GNR Class J4

The Great Northern Railway J4 Class was a class of 322 0-6-0 steam locomotives for goods traffic, introduced in 1882 to a design by Patrick Stirling. Just over half were rebuilt by Nigel Gresley between 1912 and 1929 to a design by Henry Ivatt, using a new boiler 4 feet 8 inches in diameter first rebuilt on No. 1163 in May 1912. The J4 designation grew out of an earlier series: Stirling's J7 engines led to the J6 and then the J5, and the older engines were given the latest boiler type as they came due, so that 145 of 160 J6 locomotives became J5s and 153 of the J5s became J4s. After the 1923 Grouping the rebuilt engines became LNER Class J3. Twenty-six J5s were loaned to the Railway Operating Division in France during the First World War, and none of the J4s survived into preservation.