NCC Class WT

Northern Counties Committee Class WT

Preserved No. 4 at Mallow in May 2006

Type and origin
Power type	Steam
Designer	H. G. Ivatt
Builder	LMS, Derby Works
Build date	1946–1950

Specifications
Configuration	2-6-4T
UIC class	1′C2′ht
Gauge	5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)
Leading dia	37 in (0.940 m)
Driver diameter	72 in (1.829 m)
Trailing dia	37 in (0.940 m)
Wheelbase	37 ft 9 in (11.51 m)
Length	46 ft 5 ³⁄₄ in (14.17 m)
Width	9 ft 3 in (2.82 m)
Height	13 ft 2 in (4.01 m)
Axle load	17.5 long tons (17.8 t; 19.6 short tons)
Adhesive weight	52.58 long tons (53.42 t; 58.89 short tons)
Loco weight	87 long tons (88 t; 97 short tons)
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	3.5 long tons (3.6 t; 3.9 short tons)
Water cap	2,500 imp gal (11,000 l)
Boiler	G8AS
Boiler pressure	200 psi (1.38 MPa)
Heating surface	1,416.75 sq ft (131.620 m²)
• Tubes	1,042 square feet (96.8 m²)
• Firebox	129.75 sq ft (12.054 m²)
Superheater: • Heating area	246 sq ft (22.9 m²)
Cylinders	Two (outside)
Cylinder size	19 in × 26 in (483 mm × 660 mm)
Valve gear	Walschaerts
Loco brake	Steam
Train brakes	Automatic vacuum

Performance figures
Tractive effort	22,160 lbf (98.57 kN)
Factor of adh	5.3

Career
Operators	Northern Counties Committee → Ulster Transport Authority → Northern Ireland Railways
Number in class	18
Numbers	1-10, 50-57
Nicknames	Jeep
Last run	April 1971
Preserved	No.4
Current owner	RPSI

The NCC Class WT is a class of 2-6-4T steam locomotives built by the Northern Counties Committee's parent company, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway for service in Northern Ireland.

History

No. 6 at Belfast York Road in August 1960

No. 4 on running-in trials at Whitehead in 2015

18 Class WT locomotives were built at Derby Works in England to the design of George Ivatt between 1946 and 1950. They were numbered 1–10 and 50–57. They were a tank engine version of the NCC Class W moguls. A tank engine did not require turning at termini and the LMS had produced a series of successful 2-6-4Ts. Like the LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T built at the same time, they had a hopper bunker and absence of plating ahead of the cylinders. They were based on the LMS Fowler 2-6-4T by Sir Henry Fowler.

In December 1962 locomotive No.50 received a boiler from one of the ex-NCC 2-6-0 tender locomotives, the boiler and firebox being overhauled and repaired at Derby.

In early 1966 and towards the end of their careers, the Class WT locomotives were involved in working notable traffic. This was on spoil trains that transported fill for motorway construction from the Blue Circle cement works at Magheramorne to Greencastle near Belfast. Three trains of twenty hopper wagons each were made up, with a Class WT locomotive at each end. Each train when filled carried 600 long tons (610 t; 670 short tons) of rock and in all, some 7,600 trains had carried 4,250,000 long tons (4,320,000 t; 4,760,000 short tons) of material by the time the contract ended in May 1970.

The last of the Class WT locomotives were officially withdrawn in 1971 the last time one was in traffic being 22 October 1970. This made them the last steam locomotives in mainline operation in the British Isles; Córas Iompair Éireann steam in the Republic of Ireland having ended in 1962 and British Railways steam in Great Britain having finished in 1968,

One of these locomotives, No.4, has been preserved by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland which operates it on special mainline trains. It is currently operational after an overhaul was completed in June 2015.

The RPSI is also looking at the possibility of building a new member of the class (No.58) to give them a second mainline tank locomotive considering the low availability of turntables on modern day lines.^[1]

"Stopped" (date last used) dates for WT class. Although all officially passed to NIR those marked @ never worked for that company

1 27.08.66 @      10 10.10.69
2 19.06.65 @      50 25.01.70
3 18.03.69        51 16.10.70
4 22.10.70        52 12.01.66 @
5 00.04.70        53 02.05.70
6 23.04.70        54 04.04.67 @
7 00.04.65 @      55 28.03.70
8 12.10.65 @      56 29.04.69
9 01.02.67 @      57 27.08.66 @

Technical details

The locomotives were built with many LMS standard features such as a self-cleaning smokebox, rocking firegrate, self-emptying ashpan, side window cab and a simplified footplate together with others which followed NCC practice, such as a water top-feed on a parallel boiler (as opposed to the taper boilers being used by the LMS at the time), Dreadnought type vacuum brake gear, Detroit sight feed cylinder lubricator and a cast number plate.

References

↑ RPSI Newsletter June 2010.

Arnold, R.M. (1973). NCC Saga. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5644-5.
Currie, J.R.L. (1974). The Northern Counties Railway, Volume 2: 1903-1972. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-6530-4.
London Midland and Scottish Railway (Northern Counties Committee). Class WT general arrangement drawing. Belfast: LMS (NCC).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NCC Class WT.

http://www.rpsi-online.org/locomotives/loco4.htm

Steam locomotives of Ireland

Belfast and County Down Railway (1846–1948)	1 4 5 6 8 9 14 22 26 29

Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (1860–1903)	A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S

Northern Counties Committee (1903–1949)	A1 B1 B2 B3 D1 E1 F1 K1 L1 S1 S2 U U1 U2 V W WT Y

Great Northern Railway (1876–1958)	A AL B BP BT C D E G H J JT NQG NLQG P PG PP Q QG QGTs QGT2 QL QLG QNG RT S & S2 SG & SG2 SG3 T T2 U V UG VS 203 204

Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway (1875–1957)	Erne Faugh-a-Ballagh Glencar Leitrim Lough Pioneer Sir Henry Waterford

Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway (1849–1924)	1, 2 1, 2, 4A, 8 2 (II) 3, 4 3, 9, 10, 18 5, 6 7 (I) 7 (II) 9, 10 11 5, 6, 12, 16, 17 14, 15 19, 20 4, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20 Argadeen St Molaga Slaney

Dublin and South Eastern Railway (1854–1925)	24, 25, 32, 33 52–54 3, 10, 11, 28, 45, 46 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 28, 44–47, 49 50, 51 42–44 55–58 20, 34, 35 65, 66 8, 12, 27, 29, 30, 40 4, 5 13, 14, 18, 65, 66 17 18 69, 70 15, 16

Great Southern and Western Railway (1845–1924)	1 2 21 23 27 & 35 33 37 41 43 44 45 28 & 47 52 56 60 62 64 90 91 92 99 100 101 102 104 110 & 112 116 117 119 122 124 133 139 144 201 & 203 204 207 & 217 211 213 249 & 351 257 301 305 309 321 333 341 355 362 368 400 500 900 Fairy Jumbo Sambo Sprite

Midland Great Western Railway (1847–1924)	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7–12 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 A, As & A1 B C & Cs C & C1 D D2 E F, Fa & Fb H K L & Lm Ln P W

Great Southern Railways (1925–1944)	280 342 372 393 495 670 700 710 800 850

Córas Iompair Éireann (1945–1962)	Turf Burner No. CC1

Tralee and Dingle Light Railway (1891–1953)	1,2,3,6,8 5 7,8(4T)

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