T19 Class 2-4-0 1886-1897
T19R Class 2-4-0, 4-4-0, Rebuilt 1902-1904, 1905-1908

LNER Class D-13 (4-4-0 rebuilds)

710-769, 700-709, 781-790, 1010-1039

GERS Collection 7002/060

The first of James Holden’s T19 class express passenger 2-4-0s appeared in November 1886. At first sight they might be taken for a development of Worsdell’s G14 class (q.v.), but apart from having the same vital statistics of 18 x 24-in. cylinder, 7-ft. 0-ins. diameter driving wheels and 140 lbs. psi boiler pressure they differed significantly. The boiler was the same as that used on the Y14 0-6-0s – slightly shorter in the barrel, but larger in diameter. The motion was Stephensons, and the valves were placed beneath the cylinders. Although this arrangement had been tried early in British locomotive development, it had been revived by William Stroudeley on the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. Holden’s old boss William Dean on the GWR and William Adams – now on the London & South Western – also tried this arrangement at around the same time. However, Holden the only one to use this arrangement of cylinders and valves extensively, and ultimately the GER came to have the largest number of locomotives of this type in Britain. The radial axle was replaced by a double framed arrangement in which there were no collars on the inner axle journals, and the outside axleboxes were allowed an inch of uncontrolled side-play in the horn-guides. The photograph shows No. 738, representing the first fifty engines built, Nos. 710-759. 

 GERS Collection 7002/63

T19 No. 760 was fitted with Holden’s oil-burning gear in September 1891and given the name Petrolea. This fact has caused many authors to claim that it was the first GER oil-burning locomotive, but nothing could be further from the truth. The first oil-burning locomotive was the lowly T18 class 0-6-0T shunter No. 281 (q.v.). Petrolea was not the first express engine to burn oil either, nor was it even the first T19 to be so-equipped. The engine is seen here posed in front of the massive water tank at Stratford depot. It carried its oil fuel in a 500 gallon rectangular tank on the rear of the tender, as had been done previously on No. 759 in October 1889, but it differed in that it was the first T19 to have the S23 class 2640 gallon tender, and the flared coping was removed. No. 760 had been built new in June 1890, the first of ten engines that incorporated a number of alterations to the design. The cylinder casting was improved, and india-rubber pads to the spring hangers were fitted throughout. As far as the leading carrying axle is concerned this resulted in a revision of its shape, with a vertical trailing edge and footstep. In addition, the boilers had sloping grates, and the wheels were of cast steel instead of wrought iron.

GERS Collection 7002/59

No.784 was one of the 1892 batch of engines numbered 781-790, but these were altered to 770-779 in 1904. This and the preceding batch numbered 700-709 introduced further modifications to the T19 design. The boiler was in two rings, with the dome on the front; there was a reverse curve to the outside frames behind the axle-guard, and Holden’s hollow footplate casting was fitted, which also acted as an air reservoir. On the earlier engines the reservoir was separate, and its removal enabled a single brake cylinder to be fitted, with more-modern equalised brake rigging. Other alterations included continuous smokebox handrails and Macallan blast-pipes. These last two features – and the two-ring boilers – were fitted to the earlier engines in time, and several also gained the later brake arrangement in addition.

LCGB Ken Nunn H166/GERSHC 798/0269

Further T19s – Nos. 712, 761, 763-767 – were fitted with oil burning gear in 1891-6. These examples carried their oil fuel in cylindrical tanks along the sides, holding a total of 650 gallons. In 1895-6, most of these tenders were additionally fitted with water scoops to make use of the new troughs laid down at Ipswich and Tivetshall. One of the 760-series engines is seen here on the Ipswich Troughs.

GERS Collection 7303/34

The last thirty T19s were delivered in 1893-7, bringing the total in the class to 110 engines. These final examples were numbered 1010-1039. This is No. 1030 of the final batch, which had the boiler pressure raised to 160 lbs. psi, this pattern then becoming the standard for subsequent reboilering of the earlier engines. They also had vacuum ejectors for working through trains from neighbouring railways. These final thirty engines also had smokeboxes of flanged construction, another feature that became standard on the class.

