BRANCHLINE LNER J72 Class 68696 BR Black Late Crest. DCC Ready (Next18) . NEM Couplings.
Built: 1898 – 1951
Built for: NER / LNER / BR
Designed by: Wilson Worsdell
Duties: shunting and station pilot
Wheels: 0-6-0T
Highlights
• All-new model
• Realistic fire-box flicker
• Sprung buffers
• Pre-fitted speaker for ease of Digital Sound installation
History
The J72 Class of tank engine possess the unique record of having been constructed at varying periods, over a span of 54 years under three railway company ownerships: NER, LNER and BR.
Designed by T.W.Worsdell, and originally designated Class E1 by him, the J72 was introduced in 1898 for light goods and shunting duties. They were a further development of the near-identical J71 Class, which had slightly larger diameter wheels, and were built at
Darlington and Doncaster Works and by the Armstrong-Whitworth Company.
85 J72s were built, the last LNER versions in 1925, then, after nationalization, between
1949-1951, British Railways built a further batch of 28 identical to the original 1898
design making a class total of 113.
During the late ‘40s, a number of J72s were fitted with vacuum braking, enabling them to
work on station pilots and carriage shunting duties.