BUILT BY : L M S, DERBY WORKS, ENGLAND
YEAR BUILT : 1947 
WITHDRAWN : 1970
LAST MAJOR OVERHAUL COMPLETED : 2001 
NEXT MAJOR OVERHAUL DUE: 2011

CLICK HERE FOR A MOVIE CLIP OF NO.4 ON 8TH MAY 2004

No. 4 is the last survivor of 18 mixed traffic engines introduced by the NCC and UTA between 1947 and 1950.  She was in traffic until summer 1970, one of the last steam locomotives (all class WT) still in traffic at the closure of York Road Shed.  These were the last main line steam locomotives in normal service in Ireland, and in the British Isles.  No. 4 was purchased from Northern Ireland Railways in July 1971 and has since seen extensive use on the annual "Three Day Tour" each May, and on such operations as the "Sea Breeze" and "Portrush Flyer" day trips.  These locomotives were popularly known as "Jeeps" on account of their ability to tackle all types of traffic, and their wide route availability.  Original livery was black, lined in straw edged in maroon, with "N C C" on the tank sides, but this was replaced by the UTA emblem and lining style in the early 1950's.  Around 1968, along with only a few remaining steam engines, No. 4 acquired the new NIR emblem though her lining was unchanged.  No. 4 has spent much of the 1990's in the RPSI's Whitehead locomotive shed, undergoing a major overhaul, she was officially relaunched and re-entered revenue earning service on the RPSI's Belfast and Northern Counties May Railtour in 2001. She is currently in traffic hauling excursions from Dublin and occaisionally Belfast.

A ‘Jeep’ for all seasons

The real end of main line steam in the British Isles – on Northern Ireland Railways - went almost unnoticed by those outside the ‘Emerald Isle’. That was in 1971. Thirty years later with ‘Jeep’ No. 4 – one of the engines in at the end – about to resteam, the RPSI is determined the anniversary won’t slip by so quietly.
August 11 1968 is a date burned in the memory of most enthusiasts. But far from being the end of UK steam, August 1968 marked only the retirement of BR’s last tired survivors. How many people after this last sad day knew that, within the British Isles, LMS 2-6-4Ts were still working hard for their living, and would do for another two years…..?
We are not talking here of preservation, or some little know quarry siding. Neither is it pure fantasy. The locomotives in question, designed by Ivatt and constructed at Derby, were still employed by a nationalised, main line railway. That railway was Northern Ireland Railways, and the locomotives the ex-LMS (Northern Counties Committee) ‘WT’ 2-6-4Ts.
So when was the last day of steam. Was it March 31 1970, when NIR 2-6-4T No. 4 brought in the 5.25pm Whitehead-Carrickfergus local service, and thereby the last main line steam passenger train in the British Isles (tickets for which incidentally cost 3s 9d – considerably less than the ‘15 Guinea Special’!)?
Or was it Northern Ireland’s ‘official’ end of steam on May 2, when No. 4 and classmate No. 53 worked the last spoil train from Magheramore quarry to the motorway construction site at Belfast…or a week later when Nos. 4 and 51 ran to Ballyclare junction with a train of girders?…or even the withdrawal of No. 4 in June 1971 after a period on pilot duties at York Road?
Whatever the answer, one thing is sure: Ivatt 2-6-4T No. 4 was in at the end, bringing the curtain down on a century-and-a-half of steam working.
Now, the ‘Jeep’ is nearing the end of a major overhaul at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s Whitehead Workshops. When it returns it will be the first time No. 4 has steamed for a decade and, provided all goes to plan, the 2-6-4T will be active in time for the 30th anniversary of its withdrawal.

