Up the workers!
The Worsdell J27 0-6-0s
Oxford Rail's newly-released OO-scale models of the J27 0-6-0s prompt Pete Kelly to delve into the history of these rugged and powerful stalwarts.
Oxford Rail’s newly-released OO-scale models of the North Eastern Railway’s largest 0-6-0s, the P3s, which became J27s under the LNER, prompt Pete Kelly to delve into the history of these rugged and powerful stalwarts, some of which remained hard at work almost until the end of BR steam.
BUILT for the arduous task of hauling long goods trains in one of the most heavily-industrialised regions of the United Kingdom, the North Eastern Railway's P3 (LNER J27) 0-6-0s, introduced under Wilson Worsdell in 1906, were a modified version of the P2 (J26) engines built under the same Locomotive Superintendent from 1904.
Born at Monks Coppenhall near Crewe, Cheshire, in 1850, Worsdell worked for a short time at Crewe before crossing the Atlantic to gain more experience at the Pennsylvania Railroad's famous Altoona Works. By the time he returned home to work for the London & North Western Railway in 1871, he was just 21 – they were certainly made of sterner stuff back then!
At 33 years old in 1883, he became an assistant locomotive superintendent of the North Eastern Railway under his older brother, Thomas William, taking over the full position when his brother retired in 1890.
The largest of the NER's 0-6-0s, the P3s were powerful, hard-working engines, and the first 80 saturated (non-superheated) locomotives were built in several batches between 1906 and 1909, construction being undertaken at Darlington Works as well as by the North British Locomotive Co, Beyer, Peacock & Co and Robert Stephenson & Co.
These locomotives could be distinguished from the P2s (J26s) by their deeper fireboxes with shallower, sloping fire grates. To make room for these modifications, the boilers were raised and the clearance between fireboxes and rear axles was reduced.
With a working boiler pressure of 180lb and a driving wheel diameter of 4ft 7¼in, the J27s had two 18½ by 26in inside cylinders operated by slide valves and delivered a useful tractive effort of 24,640lb.
In 1921/22 Sir Vincent Raven, who succeeded Worsdell in 1910, further improved the design by building 25 of the 0-6-0s fitted with piston valves and Schmidt superheated boilers. A final 10 were built at Darlington's North Road Works under the auspices of the LNER in 1923, bringing the class total to 115. The final build figures were: Darlington Works, 65; North British, 20; Beyer, Peacock, 20; and Robert Stephenson, 10.
The superheated J27s could be identified by their extended
smokeboxes, although in later years many boiler swaps took place between superheated and saturated versions, with the locomotives working side by side on the same duties.
The last J27 to be built was
No. 2392, which the LNER changed to 5894 under its late-in-the-day renumbering scheme of 1946, and it eventually became No. 65894 under British Railways. It was one of the last five to remain at work (the others being Nos. 65811, 65879, 65882 and 65884) when the final withdrawals took place from the Blyth area in September 1967.
It's amazing to think that locomotives originating from the early 1900s should prove such valuable workhorses that, after withdrawals began in 1959, 36 of them were still hard at work hauling coal trains in County Durham and South Northumberland as late as the summer of 1966, by which time the ‘Deltics' had been pounding up and down the East Coast Main Line for several years!
For such straightforward freight engines, the J27s' history regarding minor detail differences was fairly convoluted and included different safety-valves, tall and short chimneys, balanced or unbalanced wheels, different valve arrangements and plenty more.
Throughout their long careers, they saw many allocation changes, too. For example, the sole remaining survivor, after first being allocated to Bank Top, Darlington in 1923, was reallocated to Ferryhill for coal train workings, then in 1930 to York, where it spent most of its career on ordinary goods trains.
Its superheated boiler was swapped for a saturated type at Darlington Works in 1963. During its twilight years, on October 2, 1966, it was transferred to Sunderland South Dock, joining the other surviving J27s to work coal trains in East Durham. Less than a year later, on September 9, 1967, it worked the last diagrammed steam duty from Sunderland shed.
It looked like the end when it and the others were sent to Tyne Dock for disposal, but as we shall learn, its rescuers were waiting in the wings.
Returning to the class as a whole, the superheated J27s were fitted with balance weights on their centre wheels for faster running, but by 1932 it had been decided to fit the balance weights to the saturated locomotives as well.
After the formation of the LNER, the J27s became much more widely distributed, with 12 superheated examples moving to the former Great Eastern Railway area after the first Gresley-designed J39 0-6-0s entered service from 1926 onwards.
