The

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

(LNWR) Greater Britain class was a class of ten 2-2-2-2

steam locomotives 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, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

designed for express passenger work by F. W. Webb.

History

The first of the ten locomotives was built in October 1891, and a second followed in May 1893; the remaining eight came from

Crewe Works Crewe Works is a British railway engineering facility located in the town of Crewe, Cheshire. The works, which was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in March 1843, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s ...

in April and May 1894. They were three-cylinder compound locomotives: the two outside high pressure cylinders drove the trailing drivers via Howe-Stephenson valve gear, the one inside low pressure cylinder drive the leading drivers via a slip eccentric. There was no connection between the two sets of drivers. All the locomotives were named; one unusual feature (shared with the ''John Hick'' class) was that the names were split over two nameplates, one on each driving wheel splasher. This necessitated the use of two-word names, rather than some of the abbreviated names the LNWR had previously used. They continued in service until Webb's retirement. His successor,

George Whale George Whale (7 December 1842 – 7 March 1910) was an English locomotive engineer who was born in Bocking, Essex, and educated in Lewisham, London. He worked for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Career In 1858 he entered the LNWR's ...

preferred simple superheated locomotives; consequently they were all scrapped between 1906 and 1907.

Fleet list

References

External links

LNWR Society
Photographs of the Webb 2-2-2-2 ''Greater Britain'' class steam locomotives. {{LNWR Locomotives

Greater Britain Greater Britain was a term that arose in the second half of the 19th century in British discourse about the British Empire. The term was used in different ways by different people and sometimes in different ways by the same person. Many were asso ...

2-2-2-2 locomotives Duplex locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1892 Scrapped locomotives Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives in the United Kingdom