LNWR Webb Coal Tank

LNWR Webb Coal Tank

The sole survivor at Dinting in 1982

Type and origin Power type Steam Designer F. W. Webb Build date 1881–1897 Total produced 300

Specifications Configuration 0-6-2T UIC class C1 Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver diameter Loco weight 43 long tons 15 cwt (98,000 lb or 44.5 t) Fuel type Coal Boiler pressure 150 psi (1.03 MPa) Superheater None Cylinders Two, inside Cylinder size 17 in × 24 in (432 mm × 610 mm) Valve gear Stephenson Valve type Slide valves

Performance figures Tractive effort 16,530 lbf (73.5 kN)

Career Operators LNWR · LMS · BR Power class 2F Number in class 1 January 1923: 292, 1 January 1948: 64 Withdrawn 1921–1958 Disposition One preserved, remainder scrapped.

The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) Webb Coal Tank is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive. They were called "Coal Tanks" because they were a side tank version of Webb's standard 17 in Coal Engine, an 0-6-0 tender engine for slow freight trains.

Design

The design was introduced in 1881 by F.W. Webb and had the same cheaply produced cast iron wheels and H-section spokes as the tender engines. A trailing radial truck supporting the bunker was added also with two similarly cast iron wheels. Three hundred were built between 1881 and 1897.

Operational history

Four (LNWR nos. 178, 484, 1257, 69) were withdrawn in January–February 1920 and a further four (LNWR nos. 142, 994, 782, 1012) in July and November 1922, so at the 1923 grouping, 292 passed to the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). They were renumbered from the LNWR's random allocation based on vacant numbers, to a solid block sequence 7550–7841, and given the power classification 1F. Many locomotives still in service in 1934 were renumbered by the addition of 20,000 to their number.

Sixty-four locomotives passed into British Railways ownership in January 1948 and they were numbered 58880–58937, but not all examples survived long enough to carry their BR numbers.

Preservation

The surviving Coal Tank wearing LMS unlined 1920s livery as 7799 when visiting the Severn Valley Railway in September 2012

One Coal Tank number BR 58926, ex-LMS 7799, originally LNWR 1054, has survived in preservation on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, normally carrying its LNWR livery and number. On 10 February 2012, the locomotive was photographed, newly restored to BR livery and numbered 58926. Railway Herald issue 302. In summer 2012 it was repainted in its 1920s LMS scheme as No.7799.

External links

• Goods Engines of LNWR