BR Standard Class 4 4-6-0

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 LMS Stanier [Class 5 4-6-0|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, 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 and the Western Region. 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.

Year	Quantity in service at start of year	Quantity withdrawn	Locomotive numbers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 ; the remaining four were rescued from Woodham Brothers' scrapyard at Barry Island.
No member of the class is presently main line approved but three 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.

Number & Name	Tender Attached	Chimney Fitted	Built	Withdrawn	Service life	Home Base	Owner	Livery	Status	Image	Notes
75014 "Braveheart"	BR2A	Single	Nov 1951	Dec 1966	15 years, 30 days	Dartmouth Steam Railway	Dartmouth Steam Railway	BR Lined Black, Early Emblem	Operational. Boiler ticket expires: 2026
75027	BR2A	Single	May 1954	Aug 1968	14 years, 3 months	Bluebell Railway	Bluebell Railway	BR Lined Green, Late Crest	Static Display
75029 "The Green Knight"	BR2A	Double	May 1954	Aug 1967	13 years, 3 months	North [Yorkshire Moors Railway]	North Yorkshire Moors Railway	BR Lined Green, Late Crest	Under Overhaul.		Withdrawn in 2015 with cracks in firebox, overhaul commenced in 2018
75069	BR1B	Double	Sept 1955	Sept 1966	11 years	Severn Valley Railway	75069 Fund	BR Lined Black, Late Crest	Operational. Boiler ticket expires: 2028
75078	BR1B	Double	Jan 1956	Jul 1966	10 years, 5 months	Keighley and Worth Valley Railway	The Standard 4 Locomotive Preservation Society	BR Lined Black, Late Crest	Operational. Boiler ticket expires: 2032
75079	BR1B	Double	Jan 1956	Nov 1966	10 years, 10 months	Mid-Hants Railway	Mid-Hants Railway Preservation Society	N/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.