The ‘Jeeps’ were the result of the LMS ownership (through the Northern Counties Committee) of railways in Northern Ireland from 1923 until the nationalised Ulster Transport Authority was formed in 1948. The 5ft 3in gauge NCC lines (there were also some of 3ft gauge) principally served Belfast, Larne, Ballymena, Coleraine, Portrush and Londonderry.
One of the NCC’s first priorities was to modernise the aging locomotive fleet. In 1933 the ‘W’ class ‘Moguls’ were introduced. Designed by the NCC’s CME, Stewart, the 2-6-0s incorporated standard LMS parts and visually were clearly part of the ‘Midland’ family – having much in common with a ‘Crab’.
As successful as the ‘Ws’ were, the NCC decided in 1944 that the NCC should in future be operated by tank engines to remove the need to turn locomotives. A 2-6-4T variant of the ‘Moguls’ was duly designed, but owing to pressure of work at Derby meant that the first, No. 5, did not arrive in Northern Ireland until the summer of 1946. This, the most powerful tank engine yet seen in Ireland, entered service on August 8. Between then and 1950 17 further ‘WT’ engines were built, including No. 4, turned out in 1947.
Closely related to the other LMS 2-6-4Ts, the Ivatt designed ‘WTs’ nevertheless exhibited many differences. The parallel boilers were very ‘Fowler-esque’ although the cut-away framing had more in common with the later Fairburn ‘4MTs’. Originally painted in the standard postwar LMS black express passenger livery, after the formation of the UTA they appeared in black with red and straw lining - not dissimilar to BR lined black, but with cast red bunker numberplates and numbers carried on the bufferbeam instead of the smokebox.
The ‘WTs’ proved a great success, capable of covering the 95 miles between Belfast and Londonderry without stopping for water, and being able to well exceed 80mph. Without the need to turn at the end of a run, the ‘WTs’ were able to run round and be ready to depart in under 10 minutes – in contrast to the ‘Moguls’. The ‘Jeep’ nickname is said to have been coined by William McCullough, Night Foreman at Belfast’s York Road Works, who likened their ‘go anywhere’ ability to that of the Army Jeeps so common at the time.
The success of the new locomotives, together with their 2-6-0 cousins, allowed many older NCC locomotives to be withdrawn. In the 1950s however, as elsewhere, the onset of dieselisation saw the retreat of newer as well as older designs. After a decline in Northern Ireland steam throughout the 1960s it fell to the ‘Jeeps’ to end Irish steam, not with a bang but with a whimper, when Nos. 4 and 53 were withdrawn from their pilot duties at York Road. The RPSI had earmarked No. 53 for preservation, but the discovery of wasted stay heads (patched up for its May 2 spoil train finale) led to it being condemned. Attention turned to No. 4 and the 2-6-4T was bought direct from NIR on July 11 1971, a month after its withdrawal, for £1,275.
Thus started a new era in which No. 4 was to be a popular performer on the RPSI’s main line specials, the first of which was from Whitehead to Belfast and back on November 2 1972. The ‘Jeep’s’ first period of main line running lasted until 1978, followed by general overhaul. On its reappearance in 1984, No. 4 spent a week on NIR permanent way trains as part of its running in – an idea unthinkable on BR! Following its withdrawal for a second time on November 3 1991, the 2-6-4T lay out of use until 1992, when dismantling for the latest overhaul started.

It was only on the locomotive’s dismantling that it was realised just what a big job this was going to be. No. 4 had been purchased by the RPSI in working order and although some heavy repairs such as wheel re-profiling had been undertaken in the meantime, the last major boiler work had been carried out at Swindon in 1963, when a new inner firebox was fitted. Investigation revealed serious wasting and cracking of boiler plates, the same with the firebox, and also corrosion of tanks, bunker and smokebox. So began the most extensive refurbishment of a locomotive yet undertaken by the RPSI.
The fact that locomotives are a kit of parts is amply demonstrated by No. 4. The 2-6-4T has carried the boiler formerly fitted to No. 51 since 1963. Since the withdrawal of No. 54 at York Road in 1967 the opportunity was taken to swap the latter’s good driving wheels for No. 4’s tired ones and also in 1967, the withdrawn No. 9 donated its bogie to No. 4. The dome cover came from No. 53. Grit blasting of No. 4’s pony truck wheel set in the winter of 1998 revealed traces of green paint - the only ‘Jeep’ to be painted green was No. 5, which carried an experimental livery for a short time after nationalisation in 1948.
Firebox repairs have included the complete renewal of the lower three quarters of the outer firebox sides and doorplate, together with internal stiffening plates and longitudinal and transverse stays. By 1997 the firebox had been completely restayed.
Welding work and repairs to plates were carried out on the boiler  and a new front tubeplate fitted. The boiler has been completely retubed. The bunkers and the tanks were severely corroded and have largely been replaced. Likewise the frame stretchers under the footplating had deteriorated to such an extent that it had to be extensively replaced.
Axleboxes have been remetalled, machined and refitted. The same is true of the bogie, which required considerable attention.
The motion was dismantled and overhauled, including the remetalling of all bushes. The cylinders were rebored in late 1999, before the chassis was rewheeled and motion re-hung. 

Now in the last stages of the overhaul, a return to steam is expected in Spring/Summer 2001.  Then No. 4 will be returned to its traditional lined UTA black with red and straw lining livery.

The return of No. 4 to steam – a player in the real end of main line steam in the British Isles - in the 30th anniversary of its demise is particularly appropriate. Beyond the significance of this date though, the chance of seeing the sole surviving ‘WT’ back on the main line where it belongs after a decade’s absence is very welcome indeed. Later this year, the last of the ‘Jeeps’ will once again powerfully represent an important and poignant period in railway history.

FACTPANEL: LMS (NCC) ‘WT’ 2-6-4T No. 4

• Builder: LMS, Derby, 1947 (assembled at Belfast York Road)
• Driving wheel diameter: 6ft
• Wheel arrangement: 2-6-4T
• Locomotive weight: 87 tons
• Equivalent BR power classification: 4MT
• Boiler pressure: 200psi
• Tractive effort: 22,160lb

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