Time Capsules - Old Photographs from the past

Stanier 8F passing Cowsley Yard in the 1950s

Cowsley goods yard is possibly just north of Derby, in the Chaddesdon district.

What is more certain is that this is a Stanier 8F 2-8-0 locomotive, no. 48214, pulling a load of loose-coupled coal wagons, probably empties.

The Class 8F was introduced in 1935, to a design by Sir William A Stanier FRS for the London Midland and Scottish Railway, and used mainly for heavy, long-distance freight trains. They weighed 125 tons 15 cwt, had a boiler pressure of 225 psi and a tractive effort of 32,440 lbs. They had 2 cylinders, 18.5 x 28 in.

In 1939, the War Department chose the 8F as its initial standard design for overseas service. 208 locomotives were built for the WD. by Beyer Peacock and the North British Locomotives Co., including 27 sent to Turkey to fulfill a commercial export order, some of which were still in service in 1987. The WD engines worked in Persia, Palestine, the Lebanon and Egypt. Some reached Italy in 1945, and after the war, many operated in these countries and in Iraq and Israel.

In Britain, the 8F became the standard wartime freight locomotive and was built by all the 'Big Four' railways. 205 locomotives were ordered by the LMS, and 245 were built by the GWR, LNER and SR. The LNER ordered a further 68 examples for its own use, and with 852 locomotives constructed in no less than 11 workshops, the '8Fs' became the fourth largest class of British locomotives. In 1948, 39 locomotives returned from Egypt, and with the return of three more including No. 8233 in 1957, there were eventually 666 8Fs at work on Britain's railways.

These were the most numerous surviving locomotives at the end of normal steam operations on British Railways.

See also picture 5898 on www.train-photos.com, the associated Train-Photos web site, which shows preserved 8F no. 48305 in action.

Text courtesy of Peter Langsdale, Photo © The Step Back Through Time Collection