I have added a collection of photos featuring T.W.Worsdell & later J.Holden F4 and F5 (GER Class M15) 2-4-2T
The GER Class M15 was a class of 160 2-4-2T steam locomotives designed by Thomas William Worsdell and built for the Great Eastern Railway between 1884 and 1909. The original (F4) class of locomotives were fitted with Joy valve gear which was notoriously difficult to 'set'. This earned them the nickname of 'Gobblers' thanks to their high coal consumption rates. As a result, between 1911 and 1920, 32 of them were rebuilt by James Holden with Stephenson valve gear and higher pressure boilers. Despite this, the nickname stuck for many years after.
Rebuilding included the fitting of a higher pressure boiler, and also involved replacing Joy valve gear with Stephenson valve gear thus forming the M15R class.
Many were fitted with condensing gear for working in the London area. In 1949 seven F5s were fitted with vacuum-controlled regulators, converted from Westinghouse air brake to steam brake, and fitted with push-pull apparatus and trip cock gear for branch line operation. (67199 was never fitted with trip cock gear). Five of these locomotives worked trains on the line between Epping and Ongar, two (numbers 67199 and 67218) were allocated to Yarmouth for working the Yarmouth-Beccles line. 67218 would later be transferred to Epping in 1955. These seven received British Railway lined-black passenger livery; the rest were unlined-black.
One-hundred-and-eighteen M15s and all thirty-two M15rs (including numbers 789 and 790, the two locomotives that were rebuilt with GER Class G69 cabs), passed into London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) ownership at the 1923 grouping. The number 7000 was added to the ex-GER fleet.
On 1 January 1923 the majority of the class were allocated to Stratford Engine Shed and were employed on suburban traffic in East London on the lines out of Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street.
During World War 2 in 1940 a number of the class were taken out of service and had armoured plating added. They were then deployed on armoured trains, not only in their native East Anglia (Westerfield, Mistley and Tilbury), but in Kent, Lincolnshire and as far north as Aberdeen. They were also found at Ministry of Defence depots in the west of the country (Bicester, Long Marston and Wooton Dassett. By 1943 they were being returned to the LNER and were later fitted with brass plaques commemorating their role. These read - "LNER - during the war of 1939-1945 this locomotive was armoured and hauled defence trains on coast lines’
Thirty-seven F4s and all of the F5s, including 7218 and 7219 (ex-7789 and 7790), passed into British Railways (BR) ownership in 1948. Their BR numbers were:
Class F4: 67151-67187. (Fifteen of these F4s were allocated BR numbers but never carried them).
Class F5: 67188-67219
Withdrawal
Ten of the original series of forty engines constructed between 1884-87 were withdrawn in Great Eastern days, between September 1913 and December 1922. F4 withdrawals continued until 1937, and then again from 1943 to June 1956 when the last one, number 67157, was withdrawn from Kittybrewster. The F5 class remained intact until 1955 but withdrawal then proceeded rapidly, and they finally became extinct in May 1958.
67157 with cowcatchers at both ends on Kittybrewster shed 24th June 1956
https://tinyurl.com/2p9adsmr
Full collection starts here with
G.E.R. era
https://tinyurl.com/2p8kd87k
LNER era starts here with
7096
https://tinyurl.com/ycktttxu
to
7783
https://tinyurl.com/2p8p6czs
B.R. era starts here with
67155
https://tinyurl.com/3d25vs32
to
67229
https://tinyurl.com/2ptr86nz
Neil
https://tinyurl.com/2p9adsmr