The J27s could be seen at March, Cambridge, Peterborough East, Ardsley, Langwith and Grantham working alongside former GER types such as the capable Holden J17s.
Three went to Carlisle, from where they worked goods trains to and from Newcastle, and Newport (North Eastern Region) eventually saw more than 20 examples.
In 1939 the Diagram 57 boiler of the J27s was modified to produce a Diagram 57A version, the main difference being the newcomer's single rather than three-plate construction. The latter type could be recognised by their domes, which were mounted further back. A superheated version of the 57A boiler appeared in 1941.
Bringing the J27s into line with the company's overall loading gauge became a more urgent matter as war clouds gathered again in 1939. The answer was to replace the taller (and perhaps more elegant) NER chimneys with stubbier ones, repositioning the whistles and embracing other
minor changes, but despite all this some of the taller chimneys made a reappearance during the closing years of the war.
Most of the J27s returned to the North Eastern area, where their allocations embraced Heaton, Percy Main, North Blyth, Selby, Sunderland, West Hartlepool, Stockton, Neville Hill, South Blyth and Consett. As more powerful freight locomotives became available for the original long goods trains for which the J27s were designed, the 0-6-0s took up the equal challenge of working heavy mineral trains.
Sole survivor
After being sent to Tyne Dock to face oblivion, J27 No. 65894 was bought directly from British Railways by the pioneering North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group, which began a full restoration on site before moving the locomotive to the National Coal Board's workshops at Philadelphia, County Durham.
After this, work continued at Thornaby depot and final touches, including the fitting of vacuum brake and steam heating apparatus for working passenger trains, were undertaken by NELPG volunteers at ICI Billingham.
Following its arrival at the fledgling North Yorkshire Moors Railway fully restored as NER No. 2392 in October 1971, the J27 became the mainstay of services on the line before its full reopening on May 1, 1973, when it piloted Lambton tank No. 29 on a Royal Reopening Special.
It also appeared at the Stockton & Darlington 150 celebrations and cavalcade of August 31, 1975, but soon afterwards the J27 was withdrawn for boiler repairs and displayed at the National Railway Museum at York from 1977 until the early part of 1982.
After a further overhaul, No. 2392 returned to the NYMR during the summer of 1996 and hauled its first train since its long absence on June 6 of that year.
Although still based at the NYMR, the J27 has been hired out to several other preserved railways, including the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway, North Norfolk Railway, Nene Valley Railway, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, East Lancashire Railway and Wensleydale Railway. In 1998 the locomotive was certified to work on the main line, and the two trips it ran between Grosmont and Whitby marked the start of a regular service of steam specials on the Esk Valley line.
Keeping the locomotive in full working order for many more years than it ever spent in NER, LNER and British Railways service combined has been far from plain sailing. The owning group has had to deal with axlebox repairs, boiler tube leaks and cylinder casting fractures over the years.
The most recent overhaul to be completed on the locomotive took place in May 2018, when it was turned out in BR black livery as No. 65894 in readiness for that year's summer season on the NYMR, taking time out for a month on the Wensleydale Railway.
This year, No. 65894 has already visited the North Tyneside Steam Railway for the 30th Anniversary Gala which took place from July 9-11.
The models
Oxford Rail has just brought out a OO-scale model of an NER P3/LNER J27 featuring a highly-detailed body shell and underframe, with digital sound capability and a 21-pin socket.
More variations will soon become available, covering LNER and BR use, and Oxford will be tooling for many of the detail changes that the class saw over its lifespan, including different boiler types, chimneys and tenders.
The LNER-liveried plain black model of No. 1010 (OR76J27001) with a recommended retail price of £94, is on the shelves now.
Forthcoming variants will be No. 65837 in BR black with early emblems (OR76J27002),
No. 65817 in BR black with late crests (OR76J27003), and No. 1214 in LNERlined black livery (OR76J27004) at the same price.
These models will also be offered factory-fitted with digital ESU LokSound V5 sound at £175. Look for code numbers OR76J27001XS, OR76J27002XS, OR76J27003XS and OR76J27004XS respectively.
All models have die-cast chassis, NEM couplings and separately-fitted hand rails, and the following tooling variations have been catered for:
■ Two boilers (Diagrams 57 and 57A).
■ Two safety-valve designs (Ross pop and Ramsbottom).
■ Short and tall chimneys.
■ NER/LNER and BR smokebox doors.
■ Different tender coal rails.
■ Driving wheels with or without balance weights.