NER Q6 63395

A superb engine for which we have much to thank

the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group

NELPG Look after and maintain the engine at 

Grosmont 

Maintained by them in superb condition and of

course running order

It was doing a fine job yesterday

The Q class were developed from Wilson Worsdell's T class 0-8-0 on the North Eastern Railway which came into service in 1901, but Vincent Raven carried on the development of the T1 when he designed the superheated outside cylinder class T2 0-8-0s for handling the heavy goods trains of the North Eastern Railway. A total of 120 engines were built at the NER’s Darlington Works between 1913 and 1918. An engine was produced that could be driven all out - full regulator and full forward gear – for indefinite periods at anything up to mineral train speeds. In 1915 examples of the class had undergone dynamometer trials on 700 ton trains between Newport and Shildon, putting up some impressive performances and comparing very favorably with the then newly introduced electric locomotives working that line.

The T2s, or Q6s as they were later classified by the London and North Eastern Railway and British Railways, proved to be extremely successful, carrying on a fine NER tradition for freight haulage right up until the demise of steam in the North East in 1967. As a measure of their success, the basic design of the locomotive was never altered, though some engines – including 63395 – received tenders from the famous three cylinder NER  Atlantics. As class T2 No.2238, 63395 was completed by the NER at Darlington North Road Works on 3rd November 1918, one of eight built that year.

Many thanks for the above notes to NELPG see more at. http://www.nelpg.org.uk/