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Mr. J. Ramsbottom
1858 — DX Goods
1863 — 4ft Shunter
1870 — Special Tank
Mr. F.W. Webb
1873 — 17in Coal Engine
1880 — 18in Goods
1881 — Special DX
1881 — Coal Tanks
1893 — ‘A’ class
1894 — Crane Tank
1896 — Dock Tank
1901 — ‘B’ class
1903 — 1400 Class
Mr. G. Whale
1904 — ‘C’ class
1904 — ‘E’ class
1906 — ‘D’ class
1906 — ‘F’ class
1906 — ‘G’ class
1912 — ‘G1’ class
1906 — 19in Express Goods
Mr. C.J. Bowen Cooke
1911 — 1185 class
Capt. H.P.M. Beames
1923 — 380 class
Ex GCR
1919 — ‘MM’ class
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1400 Class
Vital Statistics |
|
| Official Name |
1400 Class |
| Nickname |
Bill Bailey |
| Water & Coal Storage |
Tender |
| Water Capacity |
2,500 gallon |
| Coal Capacity |
5 tons |
| Wheel Arrangement |
4-6-0 |
| Driven Wheels |
Six 5ft 3in wheels |
| Carrying Wheels |
Four leading 3ft 1½in wheels |
| Wheelbase |
6ft 3in + 6ft 9in + 5ft 9in + 5ft 9in |
| Boiler diameter |
4ft 6¼in at firebox to 4ft 6¼in at smokebox |
| Boiler Length |
15ft 6in |
| Boiler Pressure |
? psi |
| Grate Area |
20½ sq.ft. |
| Tubes |
? |
| Total Heating Area |
1,687 or 1,753 sq.ft. |
| High Pressure Cylinders |
Two outside 15in diameter; 24in stroke |
| Low Pressure Cylinders |
Two inside 20½in diameter; 24in stroke |
| Weight in full working order |
60 tons |
| Designer |
Mr. F.W. Webb |
| Number in Class |
30 |
| Lifetime |
1903—1921 |
Mr. Webb’s  last design was a 4-cylinder compound
4-6-0, intended as a powerful engine for both goods and
passenger traffic. Two 15in diameter outside high-pressure
cylinders exhausted into two 20½in diameter low-pressure
cylinders.
Their story shows how easily a design could be misunderstood: At
the time they were starkly pilloried as Mr. Webb’s greatest
failure, and long known as ‘Bill Baileys’ from the
song “Why won’t you come home Bill Bailey?”
But were they so bad? In fact, recently discovered drivers
experiences have reported they were sure-footed engines that could
‘plug away’ at a load, preferred to much later LMS
Stanier ‘Black 5’ and ‘8F’
2-8-0’s. Because they did their job well but
unexceptionally they were never exciting and so were too easily
dismissed as failures — which was not in fact the case.
In support of this, only two had been built before Webb retired.
The total of thirty finally built could not have been completed if
they were such failures. Further, even the malicious name may not be
true: Rodney Weaver has suggested the name may have come from
prestige haulage of the ‘Barnum & Bailey’ circus
trains, touring the country at the time. Maybe we shall never now
know the true origins. Did they really deserve to be so
maligned?
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