Holden classes J18 and J19
The Great Eastern Railway classes E72 and T77 (LNER classes J18 and J19) 0-6-0s were designed by S. D. Holden for freight work and introduced in 1912.
The LNER classes J18 and J19 were two classes of 0-6-0 steam locomotives originally built as GER class E72 in 1912 and class T77 in 1916, designed for freight work and later rebuilt and reclassified as class J19.
The class J18s were designed by S. D. Holden for the Great Eastern Railway (GER) as a superheated development of the earlier class J17 goods locomotives. Superheating was added, initially with an 18-element Schmidt superheater, later upgraded to Robinson superheaters on some units.
The design was modified in 1916 to remove the piston tail rods. This resulted in a reduction in the front overhang of 1ft 6.5in. The Schmidt superheater was replaced with an 18 element Robinson superheater. Vacuum ejectors were also fitted in addition to the class J18’s steam brake. Twenty-five of the resulting GER Class class T77 (LNER class J19) engines were built in four batches between 1916 and 1920. A final order of ten locomotives was reduced to five, and modified to use the class B12 boiler. These engines became GER class D81 (LNER J20).
Between 1934 and 1939, the class J19s were rebuilt with the large boilers used on the class D16/3. These boilers were fitted with round-topped fireboxes and 21-element Robinson superheaters. The new boiler also required a larger cab to be fitted. The rebuilt locomotives were classified as class J19/2, and the un-rebuilt locomotives were classed J19/1. Between 1935 and 1936, all ten class J18s were rebuilt as J19/1 or J19/2. The class J18s that had been rebuilt as class J19/1s had all been rebuilt as class J19/2s by 1938.
The class J18s served primarily in goods traffic from Peterborough and March due to the lack of vacuum braking. They remained focused on East Anglia for most of their service, although some were temporarily allocated elsewhere, such as Durham coal traffic. Overhauls were generally carried out at Doncaster and Darlington.
Withdrawals began in 1958, with the last engines removed from service in 1961–1962. None of the class J18 locomotives survived into preservation.