NER Class S3

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NER Class S3 LNER Class B16
A B16/1 at Croxdale on 12 June 1954
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Vincent Raven Builder NER Darlington Build date 1919-1924 Total produced 70
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 4-6-0 Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Leading dia. 3 ft 1 in (0.940 m) Driver dia. 5 ft 8 in (1.727 m) Wheelbase 27 ft 8 in (8.43 m) engine (B16/1 and B16/3) 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m) engine (B16/2) 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m) tender 52 ft 5+7⁄8 in (15.999 m) total (B16/1 and B16/3) 53 ft 3+7⁄8 in (16.253 m) total (B16/2) Length 62 ft 6 in (19.050 m) (B16/1 and B16/3) 63 ft 4 in (19.304 m) (B16/2) Width 8 ft 8+3⁄4 in (2.661 m) Height 13 ft 0+1⁄2 in (3.975 m) Axle load 20 long tons (20 t; 22 short tons) Loco weight B16/1, 77.7 long tons (78.9 t; 87.0 short tons) B16/2, 79.2 long tons (80.5 t; 88.7 short tons) B16/3, 78.95 long tons (80.22 t; 88.42 short tons) Tender weight 46.6 long tons (47.3 t; 52.2 short tons) Total weight B16/1, 124.3 long tons (126.3 t; 139.2 short tons) B16/2, 125.8 long tons (127.8 t; 140.9 short tons) B16/3, 125.55 long tons (127.56 t; 140.62 short tons) Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 5 long tons 10 cwt (12,300 lb or 5.6 t) Water cap. 4,125 imp gal (18,750 L; 4,954 US gal) Firebox: ​  • Grate area 27 sq ft (2.5 m2) Boiler: ​  • Model 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) diameter  • Type LNER Diagram 49 (later LNER Diagram 49A)  • Tube plates 16 ft 8+1⁄2 in (5,093 mm) Boiler pressure 180 psi (1.2 MPa) Heating surface: ​  • Firebox 166 sq ft (15.4 m2)  • Tubes 866 sq ft (80.5 m2)  • Flues 534 sq ft (49.6 m2)  • Total surface 1,958 sq ft (181.9 m2) Superheater: ​  • Heating area 392 sq ft (36.4 m2) Cylinders three Cylinder size 18+1⁄2 in × 26 in (470 mm × 660 mm) Valve gear Stephenson (B16/1) Walschaerts/Gresley conjugated valve gear (B16/2) Walschaerts on all three cylinders (B16/3)
Performance figures Tractive effort 30,312 lbf (134.83 kN)
Career Operators North Eastern Railway, London & North Eastern Railway, British Railways Power class BR: 5MT Numbers NER : 840-844, 846-847, 845, 848-849, 906, 908-909, 911, 914-915, 920-934, 936-937, 942-943, 2363-2365 LNER (1924): NER locomotives retained original numbers; new builds: 2366-2382, 1371-1385 LNER (1946): 1400-1468 BR: 61410-61478 Locale North Eastern Region Retired 1942 (1); 1958-1964 Disposition All scrapped

The North Eastern Railway Class S3, classified B16 by the LNER, was a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive designed for mixed traffic work. It was designed by Vincent Raven and introduced in 1920. The earlier members of this class were fitted with Westinghouse Brakes - all of this equipment was removed during the 1930s.

In 1915, the British Government took control of the country's railways. This paused the development of new locomotives, rolling stock, and infrastructure. One such railway, the North Eastern Railway, was planning to electrify its portion of the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle.

In the same year, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Vincent Raven, was appointed as the Superintendent of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich and would not return to Darlington until 1919. Standing in for Raven was his assistant, Arthur Cowie Stamer.

Meanwhile, plans were made to nationalise the railways. However, doing so would require standardized locomotives and rolling stock under the Association of Railway and Locomotive Engineers (ARLE). While the ARLE would agree on a mixed-traffic 2-6-0 with 5-foot 8-inch driving wheels, the North Eastern Railway and the London & North Western Railway opted out of the design process. Instead, Stamer instructed Chief Draughtsman George Heppell to produce drawings for three locomotive assignments: express passenger, express freight, and mineral traffic. These were to be built with ARLE specifications and contemporary Darlington practices. Notably, the locomotive had to share valve gear, cylinders, and boilers with at least one other class, which was common for railways in the UK at the time. Each locomotive also had to weigh at least 75 tons without a tender, with an axle loading no greater than 20 tons. Two of these drawings were approved: a 4-6-0 for express freight traffic and an 0-8-0 for mineral traffic. Both had three cylinders with Stephenson link motion. These had an 18.5-inch bore by a 26-inch stroke. The boilers were based on the Z Class 4-4-2 and were pressed at 180 psi. To provide a good balance between speed and adhesion, 5-foot 8-inch driving wheels were chosen.^[1] This fell in line with the Mogul drawn up by the ARLE, with both the Great Northern Railway and Great Western Railway using driving wheels of the same diameter for express freight traffic and suburban passenger trains.

