Help Identifying a Great Eastern Railroad Train

[Paul Van]

I have just acquired this charming wool picture of a train.  I date it at present around the last decade of the 19th century.  On the side of the train are the initials GER and at the back is the numbe 165

 

Here is a link to a picture of it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/61842104@N03/5754506977/

 

Can anyone provide me with more information on the stean train?

 

Thanks

[wjstix]

The 0-4-4T was a popular wheel arrangement with GER, they bought them from the 1870's into the 1890's.

This website can be a little hard to scroll thru, but will have some good information:

http://www.steamindex.com/locotype/gerloco.htm

[cx500]

And of course, that Great Eastern Railway is over in England.  At the time of the "grouping" into four major railways about 1923 it formed part of the London North Eastern Railway.

John

[Paul Van]

The 165 on the side-what does this refer to?  Can one find this particular train's history?

 

[cx500]

The 165 is the locomotive number, just as each locomotive in North America has a number.  This web site may help, although I have no idea which class of 0-4-4T it might be.  While today the same type of engine tends to be numbered in the same series this was frequently not the case in 19th century.  I'm sorry if the link is not directly active - haven't figured how to achieve that in this forum yet.

John

 http://www.steamindex.com/locotype/gerloco.htm

[aricat]

The T stands for a tank engine. The 0-4-4T's were built for light passenger service. The Great Eastern Railway served an area of England called East Anglia. Their London station was Liverpool Street.

As for the numbering system, when the LNER was created in 1923 of which the Great Eastern was part of; the new company adopted a new numbering system. When nationalization came in 1948, all LNER locomotives had five digit numbers beginning with 6. The last 0-4-4T's that worked on British Railways Eastern( Northeastern) Region was the G-5 class which were still working in 1958. They were built at the Darlington works in 1894; Numbers 67240 to 67347 were their BR numbers. Their lineage is North Eastern Railway; another railway to become part of the LNER.

You might also contact the British publication Steam World.