NBR K Class

The NBR K class is a class of 4-4-0 steam locomotive of the North British Railway. The first batch (later LNER Class D26) was designed by Matthew Holmes in 1902 and had 6-foot-6-inch (1.981 m) driving wheels for express passenger work. Three more batches (later LNER Classes D32, D33, and D34) were designed by William P. Reid with 6-foot-0-inch (1.829 m) driving wheels for mixed traffic work. This included perishable goods, such as fish from Mallaig and Aberdeen. They had inside cylinders and Stephenson valve gear. The D34 locomotives, commonly known as Glen Class, were built with superheaters. The LNER later fitted superheaters to all D26, D32, and D33 engines as well. All engines of the K class are sometimes known as Glen Class, although the designation is strictly reserved to the fourth (D34) batch.

LNER classes

The LNER divided the NBR K class into four classes, as below. It was common practice for the North British Railway to assign similar engines to the same class group, whereas the LNER system allowed only identical engines to bear the same class designation.

LNER Class D26

Twelve engines ordered in March 1902 and built at Cowlairs railway works in 1903. Three were withdrawn in 1922, leaving nine to enter LNER ownership in 1923. These nine had all been withdrawn by July 1926.^[1]

LNER Class D32

Twelve engines ordered in 1905 and built at Cowlairs in 1906–07. The LNER began to fit superheated boilers in 1923 and classified the superheated locomotives D32/2. The non-superheated locomotives were classified D32/1.^[2]

LNER Class D33

Twelve engines built at Cowlairs in 1909–10. The LNER fitted superheaters to all the D33s between 1925 and 1936.^[3]

LNER Class D34

Ten engines built at Cowlairs in 1913. Twenty-two engines built between 1917 and 1920. All the D34s were built with superheaters. They are known as the Glen Class, as all engines in the group were named after Scottish glens.^[4]

Post-NBR

The locomotives passed to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923 and, some of them, to British Railways (BR) in 1948. BR numbers ^[5] were:

• D32, five locomotives, 62445-62454 (with gaps)
• D33, nine locomotives, 62455-62466 (with gaps)
• D34, thirty locomotives, 62467-62498 (with gaps)

Accidents and incidents

Main article: Elliot Junction rail accident

• On 28 December 1906, locomotive No. 324 was hauling an express passenger train that was in a rear-end collision with a passenger train at Elliot Junction, Forfarshire. Twenty-two people were killed and eight were injured.^[6]

Names

The D34s were named after Scottish Glens:

Number 2494 Glen Gour at Edinburgh Waverley railway station in August 1948.

No. 62494 was originally named Glen Gau, but since no glen of that name exists, it was renamed in July 1925, becoming Glen Gour.^[7] Locos shown in brackets were withdrawn before Nationalisation

Preservation

In September 1962, a year after being withdrawn, number 62484 Glen Lyon waits to be scrapped.

Withdrawals began in 1946 and all the D34s had been withdrawn by 1961. One, 256 Glen Douglas (BR number 62469) has been preserved by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society. It is now on display at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NBR K Class.

• Photos of Glen Douglas
• LNER database Class D34
• Rail UK database Class D34