York & North Midland No. 33

Around 1850, E.B. Wilson & Co. built some tank locomotives with a special form of power transmission for several railways. One of these was No. 33 of the York & North Midland Railway that became North Eastern Railway No. 273 in 1854. The nickname “Little Mail” given by David Joy suggests that it was used for light mail trains. With four driving wheels with a diameter of five feet, top speed is said to have been 43 mph or 70 km/h.

It had two cylinders of 11 by 18 inches which were mounted at the front inside of the frames. These powered a crank axle that was located in the middle of the locomotive, similar to that seen on some Cramptons. From that, coupling rods drove both axles. This wheel arrangement resembles a 0-4-0, but since both axles are not directly coupled it is more often called 0-2-2-0. It was later rebuilt into a 0-4-0WT and withdrawn in 1878.