London & North Western Greater Britain class
The Greater Britain class of the London & North Western Railway consisted of ten 2-2-2-2 Webb compounds built in Crewe between 1892 and 1894. Like Francis William Webb's other 2-2-2-0 compounds, the two driving axles were not coupled. They had wheels with a diameter of 6 ft 10 inches or 2,083 mm.
Two high pressure cylinders on the outside drove the trailing driving axle, while the large single low pressure cylinder on the inside drove the leading one. Due to the combination with two high pressure and only one low pressure cylinder, they had diameters of 15 and 30 inches, respectively. The leading axle had a radially adjustable bearing, while the trailing one had half an inch of side play. Since Webb's successor George Whale preferred simple superheated locomotives, all were scrapped in 1906 and 1907.
Technical data
General
- Built
- 1891-1894
- Manufacturers
- Crewe
- Wheel arrangement
- 2-2-2-2T (Webb Compound)
- Gauge
- 1,435 mm (Standard gauge)
Dimensions and weights
- Length
- 16.46 m
- Wheelbase
- 7.29 m
- Total wheelbase
- 13.39 m
- Service mass
- 52.8 t
- Adhesion mass
- 31.5 t
- Total mass
- 78.2 t
- Rigid wheelbase
- 2.52 m
- Axle load
- 15.7 t
- Water capacity
- 9,093 l
- Fuel capacity
- 4.1 t (coal)
Boiler
- Grate area
- 1.905 m²
- Firebox surface
- 14.837 m²
- Tube heating surface
- 125.048 m²
- Evaporative heating surface
- 139.884 m²
- Total heating surface
- 139.9 m²
Power plant
- Driver diameter
- 2,159 mm
- Boiler pressure
- 11.9 bar
- Expansion type
- compound
- Cylinders
- three, HP: 381 x 610 mm and LP: 762 x 610 mm
Power
- Power source
- steam
- Estimated power
- 597 kW (812 PS)
- Starting effort
- 49.9 kN
- Starting effort simple
- 59.8 kN
Calculated values
- Factor of adhesion
- 1 : 6.20
- Optimal speed
- 72 km/h
- Power-to-weight ratio
- 11.3 kW/t
- Heating Surface Equivalent
- 214.1 m²
- Cylinder volume/HSE
- 1 : 1,460.97
- Adhesive weight/Total
- 1 : 1.68
- Tractive force/Heating surface
- 1 : 7.45
- Grate area/Heating surface
- 1 : 73.43
- Firebox/Tube surface
- 1 : 8.43