GERS Collection 7002/65

In 1900 James Holden introduced the larger Claud Hamilton type 4-4-0s for express passenger work, and the T19s started to be relegated to secondary trains. As most of the class were of fairly recent construction, it was decided to fit them with larger 180 lb. psi. boilers, which were of the Belpaire firebox type, being a slightly shorter version of the experimental ‘Claud’ pattern Belpaire boiler that was fitted to F48 class 0-6-0 No. 1189 (q.v.). The shortening was with regard to the boiler barrel only, the firebox being the same 7-ft. long – one foot longer than the original T19 boiler. Thus, on the rebuilt engines, the boiler had to be pitched at 8-ft. 6-ins. above the rails in order that the rear of the firebox could sit above the trailing coupled axle. The prototype rebuild was No. 769 in 1902, shown here. New cabs – wider and higher – had to be fitted, with a single side window of similar shape to those of the ‘Clauds’. As can be seen, the dome was on the front boiler ring, and the locomotive looked – and was – front heavy, and the 21 engines rebuilt in this way were known as ‘Humpty-Dumpties’ as a result. These engines then made themselves very useful on secondary long-distance passenger trains. They were however already too heavy at the front to be fitted with superheaters and they were withdrawn between 1913 and 1920.

GERS Collection 7018/206

From 1905 it was decided that all further T19 rebuilds would be converted to 4-4-0s. This was achieved by fitting new front-end frames and inclining the cylinders more steeply. With typical GER frugality, some of the components for the actual bogies are understood to have come from withdrawn E10 class 0-4-4Ts (q.v.). The wheels were of 3-ft. 1-in. diameter, and were also a mix of new ones and second-hand examples. The current pattern had ten spokes, whist the earlier ones had only nine. The astute reader will note that the prototype rebuild, seen in the photograph, contrived to have one of each! The only change to the boiler was to move the dome to the rear ring of the boiler, giving a more-balanced appearance. Nevertheless, these 4-4-0 rebuilds always appeared somewhat stocky – an effect not helped by the small diameter of the bogie wheels. The lubrication of these had to be carefully watched, otherwise the bearings tended to run hot on long, fast runs. The prototype rebuild was No. 1035 which, as can be seen, entered traffic still in the ‘photographic grey’ livery for its official portraits. It was known as “Dolly Grey” until later repainted in blue livery. A total of sixty T19s were rebuilt thus to 4-4-0s down to 1908, and the remaining 29 unrebuilt engines were scrapped in original condition by 1913.

LPC 3797/GERSHC 7005/101

It may be noted that the rebuilt T19s were the first GER express passenger locomotives to have Belpaire boilers, these not appearing on the ‘Clauds’ until 1905. Similarly, they were also the first to have superheaters, apart from the four experimentally fitted to new ‘Clauds’ in 1911. The first twelve T19s were so-equipped with Schmidtt superheaters in 1913-14, as seen here, with the operating cylinder for the damper gear on this side of the smokebox. These twelve were also fitted with piston tail rods, which necessitated the alteration of the front end frames to the stepped shape shown.

J. A. Dixon/GERS 700/0811 Later superheater rebuilds of the T19 4-4-0s had the Robinson superheater, and snifting valves behind the chimney replaced the damper and its operating gear on the smokebox side. A total of 48 of the sixty engines had been superheated by the time of the 1923 Grouping, by which time two of the saturated engines had been withdrawn. The 58 remaining engines taken over by the LNER were classified as class D-13. A further four were subsequently superheated, and the remaining six saturated engines were withdrawn. In the same period, the remaining Schmidtt engines were converted to the Robinson type. In 1901, T19s 1020-1029 had been fitted with ‘Watercart’ tenders with water scoops second-hand from the P43 class 4-2-2s (q.v.), as seen here behind No. 8021 (ex-1021) in the mid-1930s. Only three engines remained by 1938, and the last two were withdrawn in 1943.