The GER Class N31 was a class of eighty-two 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed by James Holden for the Great Eastern Railway. Eighteen passed to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at the 1923 grouping and received the LNER classification J14.
History These goods locomotives had cylinders, driving wheels, and a boiler. Eighty-one were built at Stratford Works between 1893 and 1898.
Table of orders and numbers + Table of orders and numbers Year Order Quantity GER Nos. Notes 1893 N31 1 999 1893 H33 10 979–988 1894 L33 10 989–998 1894 E34 10 969–978 1896 N37 10 959–968 1897 H40 10 949–958 1897 O41 10 602–608, 946–948 1898 G42 10 542–551 1898 K43 10 562–571
Class 127 In addition, when the Class 127 locomotive was rebuilt from compound to simple in 1895, it was then included into Class N31.
Performance They were not particularly successful locomotives. Although nicknamed Swifts, they were sluggish locomotives, due to the placement of the valve chests underneath the cylinders.
Withdrawals Withdrawals started in 1908, and by the end of 1922, only eighteen were left in service. The LNER allocated numbers 7000 higher than the locomotives' GER numbers, but withdrawals continued, and by 1925 the class was extinct.
+ Table of withdrawals Year Quantity inservice atstart of year Quantitywithdrawn Locomotive numbers 1908 82 1 971 1909 81 18 546, 549, 565, 566, 570, 571, 602, 605, 608, 950, 953–955, 957, 966, 969, 972, 975 1910 63 14 542, 550, 563, 568, 569, 603, 606, 956, 962, 974, 982, 989, 990, 991 1911 49 9 547, 551, 562, 567, 958, 960, 961, 988, 997 1912 40 6 544, 949, 952, 967, 968, 996 1913 34 3 607, 979, 935 (ex-127) 1914 31 3 0545, 0564, 947 1915 28 1 946 1916 27 1 994 1920 26 2 0543, 999 1921 24 1 965 1922 23 5 548, 948, 986, 992, 995 1923 18 6 959, 970, 976, 980, 985, 993 1924 12 5 951, 963, 964, 977, 978 1925 7 7 604, 973, 981, 983, 984, 987, 998
References
External links
N31 Class 0-6-0 1891-1898 — Great Eastern Railway Society The Class J14 (GER Class N31) 0-6-0 Locomotives — LNER Encyclopedia