Furness Railway Class 115

The Furness Railway Class 115 was a class of five 4-6-4 (or Baltic) tank locomotives of the Furness Railway. They were designed by David Rutherford* and built by Kitson and Company of Leeds between 1920 and 1921. The author Bob Rush gave them the unofficial classification N1 in his book.
== History ==
=== Characteristics ===
Kitson built and delivered four of these machines; Nos. 115-118, (W/Nos. 5292-5) in late 1920, and No. 119 (W/No. 5296) in January 1921. The design was clean and comparatively simple, resulting in one of the finest express tank locomotives of the period. They were the only Furness locomotives built with Belpaire fireboxes. They were also the only 4-6-4 tanks with inside cylinders ever used in Britain, and the only ones to lack a superheater.
There is a curious difference between the official FR diagram and the locomotives built: The diagram shows that the running board is level from the buffer beam to the rear of the smokebox before being raised above the coupled wheels, whereas on the locomotives the raising was at the front of the smokebox. Due to the size and angle of the boiler, the tanks had to be built quite narrow and hold only 1,475 gallons, with the balance of 1,325 gallons in a tank under the bunker. The absence of externally cylinders and valves did not detract from the appearance of the engines, but improved it.
They were built to the very limits of the loading gauge; if one of them had to stand overnight at Whitehaven, it had to be parked outside, as the shed doors could not cope with a chimney height of 13 ft. 6 in. above the rails. 
=== Service ===
The Jumbos, as they were promptly called, were very successful, although there was nothing like them in the FR before. Once the initial teething troubles had been ironed out, they were extremely popular with the crews.
In its first trials, No. 115 negotiated curves with a radius of five tracks without any problems. The coal and water capacity was sufficient for through traffic between Carnforth and Whitehaven. North of Whitehaven, however, on the LNWR Joint Lines or the Cleator and Workington Junction Line, they were not allowed to be used because of their weight - not that this prohibition was really necessary, for they far exceeded the motive power required for these routes. Their main duties were the up and down mail trains between Carnforth and Whitehaven and the morning express from Whitehaven. They also took over the through Midland Railway trains from Barrow and handed them over to that company at Carnforth East, as was the custom. They also appeared occasionally at Lancaster and Kendal, although not regularly.
The LMS listed them as 11100-4; 11102 was withdrawn in November 1934; 11104 followed in May 1935 and 11100-11101 in July of the same year. For some reason 11103 survived until 1940. Given the positive reports from crews and their status as "paid for" locomotives, it is unclear why the first of this class was withdrawn in quite an early stage. Most likely, their new owner found other locomotives whose lighter axle loads allowed greater flexibility in use.
=== Preservation ===
All members of the class were scrapped.
== Notes ==
*Given the comparatively short period of time that elapsed between the retirement of W. F. Pettigrew, Rutherford's predecessor, and the construction of these locomotives, doubts have arisen as to who actually designed them. It is possible that the original concept came from Pettigrew but that Rutherford initiated the project. To complicate matters further, there is a source (not cited by Rush) that says the key details were worked out by E. Sharples, the chief draughtsman at Barrow. One author, Peter Robbinson, strongly implies that these locomotives were indeed by Rutherford, and suggests the possibility that William Aslett, the former FR general manager, would have vetoed their introduction.
== Gallery ==
File:115 Kitson Works.jpg|No. 115 before delivery at Kitson's Airedale Foundry, Leeds.
File:11101 Postcard.jpg|No. 11101 (Ex. No. 116) in LMS days.
File:6419a6644ffbcef341f2b23bc049aa35.jpg|No. 11100 (Ex. No. 115) at Carnforth, LMS days.
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tank locomotives
Category:4-6-4 locomotives
Category:Furness locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Built in 1920
Category:Built in 1921
Category:Kitson locomotives
Category:United Kingdom
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:4-6-4 steam locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:4-6-4T locomotives
Category:4-6-4T steam locomotives
Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Category:Scrapped steam locomotives