GNR J52 0-6-0ST

Henry Ivatt was the locomotive engineer of the Great Northern Railway from 1895, succeeding Patrick Stirling. He inherited Stirling's earlier J13 saddle tanks and designed the J52 as a more powerful development. The class was built at Doncaster Works between 1897 and 1909 in successive batches.

The saddle-tank arrangement was an unusual choice for a 0-6-0 shunter at this period, but it suited the GNR's yard work where the slightly higher centre of gravity was acceptable. The class was the GNR's standard yard shunting tank for over half a century.

The J52s spent their working lives on yard shunting and short trip work at the GNR's major freight depots. They were a familiar sight at King's Cross, Doncaster, Peterborough, and Boston through three different ownership eras (GNR, LNER, BR). Withdrawals began in the late 1950s as diesel shunters took over, and the class was decimated through the early 1960s.

1247 (later GNR 4253, LNER 8846, BR 68846) is the surviving J52. Built at Doncaster Works in 1899, it spent its working life on yard shunting at King's Cross, Hornsey, and other GN depots. After withdrawal in 1959 it was selected for the National Collection and is currently displayed at the National Railway Museum in York in GNR-period green livery as 1247.

The class was outshopped from new in GNR Brunswick green with the GNR garter crest. The LNER painted them in apple green or plain black at various times, and British Railways from 1948 painted the class in plain mixed-traffic black. The preserved 1247 has been kept in GNR Brunswick green throughout its preservation career.