BRITISH RAILWAYS EASTERN REGION (ER)

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 On January 1st 1948, the former ‘Big Four’ railway companies: London North Eastern Railway (LNER); London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMSR); Great Western Railway (GWR) and Southern Railway (SR) were amalgamated to form the new British Railways. A total of  20,211 steam locomotives were taken into State ownership consisting of: 1,838 from the SR, 3,856 from the GWR, 6,525 from the LNER, and 7,805 from the LMSR. The rest was made up of service engines and Departmental locomotives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Above-Below) From Gresley's A4 to the EE Co's Deltics...I will start and finish this page at Darlington, albeit the first photo is far removed from the transitional period of the 1960s, but I hope you'll forgive the inclusion of this shot of Gresley's famous Class A4 No 2509 Silver Link in charge of the southbound ‘Silver Jubilee’ train set at Darlington in 1936. Like the Deltic fleet some thirty years later, the LNER's Class A4 achieved a spectacular and quite unique intensity of operation on the ECML, and no other locomotive made such an remarkable impact than the doyen of the class, No 2509, which averaged a speed of 100mph for 43 miles during its famous press run on the ‘Silver Jubilee’ on 27th September 1935. The train was named to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V, and the first four A4s Nos 2509-12 all carried names with a silver theme and emerged from Doncaster in a silver-grey livery to match the train. More than a decade later, little has changed at Darlington shed with NER locos in abundance. Photos © A Todd collection, PR Batty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1948, six new BR Regions were formed, their new boundaries corresponding closely to the lines of the former ‘Big Four’ railway companies. Britain’s railways was now made up of the Western Region, Southern Region, Scottish Region, Eastern Region, North Eastern Region and London Midland Region - the old LNER being divided a mongst the two newly- formed Regions: Eastern and North Eastern, whilst the Scottish Region was composed partly of the former LMS and LNER. Over the years, the Regional boundaries diminished significantly, including the North Eastern Region which was absorbed into the ER in 1967. As a result,  many locomotives (from an operational standpoint) worked beyond their arbitrary Regions, so in many ways it is meaningless to classify any particular class of locomotive as belonging to any one of the six Regions during the transition from steam. For example, it was not unusual for the Stanier ‘Black 5’ and in particular the new BR Standard classes, to be found working hundreds of miles from the Region they were initially allocated.

 
From 1948, steam locomotives were carrying their new BR numbers with the exception of the Great Western engines

which retained their brass and cast iron cabside number plates below 10,000. The Southern engines were numbered in the 30,000s, the LMSR in the 40,000s and 50,000s, and the LNER engines appeared in the 60,000s. The new renumbering scheme also embraced a small number of diesel locomotives (mostly 0-6-0 shunters belonging to the former LMSR and LNER) which were allocated the numbered series in the 10,000s, while a small quantity of electric and gas turbine locomotives appeared in the 20,000s. Finally, the batch of WD ‘Austerity’ freight locomotives, built to Ministry of Supply design, and working on loan at the time of nationalisation, were purchased by BR in early 1949 and renumbered in the 90,000s. 

(Above) Prior to the introduction of block trainloads on Britain’s railways, the movement of loose-coupled rail wagons in marshalling yards was acknowledged as being the most mechanically demanding for steam power. The long periods of 'stop-start-forward-reverse' method of operation gave the diesel a definite advantage over steam for several reasons. Perhaps the most obvious is that a diesel can be operated by one man as opposed to a driver and fireman working on the footplate of an 0-6-0 tank or tender engine - both of which were commonly found in big yards in steam days. Also, the diesel shunter can carry sufficient fuel to keep them working longer than an 0-6-0 steam locomotive, which by its very nature, had to replenish its coal bunker and water tanks at the nearest loco facility. This is a general view of the Inward Marshalling Yard at Hull during early British Ra ilways days in July 1954. In the foreground, a Class DEJ4 BR/English Electric 350hp shunter No 13075 propels Esso tanks into the sidings. Photo © GEC-Alstom. 

