LNER Thompson Class L1

The London and North Eastern Railway Thompson Class L1 was a class of 2-6-4T steam tank locomotives designed by Edward Thompson to fill the lack of modern tank engines on the Central and Eastern sections of the LNER, able to carry out both passenger and goods work. Its cylinders were the same as the B1, with a boiler based on the V3 design uprated to 225 psi. The prototype, No. 9000, was the only member built by the LNER and emerged in May 1945 from Doncaster painted in LNER Apple Green; it was well received and underwent the most extensive set of trials of any LNER locomotive bar the Class W1. The other 99 were built under British Railways between 1948 and 1950 at Darlington and by Robert Stephenson and Co., were less successful because of overheating axle boxes, and all were withdrawn and scrapped between 1960 and 1962.