Masterclass: ‘J69’

As humdrum as its role was, the station pilot was the star of its own little world. Richard Foster tells the complicated story of one such locomotive – the ‘J69’.

A detailed look at the ‘J69’, Liverpool Street’s steam-era station pilot.

Isn’t it funny how if a non-railway enthusiast friend or acquaintance tells you that their dad or granddad was an engine driver, just how many of them drove Flying Scotsman? You could almost believe that speeding between London and Edinburgh was the only job on the railway…

There were so many daily jobs on the steam-era railway that have disappeared. Many were humble, humdrum affairs, such as working the local branch line or the pick-up goods. Taking the named express, the trains that the public had all heard of, the ‘Flying Scotsman’, ‘Royal Scot’ or suchlike, was the preserve of the Top Link crews, an elite group of men at the very peak of their profession.

If there was one duty where humdrum met public fame, it was that of station pilot. The station pilot covered all manner of tasks. It would bring in coaches and take coaches away. At through stations, it would attach or detach coaches for diverging branch lines. The pilot could also be called on to take over from an ailing locomotive on a longer journey.

Shedmasters at more rural locations would usually roster whatever spare locomotive they had available, but the station pilot at a London terminus took on extra special significance.

Where else but London would the station pilot become something special? It’s why Great Western Railway management encouraged Hawksworth to develop the ‘15XX and ‘94XX’ panniers. They didn’t want people looking at 1920s locomotives on the modern, post-war railway.

The station pilot at a London terminus took on extra special significance

If there was one London terminus where the station pilot took on extra significance, it was Liverpool Street.

Anyone who has read the late Dick Hardy’s Steam in the Blood will know that Stratford shed had its fair share of problems in BR days, but it did make sure that the Liverpool Street pilot was always immaculately presented. This continued well into diesel days when Class 08 08833 stood sentinel in its immaculate Great Eastern Railway blue, lined in red with ‘cycling lion’ BR emblem and ‘cockney sparrow’ depot motif.

But 08833 was only following in the footsteps of No. 68619, arguably the most famous station pilot of all time. It caught the eye for its rich royal blue livery at a time when the rest of the railway was dirty black and green.

You could, therefore, be forgiven for thinking that James Holden’s ‘J69’ was a one-trick pony. That was far from the case – the design actually originated in its ability to be more than a shunter.

The Great Eastern Railway had traditionally used older, displaced main line locomotives for shunting and so James Holden penned an all-new shunter when he became locomotive superintendent in July 1885. The

50 ‘T18s’ may have revolutionised

GER shunting but an even more significant event occurred when

No. 294 was trialled on the increasingly busy commuter services to Enfield. It was a huge success and much more powerful than existing 2-4-2Ts.

Ten ‘T18s’ were built for passenger use and both Holden and Alfred Hill would go on to build four classes of 0-6-0Ts for the hugely intensive suburban system that became known as the ‘Jazz’. This is where the ‘J69’ story starts.

Actually, the ‘J69’ story starts with the ‘R24’ class of 1890. It looked remarkably like the ‘T18’ but was shorter overall.

It had a longer wheelbase, sported a smaller cab and the tanks were positioned further forwards.

The boiler on the first 100 ‘R24s’ was pressed to 140lbs/sq in. Those built from 1899 onwards received a boiler to a slightly different design that was pressed to 160lbs/sq in. Earlier locomotives began to be fitted with the later boiler. Increased train weights from 1902 required an even more powerful variant and another new boiler, pressed to 180lbs/sq in with a larger firebox, was produced.

Larger water tanks were fitted, increasing the water capacity from 1,000gal to 1,140gal; a further modification increased capacity to 1,180gal. The larger tanks were much wider than the cabs.

Confused by such minor-sounding modifications? They actually become vital to the ‘J69’ story.

These rebuilt ‘R24s’ became just that: they were classified ‘Rebuilt R24’. When the GER ordered more locomotives in 1904, they were built new with 180lbs/sq in boilers and 1,200gal water tanks with flush cab side sheets. They were given a new classification – ‘S56’.

Still confused? The LNER tried to bring some order to this seemingly haphazard classification system.

Locomotives with 160lb boilers and 1,000gal tanks became ‘J67’ and those with 180lb boilers and larger capacity tanks ‘J69’. But such simplicity didn’t last long.

Ten ‘Rebuilt R24s’ had been converted into shunter locomotives in 1912. As part of the changes, some had received the 160lb boiler but had retained their big tanks.

A further 19 ‘J69s’ followed suit from 1938, and all 29, because of their larger capacity tanks, became ‘J67/2’. Standard ‘J67s’ became ‘J67/1’. Even before all 19 ‘J67/2s’ had been created, No. 7332 was refitted with a larger boiler in 1940 and became a ‘J69’ once again. Fourteen ‘J67/2s’ returned to ‘J69’ status, with No. 68529 becoming the last in 1954.

1946 brought with it another new sub-class. No. 8587 became the first ‘J69/2’ when it emerged that June with a 180lb

boiler but retaining its 1,000gal tanks. Another 11 ‘J69/2s’ were created between 1946 and 1953.

The ‘J67/J69’ design originated with the heavy commuter traffic generated from Enfield and Chingford into Liverpool Street. They coped well and No. 7386 was once recorded at 47mph (believed to be a class maximum) with 16 coaches between Chingford and Highams Park. They were also well suited to working cross-london trains to Southern territory via the Thames Tunnel and the East London line.

