The LNER Encyclopedia

A friend of mine is currently making some North Eastern locos for Train Sim, and we'd both like to know where the generally accepted position for the rear numbers on NER tank engines is.

No. 66 "Aerolite" has them on the bufferbeam, wheras the Class H (Y7), No. 1310, has the number on the rear of the cab; I've also seen a photo showing the number on the rear bufferbeam of a Class O (G5), and one in the NERA's Record Vol. 1 of the number on the bunker of an H2 (J79).

I've been thinking it could be something that was changed at a certain point in time, or whether there were circumstances requiring the number to be in a different location?

North Eastern Railway tank engines were identified by large brass number plates placed on the bunker sides and also by 6" block gold figures and numbers shaded blue on both the front and rear buffer beams. The class of loco was also shown on the buffer beam below the number. The exceptions to this were the diminutive tanks of Class H and Class K which did not have a bunker to the rear of the cab and Class H2 which had a bunker that was too small to attach a standard number plate to. On these locos the the number was painted on the rear and there is a photo of Class H2 No. 407 on the Cawood, Wistow and Selby Light Railway in Vol. 3 of The North Eastern Record showing this.

Tom.

Ah thanks, so the Class O and A would have their number painted on the rear bufferbeam? I'm certain I've seen a photo of a Class O like that.

As an aside, do you, or does qnyone else, know when were the Westinghouse pumps were moved from inside the cab to the front of the left hand tank, on the Class A's and O's?

I suspect it would have been around the aame time, so the mid-1890s?

As I said above, all NER tank locos had the number on both the front and rear buffer beams. Here's a photo of the rear Class O No. 468 at Richmond where the number and class can be seen on the buffer beam.
According to Ken Hoole, following a complaint from staff about steam escaping into the cab from the Westinghouse pump, plans were drawn up in 1912 to move the pump on the Class O from the cab to the front of the left hand tank. He gives no date for the similar move on the Class A but apart from escaping steam the noise from the pump must have been deafening within the confines of the cab so the desire to have it moved must have been present from shortly after the class was introduced.

Tom.

Thanks for that, a friend just showed me a passage written by Nick Campling, that states the Westinghouse aparatus was moved on the Class A's "...at about the time of the groupings." Which I do find somewhat odd, however photographs of the class' left-hand side prior to LNER ownership are rather rare, the only two I've found both have the aparatus missing from the exterior of locos in the post-1892 livery, which supports the above info.

Here's a scan of a postcard of a Class A with the Westinghouse pump moved to the front of the left hand tank. It's said to date from c1920.
Tom.

Ah, typical! My friend has just removed the Westinghouse aparatus from that livery of the model, he may leave it as-is, as this is the only photo I've seen of a Class A in NER livery with the pump on the tank-front, so to cover 1892-1922 the version with the aparatus in the cab would cover the most bases.

However, it may warrant another variant, as the above loco doesn't appear to have painted coupling rods, perhaps a policy introduced during the First World War, or alongside the 1917 freight austerity livery...