L&YR Class 26

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Class 26 was a series of 2-6-2 side-tank locomotives designed by John Aspinall, Locomotive Superintendent of the L&YR from 1886 to 1899, and introduced in 1903 under his successor Henry Hoy. The 2-6-2T Prairie tank configuration — at the time quite innovative for British suburban and branch working — gave six coupled driving wheels for good adhesion on the heavier passenger trains of the L&YR's suburban network, a leading pony truck for steady running at speed, and a trailing pony truck that allowed a wider firebox for better steam production on the sustained suburban working.

The L&YR's suburban traffic around Manchester and the industrial towns of Lancashire and the West Riding was intensive and heavy, with well-loaded trains making frequent stops on routes that required a locomotive capable of rapid acceleration from each station. Aspinall had already developed effective suburban tank types during his tenure, and the Class 26 Prairie tank extended this tradition with a more powerful type suited to the growing suburban trains of the Edwardian era.

The Class 26s worked L&YR suburban duties through the Edwardian period and into the LMS era, where they continued on former-L&YR suburban workings. None was preserved.