The Ceylon Government Railway classes B1–B6, formerly designated as the NOA class before the reclassification of 1937, were several classes of steam locomotives of similar designs operated on the Ceylon Government Railway (CGR) for service on the Main Line. As of 2025, only certain locomotives of the B1 and B2 classes survive into preservation.
Class B1
History The Class B1 locomotives were the last and most modern of these six locomotive classes to be constructed. A total of forty-nine were built for the Ceylon Government Railway from 1927 to 1948. This class had five subclasses apart from the standard model, namely A, B, C, D and E. These locomotives are also known as the Governor Class, as most class members were named after governors of British Ceylon. In 1936, class member no. 242 Sir Edward Paget was streamlined, but the streamlining was later removed in 1937. In the 1950s, some members of the class were converted to burn oil instead of coal.
Locomotives
+NumberNameFinal SubclassFuelStatusNotes4Sir Edward StubbsCoalScrapped30Sir Thomas MaitlandCoalScrapped242Sir Edward PagetCoalScrappedThe only class member to be fitted with a streamlined casing.243Sir West RidgewayCoal, OilScrapped244Viscount TorringtonCoal, OilScrapped245Sir Robert ChalmersCoalScrapped246Sir William AndersonCoalScrapped247James MacKenzieCoalScrapped248Sir William GregoryCoalScrapped249Sir William AndersonACoalScrapped250Sir Charles MacCarthyCoal, OilScrapped251Sir Thomas MaitlandCoalPreserved252Sir Edward BarnesCoalScrapped253Sir Richard NorthCoalScrapped254Sir Arthur HavelockCoalScrapped255Sir Robert ChalmersCoal, OilScrapped256Sir Robert HortonCoalScrapped257Ceylon Defence ForceCoal, OilScrapped258Sir Hercules RobinsonCoalScrapped259CoalScrapped260CoalScrapped261Sir William ManningCoal, OilScrapped262King George VICoal, OilScrapped279Sir Henry WardBCoal, OilScrapped280Coal, OilScrapped281Sir Hugh CliffordCoal, OilScrapped282Scrapped283Sir Thomas MaitlandCoal, OilScrapped284James MacKenzieCoal, OilScrapped285Sir Henry BlakeCoalScrapped286Sir Graeme ThompsonCoalScrapped287Sir Robert BrownriggCoalScrapped288Sir Herbert StanleyCoalScrapped289CoalScrapped290Sir Arthur GordonCoalScrapped294Sir James LongdenCCoalScrapped295Sir Andrew CaldecottCoalScrapped337Sir Geoffrey LaytonCoalScrapped338Sir Henry MooreCoal, OilScrapped339DCoalScrapped340/352Fredrick NorthCoal, OilScrapped341Coal, OilScrapped342CoalScrapped351ECoalScrapped352Frederick NorthCoal, OilPreserved353CoalScrapped354Sir Henry WardCoal, OilScrapped355CoalScrapped356Coal, OilScrapped
Preservation Only two members of the class, No. 251 Sir Thomas Maitland and No. 340 Sir Frederick North, have survived into preservation. Both are currently operational and are used to haul the Viceroy Special, a chartered excursion train operated by J. F. Tours.
Class B2
History A total of thirty-five members of this class were produced for the Ceylon Government Railway. The Class B2 also had various subclasses excluding the original from A to E.
Locomotives +SubclassB2ABCDENumbers28120822740252932092284326394721044271932222114519422321246195224213196225204226205206207
Preservation Only one member, No. 213, survives into preservation. It is also maintained in working order so as to haul the Viceroy Special.
Class B3
Reference:
Class B4
Reference:
Class B5 Reference:
Class B6
These were the first 4-6-0 locomotives to operate in Ceylon. They have a unique combination of both tenders and side tanks, although the side tanks were mainly to increase the adhesive weight over the driving wheels.
The main line of the Ceylon government railways starts at Colombo and originally terminated at Nanu Oya station.Beyond Nawalapitiya the line climbs at a constant 1 in 44 gradient all the way to Nanu Oya. This would have been beyond the capacity of the 4-4-0s then in service at the time the main line was extended above Nawalapitiya. Thus these new 4-6-0TT locomotives were known as the Nanu Oya class after the route on which they were intended to operate. Reference:
Gallery
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