J15 0-6-0 - 65462
Approaching Deadman's Cutting (Ben Boggis)
History
The J15 - East Anglia's Durable Workhorse-by
Steve Marshall-cont
The J15 spent nearly all its working life in Norfolk and
Suffolk. In 1922 and 1936 it was allocated to Norwich
Thorpe. It also spent time at Yarmouth. In October 1947,
the renumbered 5462 was transferred to Lowestoft, where it
stayed for the next thirteen years, often stationed at
Beccles for use on the Waveney Valley line. (Due to a weak
bridge between Geldeston and Beccles, the J15s were the
largest locos normally allowed on the branch). 65462 also
worked on the Norwich, Yarmouth South Town and East
Suffolk lines, with occasional sessions as the Halesworth
milk-bay pilot. The loco had its first encounter with the
M&GNJRS on the 21st May, 1960 when it assisted a railtour
(from Norwich City to Norwich Thorpe via Sheringham, the
Waveney Valley line and Lowestoft) after the train's loco,
J15 65469 ran out of steam at Beccles. To avoid lost time
(the train was already running late) 65462 was
commandeered from the yard to help the ailing J15.The two
locos, coupled tender to tender, then hauled the special
as far as Lowestoft Central. 65462 was allocated to
Norwich Thorpe in June 1960 and then moved to Stratford in
January 1961, still carrying its 32C shed plate! Later in
the year it had air-brake trip-cock equipment fitted on me
right-hand loco rail-iron and under the left hand tender
frames for use on the Leyton to Epping/Ongar line.The
former GER branch was by men part of London Transport's
Central Line, but BR J15s hauled occasional specials and
freight trains on it until April 1962.
In January 1962, 65462 was re-tubed at Stratford, before
joining the few other remaining London based J15s (65361,
65453, 65460/4/5 and 65476) on standby and Liverpool St.
pilot duties. These elderly locos were kept because of
their wide route availability and Westinghouse brakes
(except 65361). 65462 was loaned to Colchester for a while
for use as Clacton station pilot. Although some of the
class eventually carried the post 1957 BR totem on their
tenders, 65462 kept its early ‘ferret and dartboard'
emblem until the end, but it did acquire “overhead live
wires” warning flashes on the sides of the boiler. The
last four J15s (including 65462) were finally withdrawn on
16th September 1962, when steam was eliminated from East
Anglia, having outlived many other more modern types of
locomotive.
After withdrawal, four of the class were retained for
possible preservation and put into open air storage at
Stratford. During the previous October, the M&GNJRS had
decided to buy a J15 for use on its scheme to reopen one
of the closed M&GN lines and had started to raise the £800
required. The Society had initially planned to have 65469,
but a crack was found in its frames and so 65462 was
purchased instead, mainly because of the stovepipe
chimney! Sadly the others were cut up for scrap. 65462 was
test steamed at March in 1963 and later moved to March MPD
with the Society's other loco, the B12. Both were stored
outside the old steam shed. To allow inspection of the
boiler plating, the cladding was removed and dumped with
the back cab in the tender coal space. In 1966 the boiler
was given two partial hydraulic tests to see what
condition the tubes were in. It was found that the boiler
had once been fitted to an F3 2-4-2T and dated from before
1893.
The J15 and B12 were delivered to Sheringham in June 1967
and were hauled into the station over the now lifted level
crossing. It was to be another ten years before theJ15, as
GER No.564 hauled a passenger train on the North Norfolk
Railway. The loco ran for tens of thousands of miles
before being withdrawn in 1989, shortly after the Holt
line was opened. It returned to steam in 2002 on the NNR.
This article first appeared in Joint Line, the Midland and
Great Northern Joint Railway Society's award winning
quarterly journal, which all members of the Society
receive.
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