GER Class C53

The GER Class C53 was a class of 12 steam tram locomotives designed by James Holden for the Great Eastern Railway. They passed to the London and North Eastern Railway at the grouping and received the LNER classification J70.

History The locomotives had outside cylinders driving wheels, all enclosed by skirting. They were the first locomotives on the Great Eastern to use Walschaerts valve gear. From the 1930s to the 1950s, they were used on the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway and the ports of Great Yarmouth and Ipswich. They replaced earlier GER Class G15 that had a similar appearance.

+ Table of orders and numbers Year Order Builder Quantity GER No. LNER No. LNER 1946 No. Notes 1903 C53 Stratford Works 2 135–136 7135–7136 8216–8217 1908 C64 Stratford Works 3 137–139 7137–7139 8218, —, 8219 GER No.138 was withdrawn in 1942 1910 I67 Stratford Works 1 130 7130 8220 1914 P75 Stratford Works 3 127–128, 131 7127–7128, 7131 8221–8223 1921 D85 Stratford Works 3 125–126, 129 7125–7126, 7129 8224–8226 The first withdrawal was in 1942. The remaining 11 locomotives were renumbered 8216–8226 in 1944 and passed to British Railways in 1948 on nationalisation, after which the prefix "6" was added to their numbers. Withdrawals restarted in 1949, slowly at first, then more quickly. The last went in 1955.

+ Table of withdrawals Year Quantity inservice atstart of year Quantitywithdrawn Locomotive numbers 1942 12 1 7138 1949 11 1 68218 1951 10 1 68221 1952 9 1 68224 1953 8 4 68216–7/19–20 1955 4 4 68222–3/25–6 Individual locomotives + List of GER C53 locomotives GER number LNER number 1946 number BR number Build date Withdrawal date 135 7135 8216 68216 31/10/1903 31/12/1953 136 7136 8217 68217 30/11/1903 31/03/1953 137 7137 8218 68218 30/09/1908 30/09/1949 138 7138 N/A N/A 30/09/1908 31/01/1942 139 7139 8219 68219 31/10/1908 31/08/1953 130 7130 8220 68220 30/04/1910 31/03/1953 127 7127 8221 68221 30/06/1914 21/05/1951 128 7128 8222 68222 30/06/1914 28/02/1955 131 7131 8223 68223 30/06/1914 19/07/1955 125 7125 8224 68224 31/03/1921 30/04/1952 126 7126 8225 68225 31/03/1921 31/03/1955 129 7129 8226 68226 31/03/1921 02/08/1955 Note: The data above is according to the website RailUK. Another website, BRDatabase, gives some different dates: GER No. 135 was withdrawn on 30 November 1953 GER No. 136 was withdrawn on 9 March 1953 GER No. 130 was withdrawn on 23 February 1953 GER No. 128 was withdrawn sometime in January 1955 GER No. 125 was withdrawn on 24 March 1952 GER No. 126 was withdrawn on 8 March 1955

In fiction

J70 68221 was the inspiration for the character Toby the Tram Engine in The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry, and its television series adaptation, Thomas & Friends. See also GER Class G15

References Notes

Bibliography

GER Class C53

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