(Below) At the turn of the century, the pre-grouping railway companies (pre-1923) were quick to exploit the volume of traffic originating from the Yorkshire coal mines and iron and steel mills in the Don valley. Situated in the heart of the South Yorkshire coalfield, a Robinson Class ‘04’ 2-8-0 hauls a heavy freight through Wath-on-Dearne The route was electrified between Wath and Dunford Bridge in 1952, and two years later the overhead 1,500 volt dc system was completed throughout between Sheffield and Manchester over the Woodhead route. In the foreground a pair of Class DEJ4 diesel shunters head coal wagons on the slow lines. Photo © GEC-Alstom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1948, the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) announced its preference for developing future steam power rather than dabbling with new, untried diesel traction. This led to the Locomotive Interchange Trials, supervised by RA Riddles, then member of the BTC’s Railway Executive who was responsible for mechanical and electrical engineering. He was assisted by ES Cox, then executive member of the British Transport Commission for design - both ex-LMSR men, who doubtless had in mind their well intentioned plan for evaluating the relative performance of former companies engines in normal operating conditions. However it came as no great surprise that out of the twelve new BR standard classes (numbered in the 70-80,000s and 92,000s) many designs incorporated the latest features taken from LMSR practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
(Above) In 1951, the 'Britannia' Class 7MT Pacific was the first of the twelve new British Railways Standard types to appear. Designed at Derby and built at Crewe, with sections also designed at Brighton, Doncaster and Swindon, beautifying was not on the agenda, the basic ethos being simplicity in construction, lower coal consumption, and longer mileage between classified repairs. The new 7MT Britannia class was a straightforward 2-cylinder design, and probably more of an amalgam of former companies engines than any other Standard type. The boiler, cylinders and valve gear came from LMS practice, the main frame and trailing truck from the Southern Railway, and the crossheads and slidebars were influenced by the LNER, whilst the GWR inspired the mechanical lubrication and various other steam fittings. (Top Left) Sporting a Stratford shedplate (30A) on the smokebox door, the doyen of the class, No 70000 Britannia, heads south from York. (Left) No 70011 Hotspur heads the ‘up’ ‘Norfolkman’ past Norwich Trowse on September 5th 1952.  

(Right) When production of the new BR standard locomotives was launched in 1949, the decision caused some controversy amongst railmen, who argued that there was no need to develop a new

standard class type, since there were plenty of locomotives of equal ability already available throughout the BR Regions.  It was only to be expected that many locomen had an in-built loyalty towards former company’s engines, so the new BR Class 7MT received a mixed reaction, ranging from high enthusiasm on the GE section of the Eastern Region (though this is hardly surprising since they previously had no larger engines than the Class 5MT 'Sandringhams' and Thompson Class B1s) to downright complaint and criticism on the Western Region which had Class 8P 'Kings' and 7P 'Castles' available. Of the first 25 Britannias built, Nos 70000-03/05-13 were allocated to the Eastern Region, albeit their days were already numbered with the arrival of EE Co Type 4s Nos D200, D202-5 at Stratford for East Anglian services out of Liverpool Street. Both photos show the transitional period at the London terminus, including a glimpse of a new EE Co Type 3 (Class 37) introduced from 1961 onwards and featured below. Photos EA Wood-D Hey collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In many ways, this page has been the most difficult because the newly-formed Eastern Region covered the southern area of the old LNER, comprised of three main companies with lines running into London: the Great Northern Railway, Great Central Railway and the Great Eastern Railway. At the same time, the newly-formed North Eastern Region was responsible for the northern area of the old LNER, which basically covered the same area as that of the old North Eastern Railway prior to grouping in 1923. Indeed, apart from a few minor adjustments to Regional boundaries, the resultant Eastern Region from 1967 onwards covered the same network of lines as the old LNER.

As mentioned earlier, BR’s Regional boundaries diminished significantly over the years, therefore it is meaningless to classify any particular class of locomotive as belonging to any one Region during the transition from steam. For example, this ex-North British Class D30 4-4-0 (Right) heading a local train away from Wall station Northumberland, is typical of the inter-Regional workings to be found on the ex-NBR's lines crossing the Anglo-Scottish border. Therefore, to help younger readers, who were not around to witness steam days - and wonder at  the complexity of its origins -the picture gallery (below) might throw some light on the subject. 

Doubtless there will be many enthusiasts who disagree with my choice of steam locos - you’ll have your own favourites, surely - but the gallery does illustrate the difficulty BR faced in standardising the steam fleet, particularly in view of the huge number of BR steam classes involved - many originating from pre-Grouping days. I do recommend visiting the  LNER Encyclopedia website which provides a treasure trove of information about LNER locomotives based on the old Whyte wheel arrangement...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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