LNER Route: Leicester to Marylebone

Rugby Central Station: gcrcs255

An unidentified ex-LNER V2 2-6-2 passes Rugby Cattle Sidings Signal Cabin on a Class A express service. Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for express mixed traffic work one hundred and eighty-four locomotives were built between 1936 and 1944 by Doncaster and Darlington Works. Whilst 2-6-2T tank locomotives were common in the UK, the V2s were the only major class of 2-6-2 tender locomotives used in Britain other than than the unsuccessful experimental Midland Railway Paget locomotive of 1908, and the two examples of Gresley's LNER Class V4 of 1941. The wheel arrangement allowed the fitting of a large firebox uninhibited by the rear driving wheel, and the front pony truck improved stability at high speeds. The V2 was derived from the Class A1/A3 pacifics with smaller driving wheels (of 6 foot 2 inches compared to 6 foot 8 inches) and a shortened boiler. It retained Gresley's favoured 3-cylinder arrangement but unusually, all 3 cylinders were part of a single 'monobloc' casting.

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