LNER Raven Class A2

The NER/LNER Raven Class A2 Pacific was a series of five 4-6-2 express passenger tender locomotives designed by Vincent Raven, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the North Eastern Railway, and introduced in 1922 — the NER's sole contribution to the Pacific wheel arrangement in British practice, built in the final months before the NER was absorbed into the LNER at the 1923 Grouping. Raven's A2 was a direct competitor to Gresley's Great Northern Railway A1 Pacific of 1922, with both designs representing the British railway industry's move to the six-coupled Pacific configuration for the most demanding express passenger duties.

The Raven Pacific used three cylinders with Stephenson valve gear — a different approach from Gresley's conjugated valve gear — and a high-pitched large boiler suited to the sustained high-speed running of the East Coast Main Line expresses between York and Edinburgh. At the time of its introduction, the Raven A2 was the most powerful express locomotive in Britain, though it was quickly overtaken by Gresley's developed A1 designs once the LNER was formed.

After the Grouping, the LNER found itself with two competing Pacific designs — Gresley's A1 and Raven's A2 — and the subsequent comparative trials in 1923 demonstrated Gresley's design to be the more capable and economical. The Raven Pacifics were progressively withdrawn in the early 1930s, relatively early retirements for locomotives built in 1922. None was preserved, a loss that is particularly felt given their historical significance as the last NER express design.