#lner v2

just an idea, gordon as a lner v2.....

maybe i'll do henry as a lner b17

LNER Class V2 #4771

The first of the once numerous V2 class, a close cousin to the famous A1 and A3 Pacifics. The V2s had smaller driving wheels and shorter boilers. Initially built for fast goods trains but were upgraded to Express Mixed Traffic due to their their reliable performance, and 184 were made from 1936 to 1944.

The first V2 Engine was named Green Arrow, the same name as the Fast Freight service it ran with the following four V2s. Only 7 other engines of this class received names.

The V2 engines were well regarded; in prime condition they could almost match Pacifics in speed and they came in highly useful during World War 2, still manufactured in spite of the limitations of the times. They were capable of pulling trains of 20 carriages weighing over 700 tons and beyond. Unfortunately, the toll taken on both engines and the rails themselves caused incidents after the war, and attempts to improve the engines were ultimately aborted with the emerging diesel locomotives of the 1960′s.

Sadly, only the original Green Arrow was preserved, having been withdrawn from service in 1962 (four years before the very last V2s were withdrawn and promptly scrapped) and managed to avoid being written off as scrap at any point, instead housed in various locations with the intent to display as an exhibit. Today, Green Arrow is standing as a static exhibit in Doncaster Museum on a 3-year loan from the National Rail Museum. While Green Arrow needs repairs to be able to go back on the rails, it looks hopeful that it will receive them sooner or later.

In the Railway Series, Green Arrow appears in Thomas and the Great Railway Show. Green Arrow is presented with an agreeable personality and quickly befriends Thomas. As one of the residents of the National Railway Museum, he is chosen to pull passenger trains as part of the show. He and Thomas would later double head a passenger train in the last chapter of that book, and the two of them manage to avoid an accident where the rails ahead were damaged.

Further Reading / Information and Picture Sources: