The Northern Counties Committee (NCC) Class S2 was a solitary two-cylinder compound

Compound locomotive

A compound engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure cylinder, then having given up heat and losing pressure, it exhausts directly into one or more larger...

 2-4-4T 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...

 that was introduced for service on the 3ft (914mm) narrow gauge

Narrow gauge

A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...

 railways of County Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

 in north-east Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. It was heavily rebuilt from a BNCR Class S

BNCR Class S

The Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Class S was a class of 2-4-2T two-cylinder compound steam locomotives that was introduced for service on the 3ft narrow gauge railways of County Antrim in north-east Ireland.- History :...

 locomotive by the addition of a standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

 boiler

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

.

History

There was only one member of Class S2, No.110. It was an extensive rebuild by the NCC

Northern Counties Committee

The Northern Counties Committee was a railway that served the north-east of Ireland. It was built to Irish gauge but later acquired a number of narrow gauge lines...

 of a BNCR Class S

BNCR Class S

The Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Class S was a class of 2-4-2T two-cylinder compound steam locomotives that was introduced for service on the 3ft narrow gauge railways of County Antrim in north-east Ireland.- History :...

 2-4-2T Worsdell

Thomas William Worsdell

Thomas William Worsdell was a British locomotive engineer. He was born in Liverpool into a Quaker family.-Family:...

-von Borries

August von Borries

August Friedrich Wilhelm von Borries was one of Germany's most influential railway engineers, who was primarily concerned with developments in steam locomotives....

 two-cylinder compound locomotive

Compound locomotive

A compound engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure cylinder, then having given up heat and losing pressure, it exhausts directly into one or more larger...

 that had been built in 1892. It had outside cylinders and Walschaerts valve gear with the smaller diameter high-pressure cylinder on the left and the larger low-pressure one on the right.

During rebuilding in 1931, a modified standard gauge G6S boiler was installed; this was 7ft longer and 6¾in greater in diameter than the original and had a working pressure of 200psi. To accommodate this, the overall length of the locomotive was increased by slightly less than four feet. The trailing radial truck was replaced by four-wheel bogie and a rear bunker was fitted which held one and a half tons of coal. The weight was increased by 10¼ tons.

The modification, which was carried out at York Road works in Belfast, was not a success. No.110 was too rigid on curves and derailed frequently. It slipped badly and although the tractive effort had been raised from 13,150 lbf to 16,435 lbf, the extra power could not be fully utilised. As a result, the locomotive saw little use, running only 3 000 miles in 1934. It was briefly pressed into service during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 but was not used after 1941 and was withdrawn in February 1946.

Technical details

When starting the locomotive from rest, a simpling valve was opened which admitted steam directly from the boiler to the low pressure cylinder as well as the high pressure one. Not only did this provide maximum tractive effort when starting but also avoided problems that might arise if the high pressure piston was in a dead centre position. Once moving, the simpling valve was closed and the locomotive continued in compound operation.

Livery

After being rebuilt to Class S2, No.110 was painted in LMS maroon. The smokebox was black and the buffer beam was red. The LMS (NCC) crest was carried on the cab side-sheet. The initials "NCC" in shaded serif gold capital letters were sited on the side tanks, ahead of the number plates which had red backgrounds. The lining was as follows:

Panel:	maroon
⅜in line:	yellow ochre	square corners
2½-3in band:	black	square corners
Edge

During the BNCR renumbering of 1897, No.110 had received number plates in the series which had "BNCR" in small block capitals above the digits. When it was rebuilt to Class S2, instructions were given that the letters "BNCR" were to be milled off the number plates and in consequence the numbers appeared offset towards the bottom of the plate.