As previously stated, the boiler would also be interchangeable with the T3 Class (LNER Q7) 0-8-0s,^[2] much like the S2s, which had interchangeable wheels and cylinders with the S Class and interchangeable cylinders and boilers with the T2 Class (LNER Q6) 0-8-0s. ^[relevant?] The result was the S3 Class (LNER B16). After approval, Stamer placed an order for 10 locomotives of the S3 Class in November 1918, with the first five members, Nos. 840-844 appearing in December 1919 from Darlington Works.

Seventy S3/B16 locomotives were built between 1919 and 1924. The NER began numbering this class in the range No. 840 through to No. 943 (though not consecutively), those built after late 1922 (from No. 2365 onwards) directly receiving their LNER number. By the Groupings of 1923, 38 locomotives passed to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), which built thirty-two more^[1] starting with No. 2366 on 4 January 1923 and ending with Nos. 1384 and 1385 on 1 January 1924.^{[citation needed]} Twenty-four of the class were rebuilt starting in the 1930s and 1940s. The original Raven-designed locomotives were designated class B16/1. Gresley rebuilt seven of the B16/1s, these formed class B16/2. Later Thompson ordered seventeen more B16/1s to be rebuilt; these were designated class B16/3.^[3][4]

Under the LNER, the B16s hardly ever left the North East. Their duties included fast freights, express passenger trains, excursions to Scarborough, and even football specials. During World War II, some of the B16s moved to the Great Central Main Line, working around Banbury and Woodford Halse After World War II, the B16s were used on their pre-war duties but were also used as far south as Peterborough, where they substituted for a failed V2 2-6-2 or a Thompson B1. The 1940s saw the entire class receive new boilers; the last one was refitted in the late 1950s. Under the LNER renumbering scheme of 1946, they received numbers 1400–1468. All but one of the B16s survived into BR ownership, and were renumbered 61400–61468. (Nos. 61400-61409 were later renumbered 61469-61478 so that their old numbers could be given to the last ten of Thompson's B1 Class).^[5]

One locomotive, No. 925, was badly damaged (along with A4 4469 Sir Ralph Wedgwood) during a German air-raid on York on 29 April 1942, and was subsequently scrapped.^[6] The first withdrawal under British Railways was B16/1 No. 61474 from Selby on 20 January 1958. Given the class's age and with the Modernisation Plan already in full swing, withdrawals were rapid. Due to the complicated maintenance and proneness to leaking piston valves, the B16/1s were all retired first. The last, of any variety of the B16s, was B16/2 No. 61435, being withdrawn on 21 July 1964. The last member to be scrapped was B16/3 No. 61472 on 9 November 1964; none have been preserved.

• B16/1 Introduced 1920, NER design by Vincent Raven with inside Stephenson valve gear.
• B16/2 Introduced 1937, LNER rebuilds of B16/1 by Nigel Gresley with Walschaerts valve gear on the outside cylinders and Gresley conjugated valve gear on the inside cylinder.^[4]
• B16/3 Introduced 1944, LNER rebuilds of B16/1 by Edward Thompson with three sets of Walschaerts valve gear and left-hand drive.^[4]

• On 27 June 1928, locomotive No. 2369 was involved in a head-on collision with an excursion train at Darlington, County Durham whilst it was shunting a parcels train. Twenty-five people were killed and 45 were injured.^[7]
• On 5 January 1946, locomotive No. 842 was hauling a freight train which became divided on the East Coast Main Line in County Durham. The train was brought to a halt at Browney Signalbox, but the rear portion crashed into it. The wreckage fouled signal cables, giving a false clear to a passenger train coming in the opposite direction. This train then collided with the wreckage. Ten people were killed and eight were severely injured.^[8]

• Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway

• Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, part 4 (1948 ed.). p. 10.
• Nock, O.S. (1974) [1954]. Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway. Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0711004935 – via Internet Archive.
• Bradley, Rodger P. (1988). LNER 4-6-0s. David & Charles. ISBN 9780715388952.
• Swinger, Peter (2002). LNER 4-6-0s: A Pictorial Tribute. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0711028087 – via Internet Archive.

• LNER encyclopedia
• Class B16/1 Details Archived 1 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine at Rail UK
• Class B16/2 Details Archived 1 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine at Rail UK
• Class B16/3 Details Archived 1 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine at Rail UK
• https://www.brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=class&id=600216&type=S&page=main
• https://www.brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=class&id=600216&type=S&page=fleet