GER Class N31
# GER Class N31

The GER Class N31 was a class of eighty-two 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed by James Holden for the Great Eastern Railway. Eighteen passed to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at the 1923 grouping and received the LNER classification J14.

## History

These goods locomotives had 17.5-by-24-inch (444 mm × 610 mm) cylinders, 4-foot-11-inch (1.499 m) driving wheels, and a 160-pound-force-per-square-inch (1,100 kPa) boiler. Eighty-one were built at Stratford Works between 1893 and 1898.

## Table of orders and numbers

Table of orders and numbers :

| Year | Order | Quantity | GER Nos. |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1893 | N31 | 1 | 999 |
| 1893 | H33 | 10 | 979–988 |
| 1894 | L33 | 10 | 989–998 |
| 1894 | E34 | 10 | 969–978 |
| 1896 | N37 | 10 | 959–968 |
| 1897 | H40 | 10 | 949–958 |
| 1897 | O41 | 10 | 602–608, 946–948 |
| 1898 | G42 | 10 | 542–551 |
| 1898 | K43 | 10 | 562–571 |

## Class 127

In addition, when the Class 127 locomotive was rebuilt from compound to simple in 1895, it was then included into Class N31.

## Performance

They were not particularly successful locomotives. Although nicknamed Swifts, they were sluggish locomotives, due to the placement of the valve chests underneath the cylinders.

## Withdrawals

Withdrawals started in 1908, and by the end of 1922, only eighteen were left in service. The LNER allocated numbers 7000 higher than the locomotives' GER numbers, but withdrawals continued, and by 1925 the class was extinct.

Table of withdrawals :

| Year | Quantity in service at start of year | Quantity withdrawn | Locomotive numbers |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1908 | 82 | 1 | 971 |
| 1909 | 81 | 18 | 546, 549, 565, 566, 570, 571, 602, 605, 608, 950, 953–955, 957, 966, 969, 972, 975 |
| 1910 | 63 | 14 | 542, 550, 563, 568, 569, 603, 606, 956, 962, 974, 982, 989, 990, 991 |
| 1911 | 49 | 9 | 547, 551, 562, 567, 958, 960, 961, 988, 997 |
| 1912 | 40 | 6 | 544, 949, 952, 967, 968, 996 |
| 1913 | 34 | 3 | 607, 979, 935 (ex-127) |
| 1914 | 31 | 3 | 0545, 0564, 947 |
| 1915 | 28 | 1 | 946 |
| 1916 | 27 | 1 | 994 |
| 1920 | 26 | 2 | 0543, 999 |
| 1921 | 24 | 1 | 965 |
| 1922 | 23 | 5 | 548, 948, 986, 992, 995 |
| 1923 | 18 | 6 | 959, 970, 976, 980, 985, 993 |
| 1924 | 12 | 5 | 951, 963, 964, 977, 978 |
| 1925 | 7 | 7 | 604, 973, 981, 983, 984, 987, 998 |
