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Sir Nigel Gresley
Sustaining the legacy
Class J38
The London and North Eastern Railway class J38 was designed by Nigel Gresley for freight transport and introduced in 1926.
The London and North Eastern Railway class J38 0-6-0 was a class of steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley for freight transport and they were used in Scotland. They were the first LNER group standard type, but only one batch of thirty-five was built at the LNER’s Darlington Works in 1926 due to the advent of the more versatile, larger wheeled, class J39.
The general construction order referred to the new locomotives as “class J27 Modified”, although the J38s had very little in common with the class J27s. Although a Darlington design, the Doncaster goods engine standard of 4ft 7.25in wheels were used. The valve gear arrangement had much in common with the original class A5 4-6-2Ts, and the full class J38 arrangement of cylinders, piston valves and motion would be used on the improved class A5 4-6-2Ts, and the class J39 0-6-0s. It would also be used in a number of later rebuilds including the class D11 4-4-0s, class D16/3 4-4-0s, and class J11/3 0-6-0s.
The class J38 design was modified to have larger wheels. The resulting J39 design proved to be more versatile and was built in large numbers. No further J38s were built. The class J39s also had a modified boiler (Diagram 97). From December 1932, spare Diagram 97 boilers became available and were often used on the class J38s instead of their original Diagram 97A boilers. Conversions became more common after 1942 when the scrapping of the original Diagram 97A boilers started. The locomotives with the newer Diagram 97 boilers were referred to as class J38/2, whilst those with the older Diagram 97A boilers were referred to as class J38/1s.
The class J38s were used in Scotland for main line goods traffic, and for short distance mineral haulage from the Fife and Lothian coalfields to the Glasgow-Edinburgh industrial belt and the Scottish east coast ports. Initial allocations were mainly to Dunfermline (9), Thornton (8), and St. Margaret’s (9). They were also allocated to Dundee (5), Stirling (2), and Eastfield (2). Stirling’s two class J38s did not stay long and in December 1926 one was moved to Dunfermline and the other to Dundee.
With the arrival of class K2 2-6-0 and class J39 0-6-0 locomotives at St. Margaret’s in about 1930, the class J38s were taken off the longer distance main line goods trains and used on coal trains between the Lothian coal field and the Edinburgh docks. Occasionally these engines were seen on the East Coast Main Line fulfilling the LNER’s own coal requirements. Records exist of them reaching Doncaster and Retford, and they are thought to have occasionally reached Grantham and Peterborough as well.
As well as being the first LNER group standard class, the class J38 proved to be the last LNER class to remain completely intact. The first withdrawals started in December 1962 and the last two locomotives (No. 65901 and No. 65929) were withdrawn in 1967. These were the last Gresley locomotives to serve with British Railways. None have been preserved.
