The Great Northern Railway

Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)

The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....

 (GNR) Class J13, classified J52 by the LNER is a class of 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...

ST steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 intended primarily for shunting.

The Class J13 were introduced in 1897 designed by Henry Ivatt

Henry Ivatt

Henry Alfred Ivatt was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Northern Railway from 1896 to 1911.- Biography :...

 based on the earlier domeless GNR Class J14 (LNER Class J53). Eighty-five J13s were built up to 1909. Several J14s were rebuilt as J13s from 1922.

Sub-classes

Some locomotives were fitted with condensing apparatus

Steam locomotive condensing apparatus

A steam locomotive condensing apparatus differs in purpose from the usual closed cycle steam engine condenser, in that its function is primarily either to recover water, or to avoid excessive emissions to the atmosphere, rather than maintaining a vacuum to improve both efficiency and power...

 for working on the Metropolitan Railway

Metropolitan railway

Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...

. Condensing apparatus was added to, or removed from, locomotives when they were allocated to, or away from, the London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 area.

The LNER reclassified the J13 as J52. They also introduced two subclasses, J52/1 for the rebuilt engines and J52/2 for the originals. Forty-eight J52/1s and 85 J52/2s passed to British Railways in 1948 and they were numbered 68757–68889.

Preservation

One, 8846 was privately preserved by Captain. Bill Smith in 1959 and became the first locomotive to be privately preserved from BR. In 1980 it was donated to the National Railway Museum

National Railway Museum

The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...

and made regular visits to other preserved railways and museums on its two Boiler Ticket durations in preservation.

External links

• http://www.lner.info/locos/J/j52j53.shtml
• http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/locos/e68846.htm