposed to nationalisation and built many pannier tanks, resulting in a surplus of them. 452 locomotives were built to ex-GWR designs, of which 341 were pannier tanks.

LNER designs

BR built 396 locomotives to LNER designs. The J72 Class was a North Eastern Railway design, dating from 1898.

BR standard classes

From 1951, BR started to build steam locomotives to its own standard designs, which were largely based on LMS practice but incorporating ideas and modifications from the other constituent companies and America.

Characteristic features were taper boilers, high running plates, two cylinders and streamlined cabs.

Although more were ordered, 999 BR standards were constructed: the last, 92220 "Evening Star", was built in 1960. Most never achieved their potential service life and were withdrawn in working order.

Withdrawal

The 1955 Modernisation Plan called for the phasing out of steam traction. Major withdrawals occurred during 1962–1966, and steam traction ended in August 1968, coinciding with the Beeching Axe.

Some were sold to London Transport, where steam remained until 1971. Steam on industrial lines remained until the early 1980s. In the 1950s and 1960s, British Railways operated some engines which were up to 80 years old - later engines such as the 9Fs, if given a similar lifespan, could have operated until around 2040 if steam had been retained.

Preservation

Many withdrawn locomotives were sent for scrap to Woodhams' Scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. Some were saved from Barry, and elsewhere. Former main line locomotives, along with various smaller industrial shunters, form the backbone of steam motive power for heritage railways. Main line running on charter trains is possible and they run under TOPS code as Class 98.

Some of these "heritage" lines are remote and cut off from the national rail network, serving obscure or deserted destinations and running primarily as a tourist attraction. Others, especially those which are connected to the National Rail network and/or are situated in more populous areas are often used by members of the local community as a convenient mode of public transport or by ordinary rail travellers to get to their final destination. To cater for this local traffic, some steam lines offer heritage diesel or steam "push-pull" services out of season.

The National Rail network hosts many chartered trains hauled by preserved steam locomotives, and most Saturdays there will probably be such a railtour operating somewhere in the country.

Most regions of Britain have preserved steam lines, and visitors to any part of the country will never be far from one. For a country which withdrew steam traction from its national network relatively early, Britain is now one of the best places in the world to witness steam engines still at work.

Vale of Rheidol

One notable exception to the standard gauge rule was the narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway in Mid-Wales, which remained part of British Rail until 1989 and which had three steam locomotives. After 1989 it was run as a heritage railway. Their engines were the only steam locomotives to receive British Rail blue livery.

See also

For a list of Diesel and Electric locomotives of British Railways:
* List of British Rail classes
* Motive power depot
* List of British Railways shed codes

References

* Hugh Longworth "British Railway Steam Locomotives 1948-1968", Ian Allan. [http://www.ianallanpublishing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=24631] ISBN 0-86093-593-0