page_title: LNER Class V2
section_title: Working life
hierarchical_section_title: LNER Class V2 / Working life
caption_attribution_description: English: Down ECML express entering Peterborough North. View southward, towards London under Crescent Bridge; ex-Great Northern ECML. The train is the Saturday 10.30 King's Cross - Scarborough/Hull express, headed by Gresley V2 2-6-2 No. 60862 (one the few fitted with a double blast-pipe and chimney).
context_page_description: The London and North Eastern Railway Class V2 2-6-2 steam locomotives were designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for express mixed traffic work, and built at the LNER shops at Doncaster and Darlington between 1936–1944. The best known is the first of the class, 4771 Green Arrow, which is the sole survivor of the class.
context_section_description: First of the initial batch for five Doncaster-built V2s was number 4771, which emerged in June 1936 and was promptly named "Green Arrow", after the express freight service for which the locomotives had been built. Successful trials with this quintet led to both Doncaster and Darlington works producing further batches. The final locomotive, number 3695, was delivered from Darlington in July 1944.
  The V2 had the free steaming qualities that the LNER's operating department required. Not only were they capable of working vacuum braked freights at up to 60 mph (97 km/h), they could deputise for Pacifics on express passenger schedules. In peak condition a V2 could almost match the Pacifics for sustained high speed running. One locomotive was reliably timed at 93 mph (150 km/h) on the Yorkshire Pullman while another attained 101.5 mph (163 km/h) on a test train.
  The V2s were recognised as versatile and powerful locomotives by 1939, but their reputation was more firmly established by their remarkable feats of haulage during World War II.  Trains of over 20 carriages loaded to 700 long tons (710 t) proved within their abilities. On at least one occasion a single V2 hauled 26 coaches from Peterborough to London. Given this capacity for work it was not surprising that construction was allowed to continue through the war years. The V2s performed equally competently for British Railways, leaving their mark on the East Coast Main Line, the Waverley Route between Carlisle and Edinburgh and on the ex-Great Central main line between London Marylebone and Sheffield.
  Significant modifications were made to the V2 class during its service life.  In 1946 a series of derailments was traced to the design of the leading pony truck, which was unduly sensitive to the often poor track conditions, a legacy of heavy wartime use and lack of maintenance. Modifications to the suspension cured the problem.  During the 1950s cracked monoblocs became increasingly frequent, but replacement was expensive and in 1956 the decision was taken to replace the monobloc with separate cylinder castings.  Seventy-one engines were thus modified: they can be identified by the presence of external steam pipes from smokebox to cylinders.   Finally, around 1960 experiments were made with fitting double chimneys to two V2s.  This yielded no significant performance gain, but eight engines were subsequently fitted with Kylchap exhausts.  These so-called 'Super V2s' were reckoned to be fully equal in performance to the larger Pacifics.  However, plans to fit Kylchap chimneys to the remainder of the class were abandoned once it became clear that replacement with diesel locomotives was imminent.
  The V2s' swansong came on the Edinburgh—Aberdeen run, working alongside the last LNER A2s and A4s. The entire class was withdrawn from service between 1962 and 1966.
caption: 60862 fitted with a double chimney
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