The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Thompson Class B1 is a class of steam locomotive designed by Edward Thompson for medium mixed traffic work.
Overview It was the LNER's equivalent to the highly successful GWR Hall Class and the LMS Stanier Black Five, two-cylinder mixed traffic 4-6-0s. However, it had the additional requirement of having to be cheap because, due to wartime and post-war economies, the LNER, never the richest railway company, had to make savings.
Introduced in 1942, the first example, No. 8301, was named Springbok in honour of a visit by Jan Smuts. The first 40 of the class were named after breeds of antelopes and the like, and they became known as bongos after 8306 Bongo. 274 were built by the LNER. 136 were built by British Railways after nationalisation in 1948. The total number in stock at any one time, however, was only 409 as 61057 was involved in an accident in 1950 and was scrapped.
The prototype for the new B class (later classified B1) 4-6-0 was built at Darlington and entered service on 12 December 1942. It was the first 2-cylinder main-line locomotive constructed for the LNER since the grouping, such had been Sir Nigel Gresley's faith in the 3-cylinder layout. With cost saving a wartime priority the LNER's draughtsmen went to great lengths to re-use existing patterns, jigs and tools to economise on materials and labour. Extensive use was made of welding instead of steel castings. The boiler was derived from the Diagram 100A type fitted to the LNER Class B17 Sandringham 4-6-0s but with a larger grate area and an increase in boiler pressure to .
The appearance of No. 8301 (subsequently renumbered No. 1000) coincided with a visit to Britain by the Prime Minister of South Africa, Field Marshal Jan Smuts, and, as mentioned above, it was named Springbok. 18 other B1s took the names of LNER directors. Not that there were many B1s to be named during the war years: constraints on production meant that the first ten were not completed until 1944. However, Thompson then placed substantial orders with two outside builders: Vulcan Foundry and the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow. Between April 1946 and April 1952 NBL built 290 B1s. Over the period the cost of each engine rose from £14,893 to £16,190. Vulcan Foundry contributed 50 at £15,300 apiece. Orders for the B1s, which became Nos. 61000–61409 under British Railways, totalled 410.
The B1s operated throughout LNER territory. The first batch was distributed among depots on the former Great Eastern Railway section: Ipswich, Norwich, and Stratford in London. They were an immediate success and were soon working the Liverpool Street–Harwich boat trains, the Hook Continental, the Day Continental and the Scandinavian. B1s were also a familiar sight on other top-link workings such as The East Anglian, The Broadsman, and The Fenman. During the 1950s over 70 B1s were stationed on ex-GE lines.
They enjoyed similar popularity on ex-Great Northern and Great Central territory. Engines based at Darnall, Sheffield were regularly rostered for the Master Cutler and South Yorkshireman expresses. Elsewhere there were substantial allocations in Scotland, West Yorkshire, and East Yorkshire.
If any fault is to be highlighted on the B1, it must be the ride quality. O. S. Nock often criticised the B1s for a poor ride, not something many were used to on the Gresley engines. The B1 was very cheap to build, but the final result was an engine that was somewhat lacking in the quality LNER men had come to expect. The two-cylinder layout gave the engines good starting power and excellent hill climbing abilities, but it also caused very bad hunting effects, a result of the use of cut-offs of up to 75% (a 10% advance on Gresley engines), and as such they were less kind on the passengers they carried than the B17s they replaced.
Overall, however, it was entirely necessary that the B1s be introduced, because the LNER was operating a large number of engines that were well past their economic life. It was somewhat ironic that among the engines that came under threat with the arrival of the B1s were the ones that Thompson admired the most: the engines of the North Eastern Railway designed by Vincent Raven (his father-in-law).
Operation B1s could be found over almost all of the LNER network, and that of the BR Eastern and North Eastern Regions.
The last scheduled steam-hauled passenger train to arrive in Liverpool Street was the up Day Continental on 9 September 1962 hauled by a B1 61156.
Accidents and incidents On 8 March 1950, locomotive No. 61057 was hauling an express passenger train at night, when it collided with the rear of a mineral train in fog, north east of Witham Junction; the passenger fireman and goods guard were killed. The locomotive was badly damaged; after being moved to Stratford Works, it and its tender were withdrawn and later scrapped. On 4 September 1953, locomotive No. 61046 was hauling a passenger train that was derailed at , London when a set of points moved under it. In August 1961, locomotive No. 61229 was derailed at , Yorkshire.
Names
59 of the 410 locomotives were named. Early B1s were named after species of antelope, whilst later engines were named after members of the board of directors of the LNER. This led to the fact that the Class B1 contained the shortest name given to a British locomotive ((6)1018 Gnu) and one of the longest ((6)1221 Sir Alexander Erskine-Hill).
