61 Class

The GER 61 Class was a group of 0-4-4 suburban tank locomotives built by Neilson & Co of Glasgow in 1875 for the Great Eastern Railway. They were contemporaries of the Midland Railway 6 Class that Samuel W. Johnson was building at Derby at the same time, and represented the GER's continued investment in purpose-built suburban tank power ahead of the massive expansion of Liverpool Street services in the late 1870s and 1880s.

The designer listed in the GER records for this period is William Adams, who served as Locomotive Superintendent from 1873 to 1878, succeeding Johnson. The 61 Class followed the by-now established 0-4-4T formula — inside cylinders, side tanks, trailing bogie — that had become the GER's standard approach to suburban haulage since Johnson's 134 Class of 1872. Building out of Neilson rather than Stratford reflected the continuing constraints on the GER's own workshop capacity, which was still being developed under Adams.

The class gave useful service on GER inner-suburban duties through the late 1870s and into the 1880s, but like its predecessors was overtaken by the explosive growth of GER suburban traffic and the need for larger and more powerful engines. All were withdrawn without preservation.