The NBR J Class (LNER Classes D29 & D30), commonly known as the Scott class, were a class of 4-4-0 steam tender locomotives designed by William P. Reid for the North British Railway. They passed to the London and North Eastern Railway at the grouping in 1923. Forty-three were built, of which thirty-five (ten D29s and twenty-five D30s) survived into British Railways ownership in 1948.
Overview The original J Class locomotives were based on the NBR K Class mixed traffic 4-4-0s. The J Class had 6' 6" driving wheels for express passenger work and a large tender which carried sufficient water to allow passenger trains to run non-stop between Edinburgh and Carlisle. These locomotives were named after characters in the novels of Sir Walter Scott and naturally became known as "Scotts". Some of the names were later re-used on LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotives.
Builders Six locomotives were built in 1909 by the North British Locomotive Company and a further ten were built in 1911 by the North British Railway at its Cowlairs railway works, followed by two further identical locomotives with superheaters. The NBR always referred to these locomotives as J Class, but the LNER classified the initial 16 locomotives D29, and the two superheated locomotives as D30. A further 25 superheated locomotives were built between 1914 and 1920 and the LNER classified these as D30/2.
Accidents and incidents
On 3 January 1917, locomotive No. 421 Jingling Geordie overran signals and was in a head-on collision with an express passenger train at Ratho, Lothian. 12 people were killed and 44 were seriously injured. Irregular operating procedures were a major contributory factor in the accident. These were subsequently stopped.
On 10 December 1937, No. 9896 Dandie Dinmont was hauling a Dundee to Glasgow Queen Street express train when it was involved in an accident at Castlecary, North Lanarkshire. The train was running late in whiteout conditions when it overran a red home signal at Castlecary. There was no collision with the freight train at Dullatur East, but believing that the train was entering the next section, the signalman sent another express train, hauled by LNER Class A3 4-6-2 No. 2744 Grand Parade, into the section. Minutes later, Grand Parade plowed into the back of the first express. 35 people were killed and another 179 people were injured.
Numbers and names British Railways numbersIan Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1948 edition, part 4, pp 19-20 were: D29, 62401-62413 (with gaps) D30, 62417-62442 (62433 missing)
Built Class NBR no. Name LNER 1st no. LNER 2nd no. BR no. Withdrawn1909 D29 895 Rob Roy 9895 2400 (62400) 19481909 D29 896 Dandie Dinmont 9896 2401 (62401) 19491909 D29 897 Redgauntlet 9897 2402 (62402) 19491909 D29 898 Sir Walter Scott 9898 2403 (62403) 19481909 D29 899 Jeanie Deans 9899 2404 (62404) 19491909 D29 900 The Fair Maid 9900 2405 62405 19511911 D29 243 Meg Merrilies 9243 2406 (62406) 19491911 D29 244 Madge Wildfire 9244 2407 19471911 D29 245 Bailie Nicol Jarvie 9245 2408 19471911 D29 338 Helen MacGregor 9338 2409 (62409) 19481911 D29 339 Ivanhoe 9339 2410 62410 19521911 D29 340 Lady of Avenel 9340 2411 62411 19521911 D29 359 Dirk Hatteraick 9359 2412 62412 19501911 D29 360 Guy Mannering 9360 2413 62413 19501911 D29 361 Vich Ian Vohr 9361 (2414) 19461911 D29 362 Ravenswood 9362 2415 19471912 D30/1 400 The Dougal Cratur 9400 (2416) 19451912 D30/1 363 Hal o' the Wynd 9363 2417 62417 19511914 D30/2 409 The Pirate 9409 2418 62418 19591914 D30/2 410 Meg Dods 9410 2419 62419 19571914 D30/2 411 Dominie Sampson 9411 2420 62420 19571914 D30/2 412 Laird o' Monkbarns 9412 2421 62421 19601914 D30/2 413 Caleb Balderstone 9413 2422 62422 19581914 D30/2 414 Dugald Dalgetty 9414 2423 62423 19571914 D30/2 415 Claverhouse 9415 2424 62424 19571914 D30/2 416 Ellangowan 9416 2425 62425 19581914 D30/2 417 Cuddie Headrigg 9417 2426 62426 19601914 D30/2 418 Dumbiedykes 9418 2427 62427 19591914 D30/2 419 The Talisman 9419 2428 62428 19581914 D30/2 420 The Abbot 9420 2429 62429 19571914 D30/2 421 Jingling Geordie 9421 2430 62430 19571914 D30/2 422 Kenilworth 9422 2431 62431 19581914 D30/2 423 Quentin Durward 9423 2432 62432 19581915 D30/2 424 Lady Rowena 9424 2433 19471915 D30/2 425 Kettledrummle 9425 2434 62434 19581915 D30/2 426 Norna 9426 2435 62435 19571915 D30/2 427 Lord Glenvarloch 9427 2436 62436 19591915 D30/2 428 Adam Woodcock 9428 2437 62437 19581920 D30/2 497 Peter Poundtext 9497 2438 62438 19571920 D30/2 498 Father Ambrose 9498 2439 62439 19591920 D30/2 499 Wandering Willie 9499 2440 62440 19581920 D30/2 500 Black Duncan 9500 2441 62441 19581920 D30/2 501 Simon Glover 9501 2442 62442 1958 NBR no. 898 was named after Sir Walter Scott the author of the Waverley Novels, and the others were given the names either of those novels, or of characters and places in them. The LNER increased the NBR numbers by 9000, and these were applied between 1924 and 1926. New LNER numbers were allotted in 1943 in the order of construction, but the locos were not renumbered until 1946, by which time two had been withdrawn. British Railways increased the LNER 1946 numbers by 60000 between 1948 and 1950, but some were withdrawn before this could be carried out. Numbers in parentheses were allocated but not carried.
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