Note this does not include all engines Number Name NotesLNERLNER 1946BR 8301 1000 61000 Springbok 8302 1001 61001 Eland 8303 1002 61002 Impala 8304 1003 61003 Gazelle 8305 1004 61004 Oryx 8306 1005 61005 Bongo 8307 1006 61006 Blackbuck 8308 1007 61007 Klipspringer 8309 1008 61008 Kudu 8310 1009 61009 Hartebeeste - 1010 61010 Wildebeeste - 1011 61011 Waterbuck - 1012 61012 Puku - 1013 61013 Topi - 1014 61014 Oribi - 1015 61015 Duiker - 1016 61016 Inyala - 1017 61017 Bushbuck - 1018 61018 Gnu - 1019 61019 Nilghai - 1020 61020 Gemsbok - 1021 61021 Reitbok - 1022 61022 Sassaby - 1023 61023 Hirola - 1024 61024 Addax - 1025 61025 Pallah - 1026 61026 Ourebi - 1027 61027 Madoqua - 1028 61028 Umseke - 1029 61029 Chamois - 1030 61030 Nyala - 1031 61031 Reedbuck - 1032 61032 Stembok - 1033 61033 Dibatag - 1034 61034 Chiru - 1035 61035 Pronghorn - 1036 61036 Ralph Assheton Its original name was going to be Korrigum but was changed to Ralph Assheton for unknown reasons. - 1037 61037 Jairou - 1038 61038 Blacktail - 1039 61039 Steinbok - 1040 61040 Roedeer - 1089 61189 Sir William Gray - 1215 61215 William Henton Carver - 1221 61221 Sir Alexander Erskine-Hill - 1237 61237 Geoffrey H. Kitson - 1238 61238 Leslie Runciman - 1240 61240 Harry Hinchliffe - 1241 61241 Viscount Ridley - 1242 61242 Alexander Reith Gray - 1243 61243 Sir Harold Mitchell - 1244 61244 Strang Steel - 1245 61245 Murray of Elibank - 1246 61246 Lord Balfour of Burleigh - 1247 61247 Lord Burghley - 1248 61248 Geoffrey Gibbs - 1249 61249 Fitzherbert Wright - 1250 61250 A. Harold Bibby - 1251 61251 Oliver Bury - - 61379 Mayflower Only BR built engine to be named. Name carried by preserved 61306.
Withdrawal
With the change in the policies of British Railways, the B1s were withdrawn long before their projected economic working life. Excepting No. 61057 which was destroyed in an accident in 1950, the first normal withdrawal was No. 61085 in November 1961. The remaining locomotives were withdrawn between 1962 and 1967.
+ Table of withdrawals Year Quantity inservice atstart of year Quantitywithdrawn Locomotive numbers Notes 1950 410 1 61057 Accident write-off 1961 409 1 61085 1962 408 120 61000/05/11/36/43/45–46/48/63/77/86/9161106/24/36–37/64/70/83/86–87/9361201/03/06/11/17/26/31/34–36/39/41/46–47/53–54/60/65–68/71/80/82–84/86–87/90/95–9861301/11/16–17/32–33/35/39/52/62–64/66/68/71/73/76–77/79–81/91/9561405/08 1963 288 62 61001/04/06/33/53/59/68–69/71/73–75/83/88/90/9561113/19/22/25–26/35/42/56/59–60/69/74–75/77/8161204–05/07/27/33/52/69–70/73/7961300/05/14/18/23/25/28/31/34/36/41/58–59/69/74–75/78/83/93/9961409 1964 226 54 etc. 1965 172 81 61264, etc. 61264 sold for preservation 1966 91 64 61008/13–14/17/22/24/26/29/32/35/40/42/50–51/55/58/89/92/9961101/03/16/21/31–33/40/45/48/58/6161210/23–24/32/37/40/50/61/63/81/9361302–03/07–08/15/19/22/26/29–30/42–45/49–50/60/84/86/9061403/06 1967 27 27 61002/12/19/21/30/7361102/15/23/73/80/89/9961216/38/55/62/78/8961306/09/37/40/47/54/8861407 61306 sold for preservation
Departmental service
After withdrawal from capital stock, 17 were taken into departmental stock where they were used as boilers for carriage heating. For this they had their couplers removed so they could not haul trains, though they could still propel themselves.
NumberPrevious BR No.Taken into dep'tal stockWithdrawnDisposal176105919631966Scrapped (1966)186118119631965Scrapped (1966)196120419631966Scrapped (1966)206120519631965Scrapped (1966)216123319631966Scrapped (1966)226125219631964Scrapped (1966)236130019631965Scrapped (1966)24 (1st)6132319631963Scrapped (1964)24 (2nd)6137519631966Scrapped (1966)256127219651966Scrapped (1966)266113819651967Scrapped (1968)276110519651966Scrapped (1966)286119419651966Scrapped (1966)296126419651967Woodham Brothers, later preserved306105019661968Scrapped (1968)31 (2nd)6105119661966Scrapped (1966)32 (2nd)6131519661968Scrapped (1968)
Preservation Two have been preserved, these being 61264 and 61306. Both of these were built by North British Locomotive Company. No. 61264 has the distinction of being the only ex-LNER locomotive to be sent and later rescued from Barry Scrapyard.
Note: Loco numbers in bold mean their current number. NumberNameMakers NoBuiltWithdrawnService LifeBaseOwnersLiveryConditionMainline CertifiedDual BrakedPhotographLNERBR126461264-261655 December 194721 November 196517 Years, 11 monthsGreat Central Railway (Nottingham)Thompson B1 Locomotive TrustTBCUnder Overhaul No, to be certified following overhaulNo*130661306*Mayflower262075 April 194830 September 196719 Years, 5 monthsCrewe Diesel TMDLocomotive Services GroupLNER Apple Green (Post War; British Railways Lettering)OperationalYes (2019 - ongoing)Yes
(* denotes historically inauthentic)
Model railways In 2007, Bachmann introduced a OO gauge model of the B1 in BR black livery.
References
Citations
Bibliography
(2004 reprint )
External links
LNER encyclopedia Thompson B1 Locomotive Trust (owners of (6)1264) 1306 Mayflower (owners of (6)1306)