GNR Class N2

The Great Northern Railway Class N2 was a class of 0-6-2 side tank steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley and introduced in 1920 for suburban passenger work. The engines had superheaters and piston valves driven by Stephenson valve gear, and some were fitted with condensing apparatus so that they could work on the Metropolitan Railway Widened Lines between King's Cross and Moorgate. They handled most of the duties out of King's Cross and Moorgate, hauling quad-art sets of articulated suburban coaches to places such as New Barnet and Gordon Hill on the Hertford loop, and later batches built by the London and North Eastern Railway from 1925 also worked suburban services around Glasgow and Edinburgh. The sub-classes N2/1 to N2/4 differed in condensing gear and brake equipment. The first withdrawals came in 1955, the last thirteen went in 1962, and one example has been preserved.