The GER Class E72 was a class of ten 0-6-0

0-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...

 steam locomotives designed by S. D. Holden

S. D. Holden

Stephen Dewar Holden was a British engineer, the son of the engineer James Holden and succeeded his father as locomotive superintendent of the Great Eastern Railway in 1908, a post he held until his retirement in 1912....

 for the Great Eastern Railway

Great Eastern Railway

The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...

. They all passed to the London and North Eastern Railway

London and North Eastern Railway

The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...

 at the 1923 grouping

Railways Act 1921

The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...

 and received the classification J18.

History

These locomotives had 20 by 28 in (508 by 711.2 mm) inside cylinders driving 4 in 11 in (1.5 m) wheels. They had a distinctive front overhang, not possessed by any other GER 0-6-0 class. This was needed to clear the cylinder tail rods.

Table of orders and numbers

Year	Order	Manufacturer	Quantity	GER Nos.	LNER Nos.	1946 Nos.	Notes
1912	E72	Stratford Works Stratford Works Stratford Works was the locomotive-building works of the Great Eastern Railway situated at Stratford, London, England. It was opened in 1847-1848 by the GER's predecessor, the Eastern Counties Railway...	10	1240–1249	8240–8249	4640–4649

Locomotive 1240 was fitted for a time with a Weir feedwater heater

Feedwater heater

A feedwater heater is a power plant component used to pre-heat water delivered to a steam generating boiler. Preheating the feedwater reduces the irreversibilities involved in steam generation and therefore improves the thermodynamic efficiency of the system...

 and pump, with the heater component mounted on the boiler between the dome and chimney.

All were still in service at the 1923 grouping; the LNER adding 7000 to the numbers of nearly all the ex-Great Eastern locomotives, including the Class B74 locomotives. Between 1935 and 1936, the LNER rebuilt them in line with its standards, and reclassified them as class J19/2, the same as the rebuilt GER Class T77

GER Class T77

The GER Class T77 was a class of twenty-five 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed by A. J. Hill for the Great Eastern Railway. They all passed to the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 grouping and received the classification J19.-History:...

(which had been LNER class J19, later J19/1, before rebuilding).

At nationalisation in 1948, British Railways added 60000 to their LNER numbers. They all continued in service until 1951, when the first was withdrawn; all were gone by the end of 1961.

External links

• S. D. Holden locomotives — Great Eastern Railway Society
• The Hill J18 & J19 (GER Classes E72 & T77) 0-6-0 Locomotives — LNER Encyclopedia