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Sir Nigel Gresley
Sustaining the legacy
Class P2
The London and North Eastern Railway class P2 was a class of 2-8-2 steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley for working heavy express trains over the harsh Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line.
Six locomotives of the class were built between 1934 and 1936. In 1936, the class P2 were given streamlined fronts, similar to that of the class A4. Between 1943 and 1944 the class were rebuilt under Gresley’s successor Edward Thompson into the LNER Thompson class A2/2 4-6-2 Pacifics. As they were to serve on Scottish expresses, they were given famous names from Scottish lore.
The locomotives were designed by Nigel Gresley to haul express trains over the difficult Edinburgh to Aberdeen section of the London and North Eastern Railway. In the design Gresley was influenced by recent French practice, in particular passenger locomotives of the Paris à Orléans railway.
The first locomotive of the class, No. 2001 Cock o’ the North, was introduced in 1934. It was built at Doncaster Works, with Lentz-type rotary-cam actuated poppet valve-gear supplied by the Associated Locomotive Equipment Company,and a double-chimney Kylchap exhaust.
The boiler barrel was of the design used on Gresley Pacifics, fitted to a larger firebox. The front-end design was of the same form as the class W1 No. 10000, derived from Dr. Dalby’s wind tunnel research, and the attached tender was of the standard design used on Gresley Pacifics. The class P2 introduced a vee-shaped cab front, designed to give a better view forward. No. 2001 was fitted with a Crosby chime whistle which Gresley had obtained from Captain Howey of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway.
The second locomotive of the class, No. 2002 Earl Marischal was completed by 1935, also at Doncaster, and was fitted with Walschaerts valve gear. At low cutoffs smoke clearance on No. 2002 was unsatisfactory and wind tunnel experiments led to an additional second pair of smoke deflectors being fitted outward of the first. No. 2002 proved to be more efficient than No. 2001 because the stepped-cam cutoff modifications made to No. 2001 reduced economical working relative to the infinitely variable cutoff originally fitted. Consequently, the following locomotives were built with piston valves.
By June 1936 the third engine had been produced: No. 2003, Lord President, based on the design of No. 2002 but with the external design modified to resemble the class A4. The wedge-shaped front was found to lift the engine’s smoke clear of the driver’s view; No. 2002 was altered to this form in 1936, and No. 2001 in 1938. Three further locomotives, Mons Meg, Thane of Fife and Wolf of Badenoch, were under construction at Doncaster in 1936.
No. 2004 was fitted with an experimental butterfly valve blastpipe bypass, manually activated to prevent fire-lifting at high cutoffs. No. 2005 lacked the Kylchap double chimney of the rest of the class, and No. 2006 had a different boiler design, with a longer combustion chamber.
Shortly after being put into service, on 19th June 1934, No. 2001 was tested with a 19 bogie carriage train of 649 tons on a return journey between King’s Cross, Grantham and Barkston; the locomotive hauled the train at an average speed of over 50 mph, with peak speeds of over 70 mph and a peak output of more than 2,000 horsepower. In late 1934, the locomotive was sent to Vitry, France for static testing.
Point contact on the infinitely variable cams of No. 2001 led to cam damage after ~10,000 miles of service, resulting in the replacement with stepped cams giving six steps of cutoff. In 1938 No. 2001 had had its rotary-cam poppet-valve valvegear replaced with Walschaerts gear.
The class P2s were rebuilt into Thompson class A2/2 4-6-2 ‘Pacifics’ during 1943/44, starting with No. 2005 Thane of Fife. This was because they suffered from a range of issues in service, from high fuel consumption, to serious crank axle failures.
No. 2001 Cock o’ the North May 1934 September 1944
No. 2002 Earl Marischal October 1934 June 1944
No. 2003 Lord President June 1936 December 1944
No. 2004 Mons Meg July 1936 November 1944
No. 2005 Thane of Fife August 1936 January 1943
No. 2006 Wolf of Badenoch September 1936 May 1944.
No original members of the class were preserved, as all were rebuilt into LNER A2/2 Pacifics by 1944, and subsequently withdrawn and scrapped between 1959 and 1961 . However, two new locomotives have been proposed: one by The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust in the original shape (LNER class P2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales), to be numbered as a new member of the class which in under construction in Darlington; and the other by The Doncaster P2 Locomotive Trust as a replica of No. 2001 Cock o’ the North in streamlined condition for which the frames have been cut.