Robinson class A5
The Great Central Railway class 9N (LNER class A5) was a class of 4-6-2T locomotives designed by John G. Robinson and introduced in 1911.
The Great Central Railway (GCR) Class 9N (LNER class A5) was Robinson’s last passenger tank design. They were designed to pull the difficult suburban services out of Marylebone, which they performed admirably for over 30 years..
The GCR built three batches between 1911 and 1917. A fourth batch was ordered by the GCR, but was built after Grouping in 1923. The LNER ordered a fifth and final batch from Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. which was built between 1925 and 1926. This final batch was to fill a shortage of passenger tank locomotives in the North Eastern area. A total of 44 locomotives were built.
Following GCR practice, the class A5s were not built with side windows in their cabs. No. 450 had side windows fitted in 1921. All further new class A5s were built with side windows, and the original class A5s had them fitted between 1924 and 1926.
The class A5s were built to the GCR loading gauge which was larger than the LNER Composite Rolling Stock Gauge. Even the 1923 batch was built to the larger GCR gauge. Over time, boilers were used with lower domes. Also, Gresley-style chimneys similar to those used on the class N7s were fitted. The low domes and modified chimneys were fitted as standard to the 1925/6 batch. The GCR class A5s were only brought into the LNER gauge after they were replaced by the Thompson class L1s in 1948.
The first class A5 was withdrawn in 1942 due to badly cracked frames (No. 5447). Interestingly, from 1944 ten class A5s were overhauled with new frames. From 1948, Thompson class L1s replaced the class A5s on their original Marylebone services. The surplus class A5s were moved to Lincolnshire. From 1950, some moved north to the Darlington-Saltburn services, and in 1951 some moved to Hull.
Further replacements by Thompson class L1s and diesels occurred during the 1950s, and withdrawals re-started in 1957. The last class A5s were withdrawn in 1960.