‘No. 265 Class’ 4-4-0 1876-1877

255-274

B.H. Jackson/GERSHC 798/0099

The ‘No. 265 Class’ were large outside cylinder 4-4-0s built to Adams’ design. Ten were built by Dübs & Co. in 1876, with ten by R.W. Hawthorn & Co. the following year. They have often been described as having been built for express passenger work, but relegated to goods trains. However, it would seem that they were intended for heavy goods and mineral trains from outset. They were equipped with powerful steam brakes rather than the simple vacuum brake that the GER was beginning to use on express passenger trains at this time. These 4-4-0s were robust, powerful machines – popularly known as ‘Ironclads’ – and it was trials with these on very heavy coal trains that led to Adams producing his famous ‘Moguls’. None were reboilered, but they lasted for over twenty years, being scrapped between 1894 and 1897.