BR EASTERN REGION (ER)

Please note...some photos have been re-sized to fit the page. If the text is illegible - simply click on photo (as you would a thumbnail) to see the correct formatted (readable) size.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 railway network was now made up of the Western Region (WR), Southern Region (SR), Scottish Region (ScR), Eastern Region (ER), North Eastern Region (NER) and London Midland Region (LMR) - the old London North Easter Railway (LNER) being divided amongst the two newly-formed Regions: Eastern and North Eastern, whilst the Scottish Region was composed partly of the former LMS and LNER.

This page deals with the Eastern Region that was formed in 1948 to take over the southern area of the old London North Eastern Railway. When the LNER was formed in 1923 its southern network of lines belonged to three main pre-grouping railway companies with routes running into London: the Great Northern Railway (GNR) which terminated at Kings Cross; the Great Central Railway (GCR) which ran into Marylebone via the Metropolitan Railway and the Great Eastern Railway (GER) which terminated at Liverpool Street station in 1874. 

A separate page deals with the North Eastern Region which was responsible for the northern area of the old LNER. The North Eastern Region 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Above) 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 Ivatt ex-LMSR Mogul No 43157 skirting the sand dunes at Caistor on Sea on the East Anglian coast in April 1957 is not unusual. The class could be found working at various locations of the Eastern Region and North Eastern Regions. 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 some enthusiasts will 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 wealth of information about LNER locomotives based on the old Whyte wheel arrangement...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Above) 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. The Great Central Railway started as the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, which had a connection with the Great Northern Railway at Retford, giving access to London. The GCR came into its own when the line from Annesley via Nottingham, Leicester and Rugby was opened to London in 1898. This shot was taken in the heart of the South Yorkshire coalfield, and shows one of Robinson's ex-GCR Class ‘04’ 2-8-0s hauling a heavy freight through Wath-on-Dearne The ownership of the Woodhead route passed to the LNER in 1923, then to BR's Eastern Region in 1948. In the foreground a pair of Class DEJ4 diesel shunters head coal wagons on the slow lines.

(Below) The former Great Central main line between Sheffield and Manchester was electrified by the LNER in 1939 using the Government recommended standard 1,500 volt dc, with overhead line current collection. Work was halted at the outbreak of World War 2, and the electrification was not completed until 1955 – the same year that the BR Modernisation Plan was announced (including in its proposal the electrification of the WCML) It was generally assumed that the 1,500 volt dc system would be the future British standard, but the BTC adopted the 25kv 50-cycle ac system as used on the French National Railways. By 1965, the non-standard equipment on the Woodhead route was becoming life expired, and in 1970 all passenger services were withdrawn. The line remained open as a dedicated freight route until July 1981. Class 04 2-8-0 No 63573 heads a westbound freight through Hazlehead Bridge station in April 1952. Hazelhead station closed to passengers in March 1950 and local goods traffic ceased in May 1964. Photo © ER Morten.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Above) The Class EM1 Bo-Bo (later TOPS Class 76s) were primarily freight locomotives originally numbered 26000-26057 in the fleet, however the final batch of 12 locomotives were fitted with a train heating boiler for passenger work, including No 26047 Diomedes, seen here heading a rake of 16-and-20 ton mineral wagons near Penistone on 1st April 1961. Photo copyright D Hey 

(Below) 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. Sporting a Norwich shedplate (32A) on the smokebox door, No 70011 Hotspur heads the ‘up’ ‘Norfolkman’ past Norwich Trowse on September 5th 1952.  

(Below) 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, including downright complaint and criticism on the Western Region which had Class 8P 'Kings' and 7P 'Castles' available. However, the 'Britannias' received high praise on the GE section of the Eastern Region, though this is hardly surprising since locomen previously had no larger engines than the Class 5MT 'Sandringhams' and Thompson Class B1s, the latter having a fire grate area of only 27.9 sq ft compared the 'Britannias' 42 sq ft. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Above) Of the first 25 Britannias built, Nos 70000-03/05-13 were allocated to Stratford and Norwich sheds on the Eastern Region in 1951, albeit their days were numbered following the arrival of EE Co Type 4s Nos D200, D202-5 at Stratford in 1958. Having been displaced from East Anglian services out of Liverpool Street, several Britannias were transferred to Immingham to work the Cleethorpe-Kings Cross expresses and the Grimsby fish trains. This photo was taken on 9th August 1963 and shows the transitional period at the London Liverpool Street 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 TO BE CONTINUED...