Great Eastern Railway
What operated GER Class T26 from 1891 to Dec 1922?
GER Class T26 The GER Class T26 was a class of steam tender locomotives designed by James Holden for the Great Eastern Railway . At the 1923 grouping they passed to the London and North Eastern Railway , who classified them E4 . Eighteen survived into British Railways ownership in 1948 , and the last was withdrawn in 1959 , making them the last s at work in Britain . Their BR numbers were 62780–62797 . Overview . Derived from the GER Class T19 but with much smaller driving wheels and intended for mixed traffic work , ninety T26s were built between 1891 and 1896 with cylinders ( later ) and boiler pressure , numbered 417–506 . From 1898 some locos were rebuilt with pressure boilers thus when an additional ten T26s ( numbers 1250–1259 ) were built in 1902 these were fitted with the new boilers as standard . Operation . The GER used air brakes but , when introduced , more than half the T26 locomotives were additionally fitted with vacuum brake ejectors for operating over the lines of other railway companies . T26s were particularly associated with the movement of horses by rail to and from Newmarket Racecourse , and thus travelled widely . T26s were often used on passenger trains to the Norfolk Coast , particularly Wells and Cromer . After the grouping of 1923 Claud Hamilton s took over most passenger traffic to Wells . Accidents and incidents . - On 12 July 1913 , locomotive No . 471 was run into by an express passenger train at , Essex due to a signalmans error . Three people were killed and fourteen were injured . - On 20 January 1915 , at County School railway station , the junction of the line to Aylsham and Wroxham , Y14 629 , hauling 12 empty and 4 loaded wagons , ran into the 6 coach passenger train , hauled by T26 locomotive 446 . Nobody was injured in the crash , which took place at low speed , although both locomotives were damaged , along with other vehicles in both trains . - On 27 May 1931 , locomotive No . 7486 was hauling a passenger train that overran signals and was in a head-on collision with a passenger train hauled by locomotive No . 7457 at station , Norfolk . One person was killed and fifteen were injured . Livery . On introduction the T26 locomotives were painted in the standard GER livery of Ultramarine Blue over an undercoat of French Grey , with black smokebox and vermillion buffer beams and lining . From 1915 locos were not given a top coat and ran in French Grey undercoat but with the boiler bands picked out in black . After the amalgamation of the GER into the LNER in 1923 ( the Grouping ) , the E4s received the LNER mixed traffic livery of black with single red lining and red buffer beams . This lasted until the early 1940s when unlined black with red buffer beams was introduced , and the surviving locos were to carry this livery until their withdrawal . Preservation . One ( GER No . 490 , BR No . 62785 ) has survived to form a part of the National Collection and is currently located at Bressingham Steam Museum . There are Transacord recordings of their gentle chuffing through the byways of East Anglia .