BR ex-WD Austerity 2-8-0

what is it?

The British Railways (BR) ex-WD Austerity 2-8-0 was a class of 733 2-8-0 steam locomotives designed for heavy freight. These locomotives of the WD Austerity 2-8-0 type had been constructed by the War Department, as war locomotives 1943–1945. After the war, they were surplus and so in 1946 the LNER bought 200 of them, classifying them as LNER Class O7, and by the end of 1947 when the LNER was nationalised, had taken another 278 O7s on loan.

who runs it

WDWar DepartmentLondon and North Eastern RailwayBritish Rail

base stats

• weight 71.1 tin working order
• built 733made in total

Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.

fun facts

• 🎂First built 83 years ago, in 1943.
• 🐘Weighs about as much as 12 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 📏19.2 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.

steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.

spec sheet

built

1943

retired

1967

status

retired

number built

733

kind

Steam

traction

steam

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

builders

North British Locomotive Company, Vulcan Foundry

designer

R.A. Riddles

operators

War Department, London and North Eastern Railway, British Rail

top speed

—

power

—

gauge

1,435 mm standard gauge

wheel arrangement

2-8-0

length

19.2 m

weight

71.1 t

From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.

family