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The Class S56 were a development of the Class R24, being almost identical, apart from higher boiler pressure and larger water tanks. Twenty were built in 1904 at Stratford Works.
Table of orders and numbers
Year
Order No.
Quantity
GER Nos.
LNER Nos.
1946 Nos.
Notes
1904
S56
10
51–60
7051–7060
8617–19, —, 8621, —, 8623, —, 8625–8626
1904
P57
10
81–90
7081–7090
—, 8628–8633, —, 8635–8636
All twenty passed to the LNER in 1923. Thirteen class J69 locomotives were lent to the War Department in October 1939, of which five had been built as Class S56. They were sold to the War Department in October 1940, where they were used on the Melbourne and Longmoor Military Railways. The remaining locomotives were renumbered 8617–8636 in order of construction; however gaps were left where the locomotives sold to the War Department would have been. At nationalisation in 1948, the remainder passed to British Railways, who added 60000 to their number. Post-war withdrawals started in 1958, and by 1962 all had been retired.
Table of withdrawals of S56-built locomotives
Year
Quantity in service at start of year
Quantity withdrawn
Locomotives numbers
Notes
1940
20
5
7054, 7056, 7058, 7081, 7088
to WD 86, 87, 83, 80, 91
1958
15
5
68617–18/28/31–32
1959
10
4
68625/29–30/36
1960
6
1
68633
1961
5
2
68619/23
1962
3
3
68621/26/35
Preservation
GER no. 87 on display at Bressingham
GER no. 87 (LNER 7087, 8633, BR 68633) has been preserved, initially at the Clapham Transport Museum, and now at the National Railway Museum. It is currently on display at Bressingham Steam Museum.
LNER 8625 (ex-7059, exx-GER 59) at Stratford locomotive depot, 28 September 1946