North Staffordshire Railway L Class (1908)

North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) New L Class is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive designed by John H. Adams, the third son of William Adams. They were designed as a development as the previous L Class, adding a boiler common to the M Class and differed from the L Class with, among other things higher bunker sides and new cab roofs, and the abandonment of the cast safety valve cover. A total of 28 of these locomotives were built between 1908 and 1923, with the final four constructed under the auspices of the newly formed LMS with the whole class withdrawn by the end of 1937. There is one survivor.
The class were built at the NSR's Stoke works in four batches with a number of differences in weight, grate area and heating surfaces. Those built in 1913 had saturated Belpaire boilers identical to those on the H1 Class of 0-6-0s. The final batch had slightly fewer boiler tubes and did not have condensers nor lagging on the side tanks. In 1921, numbers 18 and 93 were experimentally converted to oil burning.
Although it was primarily built as a goods tank engine, it proved its worth on passenger trains as well and became an ideal mixed traffic tank locomotive. After grouping they travelled much further than any other NSR class, and thus became one of the most well known from the NSR.
All entered the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) stock upon formation in 1923, although with the LMS policy of standardisation, many of the NSR classes were prime targets for early scrapping due to the small size of the classes. As a result, all of them were withdrawn by the end of 1937. One was sold to the Longmoor Military Railway whilst five more were sold to Manchester Collieries Ltd. The rest were scrapped.
The Livery of the 'New L' Class was the NSR's Madder lake with straw lining, and NORTH STAFFORD lettering on the side tanks along with the company crest. the number appeared on the bunker. In LMS days some members of the class merely had the North Staffordshire lettering removed and the first few through the works received their new LMS number in NSR style. However, soon enough they received the standard plain black freight livery with large numerals on the side tanks.
No. 2 - one of the locomotives sold to the Manchester Collieries Ltd - was restored to NSR livery at Crewe to celebrate the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1960 and put on show at Crewe works staged by British Railways. In her absence, LMS 3F 'Jinty' no. 47669 was loaned to the colliery. It then returned to colliery work but was then saved for preservation by being placed in the Staffordshire County Council museum at Shugborough Hall. In 1984 it was moved to Chatterley Whitfield Mining museum, and in 1995 it moved into the National collection and was on display at NRM Shildon. It was delisted from the collection in April 2016 and donated to the Foxfield Railway Stoke on Trent for display and eventual overhaul.
Of the five engines sold to Manchester Collieries Ltd's Walkden colliery, all of them had names. No. 2 - which was withdrawn as LMS no. 2271 - was named 'Princess'. No. 2 recieved the cylinders, wheels, and frames from her 'brother', no. 72 'Sir Robert' in 1964 during an overhaul. Due to the overhaul, 'Princess' has become something of a hybrid of two engines, and it could be argued that she should be painted as no. 72 - the jury is still out.
Category:United Kingdom
Category:Locomotives
Category:0-6-2T steam locomotives
Category:0-6-2 locomotives
Category:0-6-2 steam locomotives
Category:Side tank locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tank locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:North Staffordshire Railway
Category:NSR Locomotives
Category:LMS locomotives
Category:Built in 1908
Category:National Railway Museum
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge
Category:Sole survivor