The LNER 2-6-4 Tank Locomotives
For various reasons, the LNER did not have many 2-6-4T locomotives until Thompson introduced his L1 as a part of his standardisation plan. The LNER inherited 2-6-4Ts from the Great Central Railway (GCR) and London Transport (ex-Metropolitan Railway), but never built any more of these designs. Gresley is thought to have seriously considered a passenger 2-6-4T design in the 1920s. After serious derailments of similar locomotives on the Southern Railway, he amended the design to that of a 2-6-2T.
Class | Builder | Designer | First Built | Last Withdrawal | Comments |
L1 | GCR | Robinson | 1914 | 1955 | Reclassifed as L3 in 1945. |
L2 | Metropolitan | Maunsell / Hally | 1925 | 1948 | Taken over from London Transport in 1937. |
L3 | GCR | Robinson | 1914 | 1955 | Reclassifed from L1 in 1945. |
L1 | LNER | Thompson | 1945 | 1962 |