GCR Class 1B
The GCR Class 1B was a class of locomotives on the Great Central Railway. They were notable as the first locomotives of the 2-6-4T wheel arrangement to be used by a British standard-gauge railway; there had been two narrow-gauge examples on the Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway since 1904.
History
In 1906, the Great Central Railway had inherited nine locomotives from the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway, of Class D. These had been designed to the specifications of Robert A. Thom, the locomotive superintendent of the LD&EC, for hauling coal trains from northern Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire to the docks at Grimsby. They were built by Kitson & Co in 1904 and 1906, and performed well.When further locomotives were required for similar duties, opportunity was taken to produce an updated design. The 1B class locomotives were designed by the GCR's locomotive superintendent John G. Robinson, with assistance from Thom, who, after a period as assistant works manager at the GCR's Gorton Locomotive Works, was now Robinson's assistant. The chief design improvement was the fitment of a larger boiler incorporating a superheater; it was similar to those fitted to the GCR Class 11E, and a number of other existing GCR components were also incorporated. The LD&EC Class D bogie was retained, but the increased weight made it necessary to add a carrying axle at the front; thus the 2-6-4T was derived from an 0-6-4T.
Unlike the LD&EC engines, the 1B class was built at Gorton, where twenty were built between 1914 and 1917. They were described by an engineering journal as 'one of the handsomest tank engines to have made their appearance anywhere in recent years', although not everybody agreed. Unfortunately, by the time that the first few were in service, the coal traffic for which they had been designed was dwindling; and so they found themselves on work for which they were not ideally suited.