The NBR F Class (LNER Class J88) was a class of 0-6-0 tank locomotives, designed by William P. Reid on the North British Railway. They were used for dockyard shunting duties.
Background When the North British railway required more dock shunting tank locomotives in 1904, rather than order further copies of the railway's standard G class (LNER class Y9) 0-4-0ST, William P. Reid introduced a completely new 0-6-0T locomotive design.
Design The class had a diameter, long boiler producing saturated steam to two outside cylinders, which were connected to the driving wheels by inside Stephenson valve gear actuating slide valves.
Construction All thirty five locomotives were built at the NBR's Cowlairs Works in five batches between 1904 and 1919. + Table of orders and numbers Year Quantity NBR No. LNER No. LNER 1946 No. 1904–05 6 836–841 9836–9841 8320–8325 1905 6 842–847 9842–9847 8326–8331 1909 6 233–238 9233–9238 8332–8337 1912 10 66, 114, 116–119, 121, 130, 132, 152 9066, 9114, 9116–9119, 9121, 91309, 9132, 9152 8338–8347 1919 7 277, 290, 288–289, 87, 271, 279 9277, 9290, 9288–9289, 9087, 9271, 9279 8348–8349, 8353–8354, 8350–8352
Service history They were used on docks and harbours on both the east and west coasts of Scotland. They were usually allocated to St. Margaret's (Edinburgh), Eastfield (Glasgow), Thornton, Kipps, Polmont, Stirling and Haymarket (Edinburgh) locomotive depots.
At the grouping in 1923, they all passed to the London and North Eastern Railway, who classified them as class J88. They were all still in service at Nationalisation in 1948. BR added 60000 to their LNER 1946 number.
Withdrawal One locomotive, No. 68341, was withdrawn in 1954 after falling into Kirkcaldy harbour, but later the class were gradually displaced by diesel shunters during the 1950s, with the last withdrawn in December 1962. All members of the class were scrapped, and there is no surviving example in preservation.
+ Table of withdrawals Year Quantity inservice atstart of year Quantitywithdrawn Locomotive numbers 1954 35 1 68341 1955 34 1 68337 1956 33 1 68323 1957 32 1 68351 1958 31 11 68321, 68322, 68324, 68327, 68328, 68330, 68333, 68339, 68340, 68347, 68348 1959 20 4 68326, 68329, 68331, 68334 1960 16 6 68320, 68332, 68343, 68349, 68354, 68352 1961 10 3 68325, 68338, 68344 1962 7 7 63335, 68336, 68342, 68345, 68346, 68350, 68353
References