Known as ‘Buckjumpers’, they were also excellent shunting locomotives and those classified as ‘passenger’ machines became especially popular for passenger pilot duties at main stations.

There were less taxing roles too. Cambridge kept one ‘Buckjumper’ for use on the 5½-mile light railway from Elsenham to Thaxted and Colchester employed another on the equally rural Kelvedon & Tollesbury Light Railway.

‘BUCKJUMPER’ HAUNTS

The growth of the commuter belt to places such as Romford and Ilford had a profound effect on the ‘Buckjumpers’. Train weights increased, particularly when Gresley articulated coaches came into service. Subsequent GER and LNER engineers developed more powerful 2-4-2Ts and 0-6-2Ts to take on such taxing work. The LNER authorities, therefore, had to find other work for these powerful 0-6-0Ts and spread them throughout its empire. Former Cheshire Lines Committee metals around Merseyside and Cheshire became popular ‘Buckjumper’ haunts. They were used around Trafford Park and the former Great Central Railway nerve centre at Gorton. After nationalisation, some ‘Buckjumpers’ in the area found their way to former LMS sheds. They even ventured into North Wales, accessing Wrexham via the former Wrexham, Mold & Connah’s Quay Railway.

Closer to familiar haunts, the class also found its way on to former Great Northern Railway metals in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, as well as penetrating Yorkshire where they became particularly popular on the stiff gradients of the East & West Yorkshire Union Railway around Leeds.

Scotland became an unlikely home for the ‘J67/J69S’. The LNER transferred 20 ‘J69s’ to former North British sheds in 1927-28. They went to sheds around Glasgow, Edinburgh and as far north as Perth. Some ventured on to former Caledonian and Glasgow & South Western metals. Scottish crews struggled with some of the Great Eastern fittings and they didn’t take to the newcomers, which didn’t offer a marked improvement over the native ‘J83s’. That said, No. 7089 served Perth General well as station pilot for 14 years.

Two ‘J67s’ found themselves on an

Liverpool Street’s ‘J69/1’ station pilot No. 68619 has been pressed into service to haul the 5.27pm Liverpool Street to Chingford on May 7 1959 after an ‘N7’ failed. The ‘N7s’ replaced the ‘Buckjumpers’ as commuter traffic in East London and Essex increased but No. 68619 proves that the class could still cope as it powers past Hackney Downs with two Gresley ‘Quint-art’ coach sets in tow. K.L. COOK/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON

G.W. POWELL/ COLOUR RAIL A rare colour photograph of ‘J67/1’ No. 68616 at work on the Kelvedon & Tollesbury Light Railway in June 1950. The line between Tiptree and the coastal Essex town of Tollesbury closed in 1951; the Tiptree-kelvedon section remained open for freight until 1962. No. 68616 was one of the two remaining passenger ‘J67s’ to receive a vacuum ejector alongside a Westinghouse pump in 1939.

RAIL ONLINE ‘J67/2’ No. 68492 rests at Edinburgh St Margarets in the early 1950s. Although cropped out of shot, it is coupled to an ex-‘j37’ 3,500gal tender for working the Lauder Light Railway. Despite its new role, it has the unbalanced wheels of a shunting ‘Buckjumper’; shunter versions also had a lever rather than a screw reverser.

RAIL PHOTOPRINTS Right: ‘J69’ No. 68532 became Departmental No. 43 after withdrawal in January 1959. It continued to serve until finally condemned in August that year. Two more ‘J69s’ became part of the Departmental fleet and lasted until 1962. Alongside No. 43 inside one of Stratford’s small sheds is ‘J66’ No. 32. The ‘J66’ or GER ‘T18’ was Holden’s first 0-6-0T design and set the standard for the subsequent ‘J65’, ‘J67’, ‘J69’ and ‘J68’ builds.

A.W. CROUGHTON/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON ‘J67’ No. 7169 was loaned to the Government for use at Cairnryan, near Stranraer, between 1942 and 1945. Not only did it gain a modified chimney but it also received the LNER lettering and numbers in this odd, square typeface, possibly applied by the US military.

ERIC FRY/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON ‘J69/1’ No. 68503 shows off its blend of Great Eastern and North British lines at Parkhead, Glasgow, in July 1954. As LNER No. 7341, it was one of 20 transferred from the Great Eastern to Scotland in 1927/28. It has received typical Cowlairs modifications: extended step under the bunker and complementary handrail, different style of coal rails and Ross ‘pop’ safety valves fitted in a square box. It also carries a ‘3F’ power classification above the larger size number.

T.G. HEPBURN/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON ‘J69/1’ No. 7384 rubs shoulders with Gresley ‘Pacifics’ on former Great Northern territory at Grantham on August 2 1934. It was built as an ‘R24’ in 1895 and rebuilt in 1907. It retains its wooden cab roof. The lever under the handrail on the smokebox side controls the Macallan variable blastpipe, which was introduced in LNER days.

RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON ‘J69/1’ No. 7087 at Stratford shed in the 1930s. This was one of 14 ‘Buckjumpers’ that BR inherited that were fitted with tripcocks for working freight services on London Underground’s East London Line through to the Southern Railway via the Brunels’ Thames Tunnel.