The Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Class B was a class of 4-4-0 two-cylinder

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s that was introduced for passenger service in the north-east of Ireland during the late 1890s.

History

The

Belfast and Northern Counties Railway The Northern Counties Committee (NCC) was a railway that served the north-east of Ireland. It was built to Irish gauge () but later acquired a number of narrow gauge lines. It had its origins in the Belfast and Ballymena Railway which opened ...

(BNCR) in the north-east of Ireland had standardised on locomotives with a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement for its principal passenger locomotives during the 1870s and construction continued through to the mid-1890s. With increasing loads and heavier trains the limitations of that wheel arrangement became apparent and a new design was needed. In 1897 the first purpose-built 4-4-0s, the Class B "Light Compounds", entered service. Built by

Beyer, Peacock & Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English general engineering company and railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson founded the company in 1854. The company close ...

in Manchester, England, the Class B was turned out as a 4-4-0 version of the Class C 2-4-0 that had been introduced during 1890–95. With the same type of boiler and identical cylinder sizes, it was no more powerful than the earlier design. Two of the class, Nos.59 and 62 were "renewed" in 1924 as Class U1 4-4-0 locomotives although probably very little remained of the original engines except for their wheels and

valve gear The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle. It can also serve as a reversing ...

. The other three members of the class received less radical rebuilding. Nos.60 and 61 were firstly rebuilt as Class B1 compounds following which they underwent further alterations to become Class B3 4-4-0s in 1932. No.24 was rebuilt as a simple to become the only member of Class B2 in 1925 and again to Class B3 in 1928.

Livery

The BNCR painted the locomotives "invisible green" (a very dark bronze green that looked almost black) with vermilion, light blue and yellow lining. The initials "BNCR" in block capitals were carried on the tender sides. The livery remained the same under

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

administration with the addition of the diamond-shaped Midland Railway crest to the cab sides and the initials "NCC" in gold block capitals on the tender sides.

Buffer beam A headstock of a rail vehicle is a transverse structural member located at the extreme end of the vehicle's underframe. The headstock supports the coupling at that end of the vehicle, and may also support buffers, in which case it may also be ...

s were

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

, and the smoke box was black.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bncr Class B B Steam locomotives of Northern Ireland 4-4-0 locomotives 2′B n2 locomotives Steam locomotives of Ireland Beyer, Peacock locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1897 Passenger locomotives 5 ft 3 in gauge locomotives Scrapped locomotives