GER Class Y14

GER Class Y14
LNER Class J15

No. 65462 with a demonstration freight train

Type and origin Power type Steam Designer T. W. Worsdell Builder Stratford Works (270) Sharp, Stewart & Co. (19) Build date 1883-1913 Total produced 289

Specifications Configuration 0-6-0 UIC class C n2 Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver diameter 4 ft 11 in (1.499 m) Length 47 ft 3 in (14.40 m) Loco weight 37.1 long tons (37.7 t; 41.6 short tons) Tender weight 30.65 long tons (31.14 t; 34.33 short tons) Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 5 long tons (5.1 t; 5.6 short tons) Water cap 2,640 imp gal (12,000 L; 3,170 US gal) Boiler pressure 160 psi (1,100 kPa) Cylinders Two, inside Cylinder size

Performance figures Tractive effort 16,940 lbf (75,400 N)

Career Operators Great Eastern Railway → London and North Eastern Railway → British Railways Class GER: Y14 LNER: J15 Power class BR: 1P2F Axle load class LNER/BR: Route availability 1

The Great Eastern Railway (GER) Class Y14 is a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive. The LNER classified them J15.

The Class Y14 was designed by T.W. Worsdell for both freight and passenger duties - a veritable 'maid of all work'. Introduced in July 1883, they were so successful that all the succeeding chief superintendents continued to build new batches down to 1913 with little design change, the final total being 289. During World War I, 43 of the engines served in France and Belgium.

Background

On 10–11 December 1891, the Great Eastern Railway's Stratford Works built one of these locomotives and had it in steam with a coat of grey primer in 9 hours 47 minutes; this remains a world record. The locomotive then went off to run 36,000 miles (58,000 km) on Peterborough to London coal trains before coming back to the works for the final coat of paint. It lasted 40 years and ran a total of 1,127,750 miles (1,814,940 km).

Because of their light weight the locomotives were given the Route Availability (RA) number 1, indicating that they could work over nearly all routes.

Table of orders and numbers

Year	Order	Manufacturer	Quantity	GER Nos.	LNER Nos.	1946 Nos.	Notes
1883	Y14	Stratford Works	10	610–619	7610–7618, —	—
1884	K15	Stratford Works	20	620–639	7620–7639	—
1884	—	Sharp, Stewart & Co. 3146–3164	19	37–41, 119–124, 592–599	7037–7041, 7119–7124, 7592–7599	—	41 renumbered 600 in 1912
1885	N16	Stratford Works	10	680–689	7680–7689	—
1885–86	P17	Stratford Works	10	690–699	7690–7699	—
1886	M18	Stratford Works	10	800–809	7800–7809	—	800 renumbered 609 in 1892
1886–87	X18	Stratford Works	10	810–819	7810–7819	5350
1887	D20	Stratford Works	10	820–829	7820–7829	5351–5353
1887–88	U20	Stratford Works	10	527–536	7527–7536	5354–5356
1888	R21	Stratford Works	10	537–541, 830–834	7537–7541, 7830–7834	5357–5360
1889	T22	Stratford Works	10	835–844	7835–7844	5361–5364
1889	P23	Stratford Works	10	845–854	7845–7854	5365–5372
1889	T23	Stratford Works	10	855–864	7855–7864	5373–5375
1889	Y23	Stratford Works	10	865–874	7865–7874	5376–5381
1890	U25	Stratford Works	10	875–884	7875–7884	5382–5388
1890	Y25	Stratford Works	10	885–894	7885–7894	5389–5394
1891	L28	Stratford Works	10	895–904	7895–7904	5395–5400
1891	N28	Stratford Works	10	905–914	7905–7914	5401–5407
1891	P28	Stratford Works	10	915–924	7915–7924	5408–5414
1891–92	S28	Stratford Works	10	925–934	7925–7934	5414–5421
1892	X28	Stratford Works	10	936–945	7936–7945	5422–5427
1899	I45	Stratford Works	10	507–516	7507–7516	5428–5435
1899	S45	Stratford Works	10	517–526	7517–7526	5436–5439
1899	X45	Stratford Works	10	640–649	7640–7649	5440–5449
1906	A60	Stratford Works	10	552–561	7552–7561	5450–5459
1912	B70	Stratford Works	10	562–571	7562–7571	5460–5469
1913	G73	Stratford Works	10	542–551	7542–7551	5470–5479

Accidents and incidents

• On 25 September 1900, a locomotive of the class was involved in a boiler explosion at Westerfield, Suffolk.
• On 4 October 1929, locomotive No. 7938 was hauling a freight train that departed against a danger signal at Tottenham, London and was subsequently stopped foul of a junction. Both crew abandoned the locomotive before an express passenger train was in collision with it.

Notable features

As built all the locomotives had a stovepipe chimney; this was replaced in LNER days by a cast chimney with a small lip. The original Worsdell and early Holden series had three-ring boilers with the steam dome placed in the middle. Also the Worsdell boilers had a flat grate, however from 1890 Holden developed a boiler with a sloping grate and a two-ring telescopic barrel with the dome located well forward. The advantage of the dome position was a short 5½ inch steam pipe which limited pressure drop between the boiler and the cylinders. This boiler was adopted as standard and persisted on all Great Eastern Locomotives down to 1898; from then on it was perpetuated on the smaller locomotives as long as these remained essentially in their original configuration - which could be down to the 1960s.

As with all Great Eastern classes, the Y14 had a cab with a low wooden roof covered with canvas sealed by a coat of lead paint. This was replaced in LNER days by a higher arched sheet metal roof. Some engines had special side window cabs for service on the exposed Brightlingsea and Colne Valley branches.

Allocations

On 1 January 1923 there were 272 J15 locomotives in existence. They were allocated as follows:

• Cambridge 48
• Colchester 14
• Ipswich 32
• King's Lynn 5
• Lincoln 3
• Lowestoft 7
• March 17
• Norwich 36
• Parkeston 2
• Peterborough East 19
• Stratford 91
• Yarmouth 4

On 1 January 1948 when British Railways took running the nation's railways, there were 127 J15 locomotives in existence.

Unusually in 1957 a couple of the class were allocated to Aylesbury and worked freight trains on the former Great Western Railway branch from Princes Risborough to Watlington before being withdrawn in 1958.

In fiction

In The Railway Series children's books by Christopher Awdry, a Class J15 appears in the book Toby, Trucks and Trouble nicknamed "The Old Engine" despite the locomotive being younger than Toby.

Preservation

File:J15 65462 running around - geograph.org.uk - 1479919.jpg

65462 at Sheringham

Number 564/7564/65462 is preserved on the North Norfolk Railway and owned by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Society. In 2002 the locomotive reached the end of a major overhaul and was painted in LNER (numbered 7564) and BR black numbered 65462) liveries for the duration of its boiler ticket. It originally operated in these liveries when classified as a J15 in LNER and BR days. Following withdrawal from service in 2013, the locomotive received another overhaul (completed 2015) where it was outshopped in GER lined blue and sporting its original number of 564 and representing its days when classified as a Y14.

Models

Hornby produce a ready-to-run model of the J15 in 00 gauge (4 mm). Also in 00 gauge, there are kits from Alan Gibson and Nu-Cast. Finley and Smith produce a 3 mm kit.