The first member of the class (No. 416) was built 1918, in the middle of a batch of GCR Class 8A2-8-0 locomotives and the design had an identical boiler, cylinders and motion to this class.[1] For three years this remained the only example of the class, but in 1921 Robinson built two further examples, with the intention of comparing their performance with his four-cylinder GCR Class 9P design and later decided to produce more of the 9Ps.
The 8N was intended as an improved version of the 1A (LNER B8 class) of 1913, which had large inside cylinders and relatively small axleboxes on the driving axles. Although 8N was an improvement of the 1A design, .The 9P design of 1917 had four cylinders, resulting in a more balanced locomotive with smaller cylinders.
Allocation and work
Although very competent locomotives, the three examples of this class were non-standard and used on a variety of secondary freight and passenger duties over the former Great Central Railway system. They were eventually replaced in 1947 by members of the B1 class. No examples survived.
