Class V4

The class V4 2-6-2 was a lightweight, versatile locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for mixed traffic on secondary routes, with only two built due to wartime constraints.

The LNER class V4 was a class of 2-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for mixed-traffic use. It was Gresley’s last design for the LNER before he died in 1941. The V4s had similarities in their appearance and mechanical layout to the class V2. The class V2s, introduced some years before, were large and heavy locomotives, with very limited route availability. The class V4 was a lightweight alternative, suitable for use over the whole of the LNER network.

Two locomotives were built at the LNER’s Doncaster Works in 1941. The first locomotive, No.3401 Bantam Cock, had a scaled-down version of the Gresley Pacific boiler with a grate area of 28.5 sq ft. Its tractive effort of 27,000 lbs was produced by boiler pressure of 250 psi and three cylinders of 15-inch diameter. The second locomotive, No. 3402, incorporated a fully welded steel firebox and a single thermic syphon for water circulation. It was not named, but was known unofficially as “Bantam Hen”.

The two locomotives were sent to Scotland for use on the West Highland Line, although their wheel arrangement was not particularly suitable for the steep gradients on the line. They were renumbered No.1700 and No. 1701 in 1946, and later became British Railways No. 61700 and No. 61701. Both were scrapped in 1957 when their boilers became due for renewal although there is a proposal by The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust to build a new Gresley class V2 No. 3403 Highlander.

To find out more about the Gresley class V4s, visit LNER.info or wikipedia. Volume 6C of the RCTS ‘Locomotives of the LNER’ and volume 4 of ‘Yeadon’s Register of LNER Locomotives’ covers the class in detail.