BR, B17/6 Class, 4-6-0, 61665 ‘Leicester City’ - Era 4

The eventual axle loading was 18 tons and several modifications were required before the first B17, No.2802 Walsingham, was delivered on November 20, 1928, but between 1930 and 1937, a total of seventy three B17 locomotives were produced by the LNER’s Darlington Works, Robert Stephenson & Company and North British. The first ten locomotives delivered by the North British Locomotive Company were designated B17 (later as B17/1), whilst the second and third batches, having boilers supplied by Armstrong Whitworth and different springing, were identified as B17/2.

The next two batches, again with different springing, were designated B17/3, but as the locomotives passed through the works the original springs were replaced by those of the later design and in 1937 the three sub-classes were merged together as B17/1. The final Darlington batch introduced in 1936, as well as those built by Robert Stephenson and Company, had 4,200 gallon tenders and were intended for use in the North Eastern area of the LNER; these were designated B17/4.

In September 1937, No.2859 Norwich City and 2870 Tottenham Hotspur were streamlined in a similar style to Gresley’s A4s, renamed East Anglian and City of London and designated B17/5. The streamlining was cladding for publicity purposes only on the East Anglian service, having little effect on the overall speed of the locomotive and in April 1951 was removed. Between 1943 and 1957, most of the surviving members of the class were rebuilt with a 100A boiler for increased pressure and were designated as B17/6.

Locomotive 61665 Leicester City entered service as LNER No.2865 in January 1937, having been built at the Robert Stephenson works as a B17/4. The locomotive’s first allocation was to Sheffield, followed by a short period at Gorton until late July 1938, when it was allocated to its ‘home’ town of Leicester. Further spells at Cambridge and Doncaster were followed by a return to East Anglian sheds at Ipswich, Yarmouth and Norwich.

Maximum curve Hornby 2nd radius + / 438mm+