The British Railways Standard Class 4 is a class of steam locomotives, 80 of which were built during the 1950s. Six have been preserved.
Background
The class was introduced in 1951. They were designed for mixed traffic use on secondary routes where the otherwise ubiquitous BR Standard Class 5 and their predecessors, the Black Fives, would be too heavy. They were essentially a tender version of the Class 4 2-6-4T, with similar characteristics to the GWR 7800 Class, though unlike the 7800s they were built to the universal loading gauge. They used the same running gear as the tank engine (with the leading bogie from the Standard Class 5), and substantially the same firebox, smokebox and boiler, although the boiler barrel was increased in length by .
Design work was done at Brighton by R. A. Riddles, with help from Swindon, Derby and Doncaster. Construction was at the BR Swindon Works.
The engine weighed , was long, with diameter driving wheels. It had two cylinders of diameter and stroke operated at maximum boiler pressure of , to produce tractive effort. Its British Railways power classification was 4MT.
It normally used the standard BR2 or BR2A tender, which weighed and carried of water and of coal. In this configuration its route availability was 4, almost universal over the British Railways network.
In service The class was initially allocated to the London Midland Region (45) and the Western Region (20). The last 15 were allocated to the Southern Region. The Southern batch were built with BR1B tenders, which weighed , and carried of water and of coal. This reduced their route availability to 7, the same as the Standard Class 5.
+ Table of withdrawals Year Quantity inservice atstart of year Quantitywithdrawn Locomotive numbers 1964 80 2 75001/67 1965 78 11 75000/03/05/07–08/22/25/28/38/72–73 1966 67 20 75011/14/23/31/36/44–45/49–51/53–54/56–57/63/65–66/69–70/79 1967 47 37 75002/04/06/10/12–13/15–18/24/26/29–30/33/35/37/39–40/42–43/46–47/52/55/58–61/64/68/71/74–78 1968 10 10 75009/19–21/27/32/34/41/48/62
Preservation Six members of the class survive with both single chimney and double chimney examples. Two were purchased directly from BR (75027 & 75029); the remaining four were rescued from Woodham Brothers' scrapyard at Barry Island.
No member of the class is presently main line approved but three (75014, 75029 and 75069) have worked on the main line at various points in preservation. 75029 was passed to work on the main line between Grosmont and Whitby with occasional visits to Battersby during galas. All except for 75079 have operated in preservation.
+Preserved locomotivesNumber & NameTender AttachedChimney FittedBuiltWithdrawnService lifeHome BaseOwnerLiveryStatusImage Notes75014 "Braveheart"BR2ASingleNov 1951Dec 196615 years, 30 daysDartmouth Steam RailwayDartmouth Steam RailwayBR Lined Black, Early EmblemOperational. Boiler ticket expires: 2026 75027May 1954Aug 196814 years, 3 monthsBluebell RailwayBluebell RailwayBR Lined Green, Late CrestStatic Display 75029 "The Green Knight"DoubleMay 1954Aug 196713 years, 3 monthsNorth Yorkshire Moors RailwayNorth Yorkshire Moors RailwayBR Lined Green, Late CrestUnder Overhaul.Withdrawn in 2015 with cracks in firebox, overhaul commenced in 2018 75069BR1BSept 1955Sept 196611 yearsSevern Valley Railway75069 FundBR Lined Black, Late CrestOperational. Boiler ticket expires: 2028 75078Jan 1956Jul 196610 years, 5 monthsKeighley and Worth Valley RailwayThe Standard 4 Locomotive Preservation SocietyBR Lined Black, Late CrestOperational. Boiler ticket expires: 2032 75079Jan 1956Nov 196610 years, 10 monthsWatercress LineMid-Hants Railway Preservation SocietyN/A Under restoration
Model railways Bachmann and Hornby have both released models of these engines in 00 gauge. Mainline Railways also released a OO gauge model of the Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0 in the 1970s, although this is no longer in production. In 1983, Mainline's model was reintroduced to their catalogue as locomotive 75033 in BR lined black.
References
A Detailed History of BR Standard Steam Locomotives, - Vol 2 - The 4-6-0 and 2-6-0 Classes. RCTS
External links
Southern E-group photo gallery 75027 webpage at the Bluebell Railway 75079 webpage at the Mid Hants Railway