MadMartin's LNER Site

This site is a brief look at the London and North Eastern Railway and some of its locomotives, trains, ships, buildings, traditions and people.  I have decided to rebuild the site using a more systematic approach and hope the this will make items of interest easier to find.

The LNER was formed 1st January 1923 as a result of the "Grouping" of many smaller companies.  The companies brought together to form the LNER were:  The Great Northern Railway; the Great Central Railway; the Great Eastern Railway; the North Eastern Railway and the two Scottish companies the North British and Great North of Scotland Railways.

When the LNER was first formed there was much friction between the men of the various pre-grouping constituents.  The position of Chief Mechanical Engineer was originally offered to John George Robinson (CME of the GCR) but he declined due to his age and recommended Mr H.N.(later Sir Nigel) Gresley .  Gresley held a similar position in the GNR and was a believer in large engines.  He was responsible for what was later termed the LNER's large engine policy.

Gresley was responsible for building some of the great locomotives of the period.  His celebrated A3 class (of which Flying Scotsman is the sole survivor) were powerful and reliable engines.  The streamlined A4 class are better represented in terms of numbers preserved with 4 in the UK and 1 each in Canada and USA.  One of these, Mallard, still holds the official speed record for steam traction at 126MPH (202km/h).

Edward Thompson succeeded Gresley in 1941. He was an ex-NER man, and had different ideas about locomotive design. He favoured a more simple two outside cylinder layout for his engines. He also made some modifications to some of Gresley's engines which incensed many Gresley supporters.  The streamlined P2 2-8-2s were converted to 4-6-2s and the first Gresley pacific Great Northern was carved up to serve as the prototype of the new type of Thompson pacific.  Thompson did set up a more logical numbering sequence and replaced many older mixed traffic engines with his celebrated B1 4-6-0 standard engines.

A.H.Peppercorn was the final CME of the LNER and only served a short time before the railways were amalgamated into British Railways.  Peppercorn's A1 and A2 Pacifics were very powerful and reliable engines Blue Peter is a Peppercorn A2 which has survived into preservation, and a new Peppercorn designed A1 Tornado is currently nearing completion.

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 PLEASE NOTE If you are the owner of the copyright on any of the photos on this site, please contact me and I will immediately remove them or add permissions to the photo as directed. Most of these photos are freely available in the public domain and I have spoken to the originator of the digital images but attempts to locate copyright owners of some original photos has proved difficult..