Harrison

**Harrison** is an LNER B12 and the brother of Alfred.

## Bio:

In 1969, Harrison went on the run to escape the cutter's torch along with Green Arrow, Alfred, and Crovan to try and find their way to the National Railway Museum in York where they wanted to be preserved, however the four engines ended up in the shunting yards of Bedford St. Johns where they decided to sleep for the night much to the annoyance of Harrison, Alfred, and Crovan. A little while later, Harrison awoke to hear the sound of some engines coming alerting the other three engines thinking that diesels were coming towards them, but instead they encountered Rosie, Neville, Joseph, and Murdoch who were on the run from scrap too. Shortly after they encountered Nickolas and Serena who were followed up by Geoffrey. After that all the engines laid low at Bedford Sheds to refuel on coal and water, while there Alfred was once again burning the phrase "Never trust anyone but an LNER" into Harrison's mind. At Leicester, he was told by his brother to go somewhere else so the diesels wouldn't be able to find them easily, so Harrison decided to go to the Bluebell Railway with Neville, Nickolas, and Rosie. However on the way to the Bluebell, Harrison was annoying the other engines by saying the most horrible things and the final straw came when he insulted Nickolas' class to which the Jinty 3F took offences deeply to, the Jinty 3F bashed the Blue B12 aside and left the group to find the Bluebell Railway on his own. Neville and Rosie also told Harrison off before steaming off after Nickolas. After that Harrison felt guilty for what he said and reserved away in the opposite direction feeling ashamed of himself. The following morning, Harrison briefly encountered Geoffrey at Kidderminster who asked him if he had some place to go and told the B12 about the Severn Valley Railway before leaving to head to London while Harrison made his way to the Severn Valley Railway where he ended up being preserved.

In 1986, Harrison was the first engine to greet Ben the D3/12 diesel shunter who had just been bought by the Severn Valley Railway, while showing him around the railway. Near the end of the tour, Harrison asked Ben that they thought they were expecting him a few days earlier to which the D3/12 explained that he was finishing up his last shunting duties at Eastleigh Works as well as helping a Jinty 3F. Harrison was taken aback when Ben mentioned the engine he helped was in fact Nickolas, the blue B12 was hoping he was alright as did Ben who was puzzled of why Harrison seemed nervous and worried. Harrison reassured Ben that he was alright and left to take another tour train around the railway.

## Appearances:

### Specials:

* 2019- 1963 (cameo)
* 2020- 1969
* 2021- 1970, 1986

## Technical Details:

### Basis:

Harrison is based on the LNER B12.

At the time of their introduction, the "Claud Hamilton" 4-4-0s were becoming outclassed on the heaviest express. Although an enlarged 4-4-0 design was mooted, it was realised that any such design would have too high an axle load for the tracks of the Great Eastern Railway, which had a relatively low restriction. Another design constraint was the short turntables used at the time. This meant that a 4-6-0 design was decided upon, although the design was relatively short compared to similar designs introduced at the same time.

### LNER:

Seventy were still in service at the 1923 grouping, the LNER adding 7000 to the numbers of nearly all the ex-Great Eastern locomotives, including the Class S69 locomotives. A further ten were ordered in 1928 to ease a power shortage caused by the stalled development on a new class of 4-6-0 locomotives, and the cancellation of the planned suburban 2-6-4T tank locomotive due to the adverse press publicity caused by the Sevenoaks derailment.

All the B12 locomotives were fitted with vacuum ejectors between 1924 and 1929 (the 1928 batch had them from new). Fifty-five locomotives were fitted with ACFI feedwater heaters between 1927 and 1934, but these were removed between 1934 and 1942. The first substantive change was the fitting of Lenz poppet valves to the 1928 batch (from new), and six of the ex-GE locomotives (8516/19/25/32/33/40). These locomotives were then classified as class **B12/2**. The poppet valves were not a great success and they all reverted to or were converted to piston valve engines between 1931 and 1934.

As newer power became available, the locomotives’ low axleload made them ideal candidates for transfers elsewhere. consequently, between 1931 and 1942, twenty-five locomotives were transferred to Scotland for use on the former Great North of Scotland Railway lines.

Starting in 1932, a programme began of rebuilding the B12 locomotives with larger diameter boilers. The Diagram 99A boilers utilised were 5-foot-6-inch (1,676 mm) diameter, compared with the 5-foot-1 1⁄8-inch (1,553 mm) diameter originals. These rebuilt locomotives were classified as class **B12/3**, and as they had a higher axleload, none of the Scottish-allocated locomotives were included. The last to be rebuilt was 8549 in 1944, leaving 8534 as the last English B12/1; but it was withdrawn the following year without being rebuilt.

As the Scottish locomotives also required new boilers, a new design was started in 1941, based on the old design but with a round-topped firebox and other detail changes. Thirty of these Diagram 25A boilers were manufactured at Doncaster and Stratford between 1942 and 1946. Nine were sent to Inverurie Works for fitting to B12 locomotives, the remainder went to Stratford for fitting to class J20 locomotives. The B12 locomotives fitted with the Diagram 25A boiler (1500/04/05/07/08/11/24/26) were classified as class **B12/4**.

In the 1942 LNER renumbering scheme, the class was allocated the range **[[1]]**, but only eleven (7426/37/49/67/70/72/76/79/82/88/91) were renumbered before the scheme was abandoned due to the war. In the 1946 scheme, the class was allocated the **1500–1580** block, with gaps for the two withdrawn locomotives.

## Trivia:

* Harrison survived into preservation, and lives at the Severn Valley Railway, as shown in 1986.
* In the film 1963: Times of Changes, Harrison has made a brief cameo appearance at Top Sheds during the discussion between Alfred and Luca.
* Harrison's number 1508 is a real number of a B12 which was later changed to 8508 during the early days of the LNER and later changed back to its original number in 1944 before being renumbered to 61508 in the days of British Railways.
	+ The real LNER B12 numbered 1508 that Harrison is based on was scrapped in 1953.