LNER Peppercorn Class A2

The Peppercorn Class A2 was a class of 15 steam locomotives designed for mixed-traffic work by Arthur Peppercorn, the chief designer of the London and North Eastern Railway after Edward Thompson. It developed Thompson's A2/3 design with a less stretched look, moving the outside cylinders forward over the leading truck and shortening the smokebox and wheelbase, while keeping a 250 psi boiler with a 50 square foot grate that powered three cylinders. The first, number 525 A.H. Peppercorn, came out of Doncaster in December 1947 on the eve of nationalisation, and the other fourteen were built under British Railways. A further twenty were planned but cancelled in May 1948. The engines suited the Edinburgh to Aberdeen route that had long needed a powerful engine. Withdrawal ran from 1962 to 1966, and one example is preserved.