GER Class Y14

GER Class Y14 LNER Class J15
No. 65462 with a demonstration freight train
Power type	Steam
Designer	T. W. Worsdell
Build date	1883-1913
Total produced	289
Configuration	0-6-0
Gauge	standard gauge
Driver diameter	4 ft 11 in (1.50 m)
Length	47 ft 3 in (14.40 m)
Locomotive weight	37.1 long tons (37.7 t)
Tender weight	30.65 long tons (31.14 t)
Fuel type	coal
Fuel capacity	5 long tons (5.1 t)
Water capacity	2,640 imp gal (12,000 l; 3,170 US gal)
Boiler pressure	160 psi (1,100 kPa)
Cylinders	two inside
Cylinder size	17.5 × 24 in (440 × 610 mm)
Tractive effort	16,940 lbf (75,400 N)
Class	1P2F

The Great Eastern Railway (GER) Class Y14 is a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive. The LNER classified them J15.

The Class Y14 was designed by T.W. Worsdell for both freight and passenger duties - a veritable 'maid of all work'. Introduced in July 1883, they were so successful that all the succeeding chief superintendents continued to build new batches down to 1913 with little design change, the final total being 289. During World War I, 43 of the engines served in France and Belgium.

Background

On 10–11 December 1891, the Great Eastern Railway's Stratford Works built one of these locomotives and had it in steam with a coat of grey primer in 9 hours 47 minutes; this remains a world record. The locomotive then went off to run 36,000 miles on Peterborough to London coal trains before coming back to the works for the final coat of paint. It lasted 40 years and ran a total of 1,127,750 miles.

Because of their light weight the locomotives were given the Route Availability (RA) number 1, indicating that they could work over nearly all routes.

A class J15 locomotive was involved in a boiler explosion at Westerfield railway station on 25 September 1900.

Notable features

As built all the locomotives had a stovepipe chimney; this was replaced in L.N.E.R days by a cast chimney with a small lip. The original Wordsell and early Holden series had three-ring boilers with the steam dome placed in the middle. Also the Wordsell boilers had a flat grate, however from 1890 Holden developed a boiler with a sloping grate and a two-ring telescopic barrel with the dome located well forward. The advantage of the dome position was a short 5½ inch steam pipe which limited pressure drop between the boiler and the cylinders. This boiler was adopted as standard and persisted on all Great Eastern Locomotives down to 1898; from then on it was perpetuated on the smaller locomotives as long as these remained essentially in their original configuration - which could be down to the 1960s.

As with all Great Eastern classes, the Y14 had a cab with a low wooden roof covered with canvas sealed by a coat of lead paint. This was replaced in L.N.E.R days by a higher arched sheet metal roof. Some engines had special side window cabs for service on the exposed Brightlingsea and Colne Valley branches.

Allocations

On 1 January 1923 there were 272 J15 locomotives in existence. They were allocated as follows:

• Cambridge 48
• Colchester 14
• Ipswich 32
• King's Lynn 5
• Lincoln 3
• Lowestoft 7
• March 17
• Norwich 36
• Parkeston 2
• Peterborough East 19
• Stratford 91
• Yarmouth 4

On 1 January 1948 when British Railways took running the nation's railways, there were 127 J15 locomotives in existence.

In fiction

In The Railway Series children's books by Christopher Awdry, a Class J15 appears in the book Toby, Trucks and Trouble.

Preservation

65462 at Sheringham

Number 65462 is preserved on the North Norfolk Railway and owned by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Society.

External links

• LNER encyclopedia
• Railuk database