NBR 141 Class
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The NBR 141 Class consisted of two steam 2-4-0 locomotives built by the North British Railway (NBR) in 1869. They were the direct antecedents of the NBR 224 Class 4-4-0.[2]
Rebuilding
Thomas Wheatley became locomotive superintendent of the North British Railway (NBR) at the start of February 1867.[4] During his tenure of seven years, he provided the NBR with 185 new locomotives;[4] but only eight of these were suitable for hauling express passenger trains, the first two of which were these 2-4-0s, nos. 141 and 164, which were built in 1869;[5] the remaining six were the 4-4-0s of the 224 and 420 Classes, introduced in 1871 and 1873 respectively.[6]
Originally the 141 Class had leading wheels of 4 feet 0 inches (1.22 m) diameter, coupled wheels of 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) diameter, and cylinders measuring 16 by 24 inches (406 by 610 mm). The boilers were domeless, with the safety-valves mounted above the firebox. The frames were single, the driving wheel splashers had eight slots; there was no cab, but a weatherboard with two circular windows. The six-wheel tender held 1,650 imperial gallons (7,500 L) of water. They were very good locomotives, and when the cylinder diameter was increased by 1 inch (25 mm), the performance was not adversely affected.[4][2]
On the NBR, locomotives were generally rebuilt when their boilers wore out.[7] Matthew Holmes, locomotive superintendent of the NBR between 1882 and 1903, rebuilt both locomotives in 1890; amongst the improvements were a domed boiler, Westinghouse brake and a cab.[5][1] In later years, no. 141 was used on trains between Glasgow and Dundee.[5]
Final years
Every six months, the NBR renumbered some of its older locomotives into a "duplicate list", in order to vacate numbers for new construction.[8] Accordingly, in 1912, nos. 141 and 164 were placed on the duplicate list, becoming nos. 1158/60 respectively. They were both withdrawn from service in 1915 and scrapped in 1923.[5][2]